Online Reporter
Raymond Jaravaza
A FEW moments before the coffin of the late Colonel (Retired) Patron Khutshwekhaya was lowered into the grave at Lady Stanley Cemetery in Bulawayo yesterday, a team from the Zimbabwe National Army raised their rifles in perfect unison, pointed the barrels into the air and fired a gun salute in honour of the departed senior officer and liberation war stalwart.
Before the gun salute, the master of ceremonies made an important announcement urging the hundreds of mourners to remain calm and composed when the guns were fired.
For a man who abandoned his studies in 1975 after he was deeply outraged by racially inspired inequalities and institutionalised injustices under the Rhodesian minority regime to join the liberation struggle, the late senior officer was indeed accorded a befitting send-off.
Among the hundreds of mourners were war veterans, Government officials, Zanu PF officials and members, family and friends, who came out in their numbers to bid farewell to a fallen hero and fellow liberation struggle cadre.
Zanu PF Bulawayo provincial chairman Cde Jabulani Sibanda, in the middle of giving his eulogy to the fallen liberation hero, asked war veterans to come forward and give their comrade a special send-off.
The war veterans, who included Colonel (Retired) Thomas Ngwenya and Brigadier-General (Retired) Abel Mazinyane, among others, went down memory lane in dance and liberation songs that used to keep them geared up in the fight against colonial rule.
“My call to all war veterans here today is to stay connected, keep tabs on each other in good health and in sickness, because we will remain brothers and sisters who sacrificed our education and, most importantly, our lives to join the liberation struggle,” said Cde Sibanda.
“We were separated from our wives, children and families to cross into Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania for training to fight the evil white minority regime and free our country.”
The late senior officer died on May 1 at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH). He was 75 and is survived by his wife, five children and several grandchildren.
Bulawayo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Judith Ncube said the death of Col (Retired) Khutshwekhaya was a huge blow.
“It is with a deep sense of grief that we pay tribute to one of our gallant sons of the soil, whose life was defined by unwavering patriotism, selfless service and an enduring commitment to the ideals of our nation,” she said.
“The liberation struggle was won out of unity, and we must remain united as a people if we are to build a peaceful and prosperous nation.
“As we bid farewell to this gallant hero, let us be ever mindful of the sacred duty to jealously guard and preserve the hard-won freedom for which the late Colonel (Retired) Khutshwekhaya and other comrades fought,” said Minister Ncube.
She said Government continues to recognise and honour the contributions made by liberation struggle heroes and heroines, both living and departed.
On Thursday, a funeral parade for the late senior officer was held at Imbizo Barracks, led by ZNA Chief of Staff Quartermaster Major-General Simo Maseko.
“Above all, he remained steadfast and focused in the face of neo-colonialism and machinations by our detractors.
“The country will not forget the sacrifices that he and other heroes and heroines made for the freedom of our motherland.
“We must defend what they stood for, which is the independence and sovereignty of our country, at all costs. We must uphold it,” said Maj-Gen Maseko.
Col (Retired) Khutshwekhaya, whose Chimurenga name was “Dalasi Ndlela”, was born on November 25, 1951, in Mahlathini Village in Tsholotsho District, Matabeleland North Province.
He attended Mzilikazi Secondary School before leaving the country in 1976 to join the liberation struggle as a Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) cadre.
He crossed into Zambia through Botswana and was initially stationed at Nampundwe and New Camp before moving to Mwembeshi.
He underwent initial military training in Tanzania under the Zimbabwe People’s Army (ZIPA) before proceeding to Morogoro and later to the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, where he specialised in weapons.
Upon returning to Zambia in 1977, he was deployed to the Zambezi escarpment, operating in strategic areas including Kariba, Chirundu and Kanyemba during the liberation war.
Following independence in 1980, Colonel Khutshwekhaya was attested into the ZNA as a private soldier and later commissioned as an officer after completing a standardisation course at Inkomo Barracks.
Peter Tanyanyiwa