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Chronicle Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday sent his message of condolences to the Sekeramayi family following the death of Shungu Sekeramayi, son of Defence Minister Dr Sydney Sekeramayi in a car accident on Sunday.He also consoled the Zingoni family following the death of Brigadier-General John Zingoni who died after a short illness in Gweru on Friday.
To the Sekeramayi family the President said: “I have learnt with deep sadness the untimely death of your son, Shungu, following a fatal road accident on Sunday, 18 May, 2014. I can only imagine the pain and suffering that you and your wife, Tsitsi, must be going through at this time of bereavement. Losing one’s child is always a profoundly painful, hard to bear experience set to last eternally.”
He said the First Family, the government, Zimbabwe as a whole and Zanu-PF were grieved by Shungu and Brig-Gen Zingoni’s deaths.
“Please accept our deepest condolences to you and your wife and to the Sekeramayi family. Our thoughts and our prayers are with you in your hour of grief and as you try to come to terms with this terrible family tragedy,” he said.
The President said he learnt with deep grief the death of Brig-Gen Zingoni, whose Chimurenga name was Tichaona Brooker Chiwawa.
He said the late army general will be remembered as a committed veteran of the liberation struggle and an illustrious army officer.
Said the President: “It took greater national consciousness and deeper a grasp of the grievances of his oppressed people for the late Zingoni to trade in his personal career prospects in the colonial health sector for an arduous, uncertain and even dangerous life of struggle for the liberation of his people and country.”
President Mugabe hailed Brig-Gen Zingoni’s commitment to the nationalist cause saying the late freedom fighter leaves behind an inspiring legacy for future generations.
Brig-Gen Zingoni’s career in the army saw him participate in key defining campaigns for peace in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
President Mugabe said such campaigns not only show the country’s readiness to defend its sovereignty but demonstrates its commitment to the Pan-Africanist cause.
“Through his career he taught us that freedom and independence, once won, must be defended and secured at all times,” said the President. I wish to console the Zingoni family, especially Amai Zingoni and the children, on their saddest loss. They have lost a loving husband and a caring father respectively. May their grief be assuaged by the fact that Brigadier-General Zingoni’s spectacular career as a people’s freedom fighter, and as well as a decorated soldier who served his country exceptionally well and with unstinted loyalty.
Online Reporter