Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo-Herald Reporter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will tomorrow preside over the official launch of the memoirs of academic and Zimbabwe’s former Ambassador to the United States, Professor Simbi Veke Mubako.
Titled “Zimbabwe at 45: The Struggle for Sovereign Autonomy and Prosperity”, the memoirs were published by the Institute of African Knowledge (INSTAK).
Prof Mubako last month paid a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare, where he apprised him of the book.
As the President was presented with the book, he remarked, “Teacher waPresident (the President’s former teacher)”.
Prof Mubako served as a Dean at the University of Zambia, where President Mnangagwa studied Law, hence the comment.
Asked if the book was a no-holds-barred account shortly after his closed-door meeting with the President, Prof Mubako said he had tried to be as candid as possible.
“Well, I try to be as critical as possible in the book, but of course, as frank as possible. And all the information, which I have as someone who has been a member of Government, and a member of the judiciary and all that, is involved in the book,” he said.
Prof Mubako is one of Zimbabwe’s foremost intellectuals, whose service to the nation spans more than 50 years.
The memoirs throw a spotlight on Prof Mubako’s rich experiences in the creation of a sovereign nation-state.
The respected jurist and diplomat held key positions and played significant national and international roles throughout his career, including being one of the key framers of the Lancaster House Constitution that led to Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980.
Prof Mubako was Zimbabwe’s Minister of Justice at Independence, serving in the country’s first Cabinet alongside the man who will launch his memoirs, President Mnangagwa.
As a life-long advocate of African liberation thought and practice, it is fitting that President Mnangagwa will launch the highly-anticipated memoirs.
Prof Mubako has been at the forefront of efforts to preserve and tell Africa’s own story through initiatives such as the Museum of African Liberation, which is being built by INSTAK inside Liberation City.
Prof Mubako is the Chairperson of INSTAK, a Pan-African think tank whose mandate includes African memory preservation and promotion.
