President mourns top diplomat

Chief Reporter

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday mourned the death of long-serving Director of State Occasions in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ambassador Evelyn Kawonza, saying she was a humble and hardworking public servant.

Ambassador Kawonza died on Friday after a long illness.

In a statement, the President consoled the Kawonza family over the death of the accomplished diplomat.

“The death of Ambassador Evelyne Kawonza following a long period of illness has robbed our nation of a long-serving civil servant and a loyal and diligent Ambassador,” he said.

“A long-time Director of State Occasions in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Ambassador Kawonza belonged to a pioneering crop of civil servants who shaped and manned our Government systems from Independence in 1980 when the country suffered from a dearth of skills in the civil service.”

President Mnangagwa said Ambassador Kawonza served the country diligently.

“She served the Government without blemish, a proud record which saw her rise through the ranks until she became Zimbabwe’s Ambassador in different parts of the world for more than a decade.

“A distinguished farmer, Ambassador Kawonza would cut a name for herself as a prominent potato seed producer in Mashonaland West where she farmed,” he said.

The President said after defending the Land Reform Programme in Western capitals during her tenure as a diplomat, Ambassador Kawonza proceeded to demonstrate what the new indigenous farmers could do once given access to their heritage.

“We have lost a humble civil servant and a hardworking citizen who believed in her own country and served it wholeheartedly and with honesty.

“On behalf of the Government, my family and on my own behalf, I wish to express my deepest condolences to the Kawonza family who have lost their loved one.

“May they derive solace from the distinguished public career of the dear departed, and the high regard in which our nation held her.

“May her dear soul rest in eternal peace.”