Online Reporter
Joseph Madzimure
Zimpapers Politics Hub
AFRICAN diplomats have described former Herald Deputy Editor, Cde Thomas Sukutai Bvuma, who also served as Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Brazil as a patriot, an astute liberation war hero and diplomat par excellence.
Cde Bvuma died on Monday this week at the age of 71.
In an interview on Friday, League of African Ambassadors Secretary General, Ambassador Kufa Chinoza, said Cde Bvuma was a patriotic envoy who served his country with distinction during difficulty times.
“He will be remembered as a lovely gentleman, author, liberation war hero and diplomat par excellence,” he said.
Ambassador Chinoza is Zimbabwe’s top diplomat in Ghana. Just like Cde Bvuma, Amb Chinoza is also a veteran diplomat, liberation struggle fighter and author of the ‘Chimurenga II-Armed Struggle”.
“On behalf of Zimbabwe’s Ambassadors, Consuls-General and their staff and their respective missions, and on my own behalf, I would like to express our heartfelt condolences to President Mnangagwa, the Government, the nation and the Bvuma family on the sad loss of Amb Bvuma who died on November 24 2025,” said Amb Chinoza.
Cde Bvuma was born in 1954 in Marondera Communal lands.
He attained his primary education at Murewa Primary School and later went to St. Augustine Mission, Penhalonga, where he completed his A-Level before proceeding to the University of Rhodesia in 1975.
In 1976, he abandoned his studies to join the liberation struggle, crossing into Mozambique and ending up at Doroi Refugee Camp.
He was transferred to Chimoio Military Training Camp and subsequently to Whampoa Ideological School, which later became the Herbert Chitepo Ideological College.
Recounting Cde Bvuma’s war experience, Amb Chinoza said it was during this period that he got his guerrilla name- Carlos Chombo.
Cde Bvuma was deployed to Pungwe Base, which was preparing to attack the enemy at Grand Riff Camp.
Recognising his potential for post-independence nation building, the party leadership in Maputo identified Cde Bvuma as an ideal candidate to further his education at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Maputo.
President Mnangagwa is said to have head-hunted him to resume university studies, at Eduardo Mondlane University in 1977.
He studied Literature and Linguistics.
At the University of Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo and thereafter was later joined by fellow cadres who included the late national hero- former Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Mr Justin Mupamhanga, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Malawi Dr. Nancy Saungweme among others.
Upon returning to Zimbabwe in 1980, Amb Bvuma joined the Ministry of Information, Postals, and Telecommunications and was deployed to the Prime Minister’s Press Section at Munhumutapa Building as Chief Press Officer.
In 1982, Cde Bvuma undertook Diplomatic Training at Rangers College and was subsequently posted to London as information attaché.
He was later posted to Washington, D.C. from 1986 -1994 where he served in the same position of an information attaché.
Upon returning home in 1995, he was promoted to the post of Deputy Director at the Ministry of Information, Posts, and Telecommunications, where he worked under Dr. Mary Margaret Muchada who was the ministry’s Permanent Secretary at the time.
In 1999, Amb Bvuma was appointed Deputy Editor of The Herald newspaper and nine years later he was to become Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Brazil, a post he held until 2018.
During his tenure as Ambassador to Brazil, he earned the Merit Award and the National Order of the Southern Cross given by the Brazilian Government for strengthening bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and Brazil.
He successfully negotiated the $98 million Zimbabwe-Brazil World Food Programme, which benefitted Zimbabwean farmers and contributed to the Land Reform Programme.
In 2017, he became Dean of African Ambassadors in Brazil. Upon his return home, he served on the ZBC Board from 2019 to 2023.
Cde Bvuma retired from civil service in 2024 and settled at his farm in Headlands, where he passed on, on 24 November 2025.
Cde Bvuma has the distinction of being one of the few participants of the liberation struggle who has managed to document his experiences through published books.
The liberation war stalwart is survived by his wife Tsitsi, three children and several grandchildren.
