President consoles Norman family

Robin Muchetu

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has sent a message of condolence to the family of the late former Minister of Agriculture, Mr Dennis Norman who died in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom a fortnight ago.

The President said the nation had been saddened by his passing on.

“The death slightly over two weeks ago in Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom, of Zimbabwe’s long-time Minister of Agriculture, Mr Dennis Norman, after a long battle with cancer, has left our nation saddened.

“A long-time leader of the agriculture sector before our independence in 1980. Mr Norman was among a handful of white leaders who offered to serve under a black majority Government at independence, thus validating our policy of national reconciliation following 15 years of our armed struggle against white settler colonialism,” said President Mnangagwa in a statement on Wednesday.

He said leaders like Mr Norman, David Smith, Chris Anderson and Dr Timothy Stamps, all late would be remembered in the country’s history for playing a solitary role in the formative years of our nation.

“As a Minister of Government, Mr Norman worked hard towards a unified non-racial agricultural sector where farmers related to each other and collaborated on grounds on their calling and not along the racial divide of colonial times. On behalf of the nation of Zimbabwe which he loyally served, its Government of which he was a part for so long, and on my behalf, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to the Norman family on this their saddest loss. May they derive comfort from the deep respect and regard which our nation continues to give him. May his dear soul rest in eternal peace,” said the President.

Mr Norman died on 20 December 2019 from cancer of the aesophegus.