Cream Tata man gone to rest: Dr Sibanda obituary

Dr Mandla Nyathi

THE late Ingwebu Breweries general manager, Dr Themba Sibanda, who has sadly died at the age of 62 years on 29 October was notorious for his distinctive diastema that he seemed to enjoy flushing out whenever he engaged others. From childhood to adulthood, he maintained what nowadays boys call coolness. 

He was never in a rush when walking or talking, and was, indeed, slow to anger as well. Always careful with his words and reserved on many opinions, he leaves behind a legacy of life lived under strong value principles of faith, trust, honesty and respect. Despite being a teetotaller, his name will for a longtime be associated with the popular “cream tata” brand from Ingwebu Breweries. 

A workaholic of note, he will forever be remembered for his immense contributions in the fields of brewery products production, quality and marketing. With a strong sense of self-belief, he was capable of navigating complex everyday mazes and managed to have an influencing voice on many occasions. 

While largely deontological in his style and approach, he also understood pragmatism and virtuousness. To him a wrong was a wrong, and a right was always a right irrespective of the circumstances. Always centrist on the political divide, he, however, had one trademark when engaging with the police authorities manning the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road. 

That was apologising to the officers for speaking to them in his native IsiNdebele language. He would say those words calmly with his signature diastema doing the rest.

Despite early childhood setbacks, educational pathway disrupted by the war of liberation, and being a second born son of humble peasant farmers in Gwelutshena village famous for the “handsome boys” song, his determination and vision led him back to the benches at school. First going to Hlangabeza Secondary in Nkayi where he completed his Ordinary level studies before joining the town boys at Northlea High School, after which he enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe for the Bachelor of Technology (Hons) Degree majoring in biochemistry. 

It was here that his professional path began in earnest.

 During his time as a student, he always spoke highly of his then mentor and lecturer, the late Maclean Bhala. He was a dedicated student and sought to finish everything he did to a high standard, a trait that he believed he had inherited from his maternal grandmother. 

A year-long industrial attachment at Vita Foam  Limited opened new horizons and opportunities to explore his intellectual curiosities. It was here that he experienced application of the theories polymers knowledge in an industrial environment. 

He would often, after work, share factory jokes about lazy people and for some reason called “MuTswanas” perhaps in that workplace they perceived the few Tswana people in the company as lazy. 

Overall, he was not a joking character. The only time he would passively joke, later in life as an adult, was when we discussed my polygamous political drama in a virtual universe. Outside me, only him, and his wife Angeline, (nee Nyathi) that survives him, understood the humour behind that joke.

Upon graduating from the University of Zimbabwe, the late Dr Sibanda joined the Ministry of Education as a Science teacher in early 1992. An opportunity then arose for him to join the Delta Breweries. A church elder working for  Delta had alerted him of the vacancy and encouraged him to apply. At Chibuku Brewery, a subsidiary of the Delta Group, he made an indelible mark on those whose lives he touched. He impressed his employers with his ethics of hard work, honesty, trust, and respect, leading to his many promotions in a relatively short span. 

He was later to join Ingwebu Breweries in Bulawayo where he continued to excel in his work, bringing some transformative innovations to the way the product was produced, marketed and perceived by the stakeholders. 

While at the brewery, he would find time to volunteer his time teaching students at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust). 

Blending his commitments to brewing and teaching motivated his scholarly interest in marketing and quality management. He later enrolled for a pioneering PhD programme at Nust, where he formed a quartet of enthusiastic students that I actively took interest on. It was him, the late Assistant Police Commissioner Earnest Muchenjekwa, the current Nust Pro-Vice Chancellor, William Goriwondo, and then MDC-T Bulawayo Province chairman Gorden Moyo. Like the other three, he was focused yet inquisitive and uncertain about the doctoral studies journey ahead. 

The three were teetotallers yet I was not and learned a lot about Christian faith from them: they all would not use their money to purchase alcoholic beverages. Meetings with them were therefore always near formal and serious, reflective of their strong Christian faith values.

He was clear about his belief in the doctrines of science. Even at the height of the ailment that was to eventual rob him of his life, he remained steadfast on his belief that only science-led evidence would make a difference to his health condition. 

Soothsayers and some with bizarre suggestions for miraculous healing came forward but he would not be fooled. That was how strong his conviction on science-informed decisions was.

He enjoyed tradition and cultural dancing but was never a dancer himself. The joke around that was that he was gifted with two left legs only. 

When it came to management and social engagements he had a good emotional sense and could calmly tell a person to go to hell without offending. That was one of his unique strengths. 

He could be trusted too. In fact, he combined trust with hard work to a good level. When he joined the then Vice-President’s Office as a PA to the then Minister of State in that office, Hon Clifford Sibanda, in 2015, he showed unparalleled dedication to his new posting. 

In his words, that opened some dimensions that helped try new things when he rejoined the Ingwebu Breweries as a general manager, a position he held until his death, coming barely after his 62nd birthday.

Outside academia and management, he was a dedicated cattle farmer. He blended his farming activities with his other commitments well. As a PhD student, particularly on Saturdays, he would print his drafts and say we will go through the work and discuss on our way to the farm. Few people would have that courage and dedication.

Dr Themba Sibanda is survived by his only wife, two children and three grandchildren.