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Zimbabwe is in mourning following the demise of Zanu-PF Politburo member, former minister and deputy minister, Cde Sikhanyiso Duke Ndlovu in Bulawayo yesterday.A pioneering educationist in post-independence Zimbabwe, Cde Ndlovu suffered what was originally said to be a mild stroke, compounded by an asthmatic attack 10 days ago. It, however, has turned out that his condition worsened and robbed the country of one of its most easy-going, media-friendly, generous and enduring educators and politicians.
Born on May 4, 1937 Cde Ndlovu was there when the liberation struggle started in the 1960s. He, like his fellow liberators, suffered for that. He was detained at the inhospitable Gonakudzingwa detention camp in the south-east lowveld between 1964 and 1965. There, he shared space with most Zapu veterans such as Cdes Joshua Nkomo, Joseph Msika, Josiah Chinamano, Jane Ngwenya and Ruth Chinamano. There again, he rendered his services as a teacher for many comrades who had been shunted away to the outback as the Ian Smith regime sought, unsuccessfully, to thwart the liberation struggle.
Upon his release, Cde Ndlovu skipped the border into Zambia where he contributed to the war, not on the military side really, but on the political, educational side. He is credited with initiating many comrades into their first organised education at camps in that country.
At Independence, the alumnus of Syracuse University where he passed his BA Sociology, Master of Public Administration, Public Administration and Doctor of Education between 1965 and 1976, opened one of the first private correspondence schools, Zimbabwe Distance Education College (Zedco). He grew it into a national institution.
He continued with his political involvement nonetheless, using Bulawayo as his base, his beloved Mpopoma to be more precise.
He served as Mpopoma MP a number of times, his last being in 2000 when he lost to an MDC candidate. Undeterred, he would fight again when the next chance presented itself.
Cde Ndlovu leaves a legacy of tolerance, magnanimity, hard work, patriotism, and diligent commitment to the ideals of liberation and the country’s post independence development in its holistic sense.
Those who worked with him always testify that Cde Ndlovu had a special gift of being tolerant. He never got angry as easily as many of his political profile tend to, smothering disappointments or provocations with that omni-present smile.
Cde Ndlovu was also very generous. He showed it in many ways. In June 1995, he founded the Mpopoma Development Trust, an instrument he used to develop the suburb and its citizens through various development projects.
When some politicians wavered around the early 2000s, Cde Ndlovu remained committed to the ideals of liberation and the country’s post independence social, economic and political development.
In fact, to assert his patriotism and devotion to his party, he was the custodian of the Zanu-PF mass mobilisation machinery during that difficult period for the party, 2000 to 2005 when he was the Politburo Secretary for the Commissariat.
His wife Rose Ndlovu said:
“The loss of a husband and a father is the hardest for any family to come to terms with. We just celebrated our 54th marriage on the 2 September. We were hoping to celebrate our 55 and 56th anniversary together.”
Cde Ndlovu worked hard to build a truly national private college in Zedco in the first years of independence. Now the college has branches in all major towns and cities across the country. It is intensely unfortunate that Cde Ndlovu passed on before he realised his dream of setting up his university-without-walls. Continuing with his path-breaking distance education approach, the university-without-walls was supposed to be a correspondence school, much like the Zimbabwe Open University.
It was his next passion after Zedco, but because of a number of reasons the idea hasn’t been concretised.
The journalism fraternity has lost one of its best friends. Cde Ndlovu was arguably the most reliable donor to the Bulawayo Press Club for whom he was once a patron. Whenever journalists went about seeking assistance to hold special events and parties, Cde Ndlovu, once a journalist for the Bantu Mirror before independence, would give most liberally.
Yesterday, Zanu-PF Bulawayo province requested the party to confer Cde Ndlovu with a national hero status.
“We have sent his curriculum vitae to the President and politburo so that he can be considered as a national hero. We don’t doubt that he is a hero. His works before and after independence qualify him to a very high status,” said ruling party acting chairperson Cde Dennis Ndlovu.
May his soul rest in eternal peace.
Online Reporter