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Robin Muchetu
OSCAR Wilde wrote about death that it must be so beautiful. He imagined one lying in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, while they are listening to silence.
He wrote about not having yesterday and tomorrow. About forgetting time, forgetting life and be at peace but he forgot or deliberately omitted to describe the anguish that death always causes to those that remain after its cruel strike.
Death has never been friendly, especially when it takes people nearing their prime, after all the struggles that life would have offered. Such is the case with a Bulawayo whiz kid whose promising career in Chemical Engineering was halted when he was tragically killed in a horrific car accident along the Bulawayo-Harare road recently.
Gift Tinashe Musewe (25) died in Mbembesi in the evening of 9 January together with three others when their vehicle a Toyota Spacio side swiped a haulage truck and collided with another truck. It is not clear what caused the accident but his family recalls the last moments they shared with him.
The hopes, the dreams and all the plans that he and his family were having were swiped into the grave along with him while the memories linger in the minds of those who knew him. Their dreams can no longer be achieved. They were so near to fruition yet so far. But such is death, it is a part of life that defines destiny.
Gift was born on 30 June at Mpilo Hospital in 1992. He did his early education at Tshaka Pre-School in Makokoba before enrolling for primary education at Mzilikazi Primary School where his academic gift started showing when he attained four units and became the best student.
He then moved to Northlea High School for his Ordinary Level where he continued to shine and attained 7 As and 4 B’s. He had As in all the Science subjects and then he went on to do his A-level at Mzilikazi High School in 2009, majoring in Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry and he scored an impressive 14 points.
He then enrolled at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) where he chose to study Chemical Engineering. His results were a pure demonstration of a master at his game as there were more distinctions than any other mark.
According to his brother, Prosper Ngwenya, the family did not know that Gift had travelled to Harare and only got to know after his death.
“Gift was employed at Delta as a contract worker in the packaging section for the whole of last year and I guess they realised he had great potential and had shown an interest in taking him to be part of the Delta family as a permanent employee. He was undergoing another course to enhance his professional career when he met his death. He had gone to Harare where he was writing his examinations. After exams he was picked up by his brother Godfrey Musewe who stays in Harare and when he dropped him in town they promised to see each other after work around 8pm. But Gift changed plans after he met a friend who indicated that he was travelling to Bulawayo that evening,” said Prosper.
When Godfrey knocked off he phoned Gift, but he indicated that he was going to call him the next morning and that was the last time he heard his voice.
Mr Shadrack Musewe, Gift’s father was at pains expressing what he felt when he heard about his son’s death.
“I got a painting job near Gift’s lodgings in Southwold suburb and he came to visit me there before he went to Harare. We spoke at length about life in general and he left, that was when I last saw him alive and it was on 20 December last year,” he said.
He said he was working in Entumbane when the tragic news of the accident reached him. He added that he felt numb and could not cycle to town to confirm the news, resulting in him leaving the bicycle at the house he was painting and has not collected it since then, neither has he completed the job.
“I boarded a kombi and met my brother in town and we went to United Bulawayo Hospital mortuary to confirm that it was really my son because when I left I was not convinced that my son was really gone. I was also puzzled because I didn’t know he was in Harare,” he said.
The brother in Harare was also shocked that his younger brother had passed on when he was informed. The day before, Gift had discussed with him that he wanted to buy a small car for travelling to work but that dream never came to fruition.
“He usually told us of his trips before but did not tell us of this one, that’s why it was surprising to hear that he was involved in a car accident on his way from Harare,” he said with a breaking voice.
Mr Musewe said the death of Gift is a huge loss for him because he was an obedient and intelligent child who he looked up to for a change of fortunes in life.
“When he was in Grade 4 he told me that he was going to buy me a house when he grows up, this is one of the things that saddens me because his vision was going towards fulfilling his promise. As a young boy he noticed that we were always moving from one house to the other as we had no house of our own and it was his dream to buy us a house,” sobbed Mr Musewe.
Mr Musewe said he struggled to send his son to university but he never disappointed.
“When he was at Nust I came across some financial challenges but I persevered for him to finish his degree. To counter transport problems as commuting to school I bought him a bicycle so he would cycle from Entumbane to Nust until he finished,” said Mr Musewe.
Mr Musewe said Gift told him that he wanted to do his masters’ degree because he could now afford to pay for himself since he was working. However, he never lived to further his education. He was buried on 13 January at West Park Cemetery with mourners describing his life as a promising one that cut too short.
derick.khumalo