Vusumuzi DubeMichael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has sent his condolence message to the Mangwana family following the death of Gogo Sabina Makaonei Mangwana who was the mother to Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana and Zanu-PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana.
Gogo Mangwana died on Wednesday and will be buried today in Donain Rural Resettlement area in Zhombe.
The message was conveyed by Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Cde Monica Mutsvangwa at the funeral wake in Kwekwe yesterday.
“When we were at State House, I told His Excellency about the death and he said he had been briefed about it. He, however, asked me to relay his condolence message as he could not be here with us due to his busy schedule,” she said.
The Minister urged the family to find solace in that their mother left them united and educated.
“I wish all the women in the country would emulate Gogo Mangwana who managed to unify her children. Above all she left them one of the greatest assets which is education. All of her children are well educated and are doing well in serving their country. This is what we want as a country,” she said.
A funeral service was held in Kwekwe yesterday where the body lay in state at her Kwekwe home before being taken to Donain in Zhombe where her second born son Takunda was buried. In a speech, first son Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana said they were burying their mother in Donain as per her instruction.
“When my younger brother Takunda died in 1993 we buried him at the relatively new homestead of our mother in Donain. She actually gave us an instruction that when she dies, we should bury her next to him and not abandon our brother all alone in the jungle,” he explained.
Gogo Mangwana had relocated to Donain from Chivi before she later moved to Kwekwe in early 2000 due to ill health.
“I actually pleaded with village heads to preserve the grave next to Takunda and they obliged. That is where we are going to bury her. That is all she wanted and we are happy to be fulfilling her wishes,” said Cde Mangwana.
Gogo Mangwana was described as a unifier in the family.
“She was a unifier who wanted all her children to be united. She didn’t want any clashes within the family and she made sure that the family remains a unit.
She was a straight talker who never used to speak bad about anyone in their absence. If you erred, she would tell you in your face,” said Mr Douglas Mangwana the youngest of her children.
The sentiments were also echoed by Mr Nick Mangwana who said their mother showed them love till death.
“She was someone I would rely on and I could tell her literally everything. Her biggest strength was to unify her family. She wanted all of us to remain united under whatever circumstances,” said Mr Nick Mangwana.
Of her six children, three including the late Takunda were lawyers while two are medical doctors.
In attendance at the funeral were Zanu-PF secretary for security Cde Lovemore Matuke, MDC-T president Mr Douglas Mwonzora who co-chaired the constitution comitttee with Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, senior officers in the Ministry of Information and other Government officials as well as
friends and relatives. Gogo Mangwana was 90 having been born on 3 March 1932 in Masvingo.
She met her husband Benjamin Mabasa Mangwana in 1958 when she was a nurse in Chivi.
She is survived by five children Priscilla, Paul, Tadzoka, Nick and Douglas, 15 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
derick.khumalo