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Prince Ngwenya
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has described the late Vice President and National Hero, Cde Joseph Wilfred “Bruno” Msika as a combative man who shunned tribal, regional and racial affinities in favour of great national interests.
It has been 14 years since Vice President Msika’s death at the West End Hospital in Harare on 4 August 2009 due to hypertension.
He had been hospitalised there for 46 days.
When the late Vice President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo died in 1999, Cde Msika served as Vice President from 1999 to 2009.
At the time of his death, Vice President Msika was survived by his wife, Maria and six children.
In his message commemorating the 14th anniversary of Vice President Msika’ death, President Mnangagwa said he will be remembered as a revolutionary icon who courageously fought against racial injustice and various other remnants of colonialism and his significant contributions have left a lasting impact on the nation’s history.
“The late former Vice President was a trade unionist founding nationalist and revolutionary icon who gallantly fought and defeated racial injustice, oppression and various other colonial vestiges. Cde Msika endured countless incarceration humiliations and other excesses at the brutal hands of the erstwhile, white minority regime but today, he stands immortalized as a venerated embodiment of our country’s struggle for Independence and the post-war reconstruction and development agenda” he said.
President Mnangagwa said Msika started politics around 1954 as the combative leader of the Textile and Allied Workers Union who played a crucial role resulting in the Lancaster House Conference talks in 1979.
“Affectionately known as “Bruno” for his rather combative and explosive forthrightness, the late Vice President, always shunned tribal, regional and racial affinities in favour for greater national interests.
“Spurred by a selfless public spiritedness, a steadfast zeal for unity, freedom and peace. Cde Msika joined politics in 1954 albeit as the leader of the Textile and Allied Workers Union.
“He was subsequently instrumental in the formation of successive nationalist political and military movements culminating in the Lancaster House Conference talks in 1979 and Independence in 1980 respectively,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said the people of Zimbabwe will forever hold the memories of the late Cde Msika as a man of unwavering principles.
He said the late Vice President served Zimbabweans selflessly before and after Independence until his untimely death.
“Cde Msika will be remembered as the first Minister of Natural Resources in the newly Independent Zimbabwe. Imbued with a profound sense of loyalty, maturity and wisdom, the late Vice President ascended to the post of Second Secretary of ZANU(PF) and Vice President of Zimbabwe in 1999.
“Together with his compatriots, he championed the Land Reform Programme and various other socio-economic empowerment programmes aimed at uplifting the living standards of the citizenry,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said people should forever remember memories of the Zimbabweans who lost their lives during the struggle for Independence.
“In this month, when the Nation commemorates all the departed sons and daughters of the soil on 14th August. 2023, the fond memories of Cde Msika shall forever be engraved in our hearts,” he said.
Online Reporter