Online Reporter
Masimba Mavaza-Correspondent
Ambassador Stuart Harold Comberbach, a distinguished and long-serving diplomat who dedicated over five decades to the nation’s foreign service, died last Thursday in the United Kingdom after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 72.
Comberbach, born 27 September 1952, served as Zimbabwe’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland as his last station.
He was married to Mrs Benedict Ann Comberbach.
Comberbach attended the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and began his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after graduating in 1974.
He worked under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving in Gabon from 1975 to 1979.
From 1987 to 1994, he was the head of Zimbabwe’s trade mission in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He rose through the ranks to hold several prestigious ambassadorial posts, representing Zimbabwe in Italy, Japan, and South Korea.
His final role before retiring in November 2024 was as Zimbabwe’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland.
He was a soft and humble man. I met him during a meeting in Switzerland. He never walked with his position on the shoulders. He mixed very well with everybody and his humility came deep from his heart.
Comberbach was reassigned during the reshuffle of September 2018 to serve as a Special Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade under the late Minister Sibusiso Moyo.
In March 2021 he was deployed as the permanent representative to the United Nations, replacing Dr Frederick Shava who had been appointed Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister.
He was Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Italy and permanent representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) from 1994 to 1999. In Rome, he served on the UN Committee on World Food Security.
He was Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Industry and International Trade from 1999 to 2002.
When Industry and International Trade Minister Nkosana Moyo resigned in May 2001, Comberbach took over as temporary head of the ministry.
From 2003 to 2014, he served as the ambassador of Zimbabwe to Japan and South Korea. He also served as chairman of the African Diplomatic Corps in Japan, an arm of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) from January 2003 and May 2011.
In 2014 Comberbach was named a senior adviser in the Office the President and Cabinet under former President Robert Mugabe.
At the time, a communication from the US Embassy in Harare described Comberbach as “one of the few senior whites remaining in government” and “a competent technocrat.
On 8 May 2015, Comberbach was honoured with the Order of the Rising Sun, along with 5 other foreign recipients at an event held in Tokyo. Later, a conferment ceremony was held in Harare, hosted by Japan’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Yoshi Hiraishi.
The then Minister of Welfare Services for War Veterans Christopher Mutsvangwa praised Comberbach for receiving the honour.
In 2015, he was succeeded by Air Vice-Marshal Titus Abu-Basutu as ambassador to Japan.
Then President Robert Mugabe appointed Comberbach as senior secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet.
His appointment was announced by Dr Misheck Sibanda, the then Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet.
He was later assigned different areas of focus within the office of the President and Cabinet: In 2015, he became the Permanent Secretary for Corporate Governance, State Enterprises, and Delivery Unit.
In September 2018, President Mnangagwa appointed new advisers, and Comberbach was assigned the new portfolio of Special Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
In a statement, Vice President Chiwenga hailed Comberbach as an “exceptional patriot” whose unwavering commitment helped shape Zimbabwe’s international relations.
“Notably, he was one of the few white citizens who chose to remain and serve in the Government after the country’s independence in 1980,” said Dr Chiwenga.
He was instrumental in advancing the Second Republic’s “engagement and re-engagement” policy, championing the mantra of “Zimbabwe being a friend to all and enemy to none.”
He played a key role in integrating international trade functions into the foreign ministry and used his extensive diplomatic network to encourage foreign investment.
Dr Chiwenga extended heartfelt condolences on behalf of President Mnangagwa, the Government, and the nation to Comberbach’s wife, and their three children, noting that his passing is a loss felt by the entire country.
He paid tribute to the veteran envoy’s nearly five decades of service to the nation.
“During his five decades of professional service to the Government, Ambassador Comberbach demonstrated a rare and unwavering commitment to duty,” said Dr Chiwenga.
“His patriotism was never in question, and he believed that our differences in race, colour and creed only served to enrich our shared humanity as one family in a unified Zimbabwe. On behalf of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, and the First Family, the Government and ZANU PF party, the entire nation, and on my own behalf, I wish to express my sincere condolences to Mrs Comberbach and the entire family,” said Dr Chiwenga.
He was unfailingly friendly and courteous, and he did not dodge questions, famously bluntly telling the UN press corps that he viewed the sanctions against Zimbabwe as illegal. He was simply a nice guy: I can remember his amused sympathetic smile when he saw the opposition demonstrators at Davos.
All of the Zimbabwean delegates we remember that he didn’t forget a face, stopping to say hello even if he didn’t have time to talk.
He never looked at his skin colour. To him Zimbabwe was first, everything else second. Even when he was battling poor health, he never gave up on his duties.
We had meetings late at night as he took his medication. He would say: “Nothing must stop me from finishing this programme,” with a chuckle.
Such was the determination he had towards the prosperity of his motherland.
Peter Tanyanyiwa