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Mash West Bureau
MHONDORO-Ngezi House of Assembly member Cde Mike Gava has died.
He was 38.
Cde Gava died at West End Clinic in Harare yesterday where he was admitted recently, suffering from cancer.
Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi broke the news of Cde Gava’s death, saying the province had lost a courageous and promising cadre.
“It is with sadness that I announce the passing on of one of our own, Honourable Mike Gava this morning at West End Clinic.
“Our thoughts are with his family and we will forever cherish his contribution to our party and Parliament as MP for Mhondoro Ngezi. He was a promising young man, very courageous and a true son of the soil.”
In an interview yesterday, his sister Abigail said Cde Gava’s health started deteriorating last year after undergoing surgery for an unnamed ailment.
“His condition was further complicated by the diagnosis of liver cancer, which he eventually succumbed to today (yesterday),” she said.
“He was an avid politician who served in the ruling party, Zanu-PF as national political commissar (for the Youth League) and served as Mhondoro-Ngezi MP since 2013.
“Honourable Gava was passionate about development in Mhondoro-Ngezi and he was also a football enthusiast, an avid supporter of Dynamos and Ngezi Platinum Stars,” she said.
Cde Gava once served as the Zanu-PF Youth League national political commissar after serving the league’s provincial secretary for information and publicity.
He was also a member of the Zanu-PF Central Committee.
Family spokesperson Mr Lloyd Mhishi said mourners are gather at Mayfair Farm in Kadoma.
“We are still working on the burial arrangements, but we would want to advise all mourners to go to the farm in Kadoma,” he said.
Mr Mhishi said the family was still in shock and grief stricken.
“Hon Gava was a strong pillar of support to the entire family and relatives. He effectively took over from her mother Senator (Chiratidzo) Gava when she passed on a few years ago in fending for the whole family.
“He would take all the problems into his own hands and provide guidance and support albeit being younger than some of us.
“We were, as a family, well aware of Mike’s total commitment to his politics and his party and can vouch for his political astuteness leading to his positions at national, provincial and Central Committee level,” he said.
Mr Mhishi said Cde Gava’s death had left a huge void which would be difficult to fill in the family.
“Burial arrangements are still being considered, but our tentative discussions point to a burial at Mayfair Farm in Kadoma, possibly on Friday,” he said.
Cde Gava is survived by a wife and two sons.
Online Reporter