Not another 2013, please

Lovemore Ranga Mataire
It can be argued 2013 was one of the bleakest years in Zimbabwe’s post-colonial period as death robbed us of some of our prominent national leaders.
It would be such a sad development if the thief could come as mercilessly again in 2014.
Last year started on a sad note with the death of Cde John Landa Nkomo (79) on January 17 after a long battle with cancer. At the time of his death Cde Nkomo was the country’s Vice President.

He was one of the founding members of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in 1960 before joining ZAPU in 1961.
Cde Nkomo was arrested on several occasions by the Ian Smith regime and was once detained at Gonakudzingwa detention camp. He later joined the African National Council where he became the deputy secretary-general in 1971.

During the war, Cde Nkomo was seriously injured following a blast from a parcel bomb that killed ZAPU leader Jason Ziyapapa Moyo in 1977.

While the nation was still mourning the passing on of Cde Nkomo, death struck again at the heart of the Majowe family as the nation lost Cde John Majowe (60) on February 21, 2013. Cde Majowe was at the time of his death Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Mozambique.

In his speech during Cde Majowe’s burial at the National Heroes Acre, President Mugabe hailed the late diplomat as one of the few young cadres trusted by the leadership after having opted to leave university to join the war.

President Mugabe said Cde Majowe was part of a group of students from the then Rhodesia University comprising Cdes Chris Mutsvangwa, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele and the late Zororo Duri.

Just two months after the burial of Cde Majowe, another iconic figure of the struggle, Ambuya Matadzisei Tangwena (102), died.
Ambuya Tangwena was a spirit-medium who together with her late husband, the legendary Sekuru Rekayi Tangwena, challenged Rhodesian efforts to evict villagers from the Tangwena area to pave way for white commercial farmers.

She took care of President Mugabe and the late Cde Edgar Tekere when they crossed into Mozambique at the height of the liberation struggle. Mbuya Matadzisei Tangwena was accorded a State-assisted burial.

At the end of May, the former Matabeleland North governor Retired Major General Jevan Maseko, whose Chimurenga name was Enock Tshangane, succumbed to diabetes, renal failure and amyloidosis cancer at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo.

Just like Cde John Nkomo, Cde Maseko also bore the scars of enemy- inflicted wounds of a landmine, which blew up the vehicle he was travelling in together with the late Cde Alfred Nikita Mangena while visiting bases in the frontline along the Zambezi River.

Cde Maseko was pivotal in the integration of liberation forces (ZIPRA and ZANLA) and the Rhodesian army in 1980, which saw him being appointed Major-General on April 16 1981. In September 1984, he became the Chief of Staff Administration and Quartermaster. Cde Maseko was declared a national hero and buried at the national shrine.

In the next month of June, Mashonaland Central Province lost two of its prominent sons – former legislator for Guruve South Cde Edward Chindori- Chininga died in a car accident and the former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Organisation (Internal), Cde Elias Kanengoni, who collapsed and died at his home.

Cde Kanengoni was declared a national hero and at his burial Vice President Mujuru, who was the Acting President, said the late national hero was counted among the many men and women intelligence officers whose operational skills were deployed to counter persistent threats to the country’s sovereignty and national integrity.

Born in 1953 in Mazowe, Cde Kanengoni was among the first group of 750 cadres who went to Tanzania for military training in 1976.
Barely a month after the death of Cdes Chininga and Kanengoni, Zimbabwe was plunged into one of its darkest periods in August.
Within seven days, the country lost three of its illustrious sons who contributed immensely to the well-being of Zimbabwe before and after independence.

It is in August that Zimbabwe lost Cdes Mike Tichafa Karakadzai (56), Enos Nkala (81) and Kumbirai Kangai (75). Cde Karakadzai died in a car accident along the Harare-Bulawayo highway. Cde Nkala died of renal failure while Cde Kangai collapsed and died at his home.

Before coming to grips with the death of his former political colleague, the President got the shocking news of the Cde Kangai’s death on Thursday of the same week.

Cde Kangai was one of the few living members of the Dare ReChimurenga and was a founding member of Zanu in 1963. He was described by his political colleagues as the reservoir of political history and held several portfolios in Government. At the time of his death he was a ZANU-PF Politburo member and Senator for Manicaland Province.

Cde Nkala got a befitting send-off at the National Heroes Acre where mourners across the political divide described him as a fearless freedom fighter who dedicated his life to the liberation of Zimbabwe.

Zanu was formed in Cde Nkala’s his house in Highfield in 1963. Cde Nkala once served as Minister of Finance in 1983 and later Minister of National Supplies.

In 1985 he was appointed Minister of Home Affairs and four years later became the Minister of Defence.
Retired Air Commodore Karakadzai whose Chimurenga name was Hip Level was born on March 7, 1957 in Chipinge.
He joined the war as an 18-year-old to offer his life for the liberation of Zimbabwe. He played a crucial role in the mobilisation of masses during the war and received his military training at Chimoio.

At the time of his death Cde Karakadzai was the General Manager of the National Railways of Zimbabwe.
The last three months of the year were no better as the country lost former Mashonaland West governor Cde Nelson Tapera Chrsipen Samkange (82) in October while in November another distinguished military cadre Brigadier General Tanyanyiwa (58) died at Beijing United Family Hospital in China where he was Zimbabwe’s Defence Attaché.

In December, veteran politician and liberation war icon Cde Eric Nyakudya Gwanzura died at his Chegutu home.
The Zanu-PF politburo unanimously declared him national hero because of his contribution in the birth of Zimbabwe. Cde Gwanzura was a Zanu-PF founding member, Central Committee member and a former Senator in the Parliament of Zimbabwe.

Although it is given that death is an inevitable exit for all humans on earth, it has this intolerable effect of leaving a void in our lives.
It is therefore incumbent upon Zanu PF as a vanguard party and the Government to take concrete initiatives in making sure that we preserve for posterity the legacy and reservoir of knowledge from those nationalists still living.

And a prayer, too, would suffice that death does not needlessly rob the country of its finest sons.