Online Reporter
The Herald, 19 August 1987
DAMBUDZO MARECHERA, one of Zimbabwe’s finest and most controversial writers, died in Parirenyatwa Hospital yesterday. He was 35.
Marechera, who was single, was admitted to Parirenyatwa on Saturday with pneumonia, according to friends. The hospital informed them of his death shortly after 1 am.
He had been in poor health in recent months. It was not known by last night where the burial would take place. Yesterday, friends and fellow writers paid tribute to a man whose lifestyle was as controversial as his literary works. The Zimbabwe Writers’ Union said the country had “lost a unique personality”.
The author of three published books — The House of Hunger, Black Sunlight and Mind blast. Marechera returned to Zimbabwe in 1982 from long years of exile in Britain. He had fled there after being expelled from the then University of Rhodesia in 1973 for leading, with other black students, a demonstration against segregation in campus residences.
He entered Oxford University, but two years later was offered the option to taking voluntary psychiatric treatment or being “sent down”. He opted to be sent down and then became a writer-in-residence at Sheffield, living on grants and with friends.
It was during this time that he wrote The House of Hunger which in 1979 won him that year’s Guardian Fiction Prize, Black Sunlight was temporarily banned by the Censor Board in this country in 1982 for unspecified reasons. It was generally believed, however, that the board felt some passages were obscene.
Mind blast, his third book, was published in Harare in 1984. In a recent interview Marechera had talked of plans to write a fourth book. He also complained about Zimbabwean publishers “silencing” him with their alleged unwillingness to publish his manuscripts.
ZIWU’s secretary-general, Musaemura Zimunya, said yesterday that Marechera had died “in the very noon of his life and at the prime of his talent”.
“Zimbabwe literature has lost a unique personality, a dynamic character and a great intellect just when it becomes more and more apparent that we need more writers of calibre, courage and integrity.”
Lessons for today
- Dambudzo Marechera’s life and death offers powerful lessons about talent, courage, individuality, creativity, and the challenges faced by artists. Marechera faced expulsion from university, exile, financial hardship, and personal struggles, yet he became one of Africa’s most celebrated writers.
- As a student, Marechera participated in protests against racial segregation at the University of Rhodesia. Marechera was known for refusing to follow conventional expectations in both his life and writing. Society needs independent thinkers who bring fresh perspectives and challenge accepted ideas.
