Chronicle Editor
ON Tuesday the 1st of December 2020 Joshua Sithela Mpofu (JS) passed on peacefully at his Riverside home in Bulawayo following some struggle with his kidneys that had necessitated frequent dialysis.
A man with an unusually big heart was liberally endowed with a spirit of philanthropy that benefited many a financially challenged student was born on 12 May 1939 at Esigodini, then known as Essexvale. He was a teacher by profession and during his tenure he began exhibiting some tendency and inclination to lend a helping hand to those who faced challenges paying for their boarding and tuition fees at secondary schools and various universities.
JS, Joe, uSeka U (short for Unami the firstborn child), as he was variously affectionately known to his friends and colleagues was born and grew up at Esigodini where they lived on a farm after their land was appropriated by the whites returning from World War II and keen to try their hands in commercial farming. The whites were taking over the land.
Two years before he was born, the Intunta people under Chief Alson Ngungumbane Mkhwananzi had been evicted and resettled in Mberengwa District. Their land was taken over by Willoughby’s Consolidated Company. They paid rent to remain on the farm.
He attended Entunteni Primary School run by the London Missionary Society (LMS) located on the farm. Reverend Sitshenkwa Hlabangana was responsible for taking the LMS faith to the Esigodini area from Hope Fountain Mission.
For higher primary education he proceeded to Kalayi Primary School. In 1955 he enrolled for secondary education at Inyathi Boys School where he would remain till December 1960. It was while he was at Inyathi Mission that he exhibited his leadership qualities. In 1958 he and others, with the active participation of firebrand Aleke Banda formed the Leadership League which Banda led with Joshua Mpofu as secretary. Their mission was to train students in leadership. However, when Aleke Banda was arrested by the Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister Edgar Whitehead’s government under the Emergency Regulations on the 10th of March 1959 their movement ceased to exist.
At the time Joshua was the chairman of the Debating Society which was responsible for organising Saturday evening entertainment. He held that position till the end of 1959. His namesake, Joshua Mahlathini Mpofu was the adjudicator during the debates and became chairman after Mpofu. Joshua had, while still in Form 1, expressed a desire that Mathematics was going to be his subject at university.
After Inyathi J S proceeded to Fletcher High School in Gweru where, in 1961 and 1962, he did A Levels. He then went back to Inyathi School as a volunteer teacher of Mathematics before he was engaged as a temporary teacher in terms 2 and 3. Mary Austin was the Head of the Mathematics Department. After the brief stint as teacher at Inyathi he enrolled at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. There he did Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
After completing his degree, he went to teach at several secondary schools. He taught at St Bernard’s High School in Pumula Township, Bulawayo and then went to Fletcher High School where he became Deputy Head. He proceeded to Kwekwe and Dzivarasekwa in Harare. It was time to go back to Bulawayo where he became the first black Head of Northlea High School. At the time of his retirement he was the Deputy Provincial Education Director for Matabeleland South Province.
On the 3rd of September 1971 he tied the knot with Maureen Phathani Bhulu. They were blessed with the following children: Unami Theresa, Vusumuzi, Mehleli and Nkosi Joshua. The couple had the following grandchildren: Nanziwe, Mbali, Zanempilo, Tashinga, Lindikani and Musawenkosi.
From the early days back home in Bulawayo JS loved soccer and had in his youthful days taken part in the sport in the crop fields after harvest. When he was based in Bulawayo his team was Bulawayo Wanderers which later became Eagles, Ke yona Mazhiya. His soccer friends at the time were the likes of Jacob Nare, also a teacher at St Bernard’s, Ndumiso Gumede at Highlanders Football Club and Kennedy Siwanda Sibanda, the retired High Court judge who led Eagles FC.
To continue next week
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