Hotel proprietor Omadu dies

Mthabisi Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
PROMINENT hotel proprietor, Mr Obert Manombe Dube, popularly known for his chain of hospitality facilities, Omadu Lodges, who died on Tuesday will be buried tomorrow at his rural homestead in Matobo District.

He was 75.

Mr Dube succumbed to kidney failure at Premier Hospital in Hillside, Bulawayo.

Mourners accompanying his body left Bulawayo late afternoon yesterday for Gohole Village in Maphisa where he will be laid to rest.

Mr Dube’s death came as a shock to many who knew him, with friends and family describing him as a pillar of strength in development matters.

Family’s spokesperson and nephew to Dube, Mr Andrew Ncube, said they were failing to come to terms with the passing on of their “hero”.

“As a family we have been aware of the struggle of illness that Mr Dube had but apart from everything, losing someone hurts.

“He was a person who believed in changing lives and in real time he did that,” said Mr Ncube.

By the time of his death, Mr Dube was running a chain of lodges in Beitbridge and Maphisa after he sold the Plumtree facility.
He is known for his big role in developing small town lifestyles through taking initiatives like casinos to rural Matobo and Plumtree.

Employment creation and development of small towns were among his priorities.

In an interview, Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Dingumuzi Phuti, who was once Zimbabwe Heritage Trust programmes coordinator, said Dube was a hero.

“A great initiator he was that he was friends with late Zanu-PF spokesperson and a Plumtree-bred leader, Simon Khaya Moyo.

“I knew Omadu as a hardworking professional, an engineer who worked in South Africa for some time and had a great business acumen,” said Cde Phuti.

“He had great passion in the hospitality industry. He was a wise man, soft but sharp. He loved jokes and fun.” — @mthabisi_mthire