adminHIGHER Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo’s daughter, Zanele, has been found dead at a house in Cape Town, South Africa.
Prof Moyo was in the early stages of a speech to academic staff at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo yesterday when an aide walked over and asked him to step outside, where the tragic news was relayed to him.
The Tsholotsho North MP returned to the room briefly with Dr Machivenyika Mapuranga, the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Permanent Secretary, who announced the tragic news to a disbelieving room.
The minister said nothing as he and his aides walked out of the room to return to Harare.
Zanele, who celebrated her 20th birthday on 12 August, was in the first year of her International Relations degree programme at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Her sister, Lungile, said Zanele was found by a friend who got concerned when she did not answer her phone yesterday morning.
“We still don’t have the full details of what happened, but her friend who called us said she managed to gain entry into the property with the help of a locksmith at around 11.30am. She had already passed away when they found her,” Lungile said by telephone from Johannesburg.
Lungile described her sister as a “very happy person who loved to make people laugh” adding that she was “very wise for her age.”
But she also told of her sister’s battles with depression.
“She was suffering from depression on and off, but I don’t know what troubles she was going through right now, if any,” she added.
Zanele, the second youngest of Prof Moyo’s five daughters, was born in Kenya where her father previously worked. She attended Arundel School and completed her A-levels at The Heritage School in Harare.
Mourners. are gathered at Number 7 Rosary Close off Stonechat in Borrowdale, Harare.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter