adminGeorge Maponga in Mashoko, Bikita
The people of Bikita have been hailed for playing a key role in the liberation of Zimbabwe, with the district having hosted President Mnangagwa who briefly operated in the area in the run-up to the start of the Second Chimurenga when he was a member of the acclaimed “Crocodile Gang’’.
President Mnangagwa briefly stayed in Bikita after returning to the then Rhodesia as a member of the famous “Crocodile Gang’’ from where he proceeded to lend a deadly blow on the racist colonial regime by bombing a train locomotive at Masvingo Railway Station in 1964.
Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Ezra Chadzamira said besides looking after President Mnangagwa during the liberation struggle, Bikita District produced eminent sons and daughters whose legacy stands tall in the history of the country’s struggle for freedom.
Speaking during the burial of Zanu-PF Central Committee member and liberation war hero Cde Jerifanos Matorofa last Friday at Matorofa Village under Chief Mabika, Cde Chadzamira said Bikita would always have a special place in the history of Zimbabwe’s liberation from the colonial yoke.
Cde Matorofa died on October 3 in Bikita after succumbing to an asthma attack.
He was 82.
“Bikita District holds a very special place to Zanu-PF and the country as a whole, moreso because our President, Cde ED Mnangagwa once operated here in the early 1960s and it is from here where he proceeded to bomb a Rhodesian train at Masvingo Railway Station,’’ said Cde Chadzamira.
“The President has very fond memories of this place and always speaks glowingly about how he was well looked after by people from this area during the fight for independence, Bikita will always have a very special place in the history of the struggle for our independence.’’
Cde Chadzamira said even other eminent nationalists such as the late Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister and national heroine, Cde Shuvai Mahofa, cut their liberation struggle teeth in Bikita District.
“Even today, Bikita continues to loom large in the history of our quest for self-determination and gave us a gallant strategist, Retired Lieutenant General Engelbert Rugeje (Retired), who played a key role in the successful execution of Operation Restore Legacy which ushered the Second Republic,’’ said Cde Chadzamira.
Turning to the late Cde Matorofa, Cde Chadzamira paid tribute to him for the role he played in the liberation of Zimbabwe.
He said President Mnangagwa agreed to confer liberation war hero status on Cde Matorofa in recognition of his spirited fight against colonialism and his unwavering loyalty to the liberation ethos in the post-independence era.
Cde Chadzamira said it was because of the work of heroes like Cde Matorofa that the ruling Zanu-PF swept all the National Assembly seats in Bikita during the July 30 harmonised elections.
In his address, Rtd Lt Gen Rugeje described Cde Matorofa as a repository of knowledge about the trials and tribulations in the struggle for Zimbabwe’s independence.
He said Cde Matorofa was a humble and loyal party cadre who shunned factionalism with his only commitment being to serve Zanu-PF and the people of Zimbabwe.
“I want to thank the national party leadership led by our President Cde ED Mnangagwa for agreeing to confer the request by Bikita district to confer liberation war hero status on Cde Matorofa,” said Cde Rugeje.
“The late Cde Matorofa was a humble party cadre who never sought for top positions in the party and remained loyal to the revolution throughout. His death is a big loss to Bikita because to us we used to refer to him as our revolutionary library.
“He was the only person capable of recollecting key historical events in our struggle for independence and we were lucky to have him because he was also a great inspiration to the young generation.’’
Cde Matorofa was born in 1936 in Bikita and attended Chitiyo and Mashoko schools in the area before moving to Hippo Valley in 1959 where he worked as a clerk.
In 1971, he started working at Mashoko Mission Hospital as the head clerk by which time he had already started political activism having joined Zapu in 1959 as organising secretary in the district.
He joined Zanu-PF upon its founding in 1963 and led party activities mainly in Gweru.
When the decisive phase of the Second Chimurenga started, Cde Matorofa worked closely with freedom fighters, rising to base chair covering large parts of Chief Mazungunye’s area in Bikita.
At independence in 1980, he briefly became Bikita District Commissioner and worked for Zanu-PF in different portfolios thereafter until he was elected Central Committee member of the party in 2014 up to his death.
Cde Matorofa is survived by three wives, 41 children and 91 grandchildren.
Online Reporter