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Mukudzei Chingwere –Herald Reporter
“These are my classmates. We grew up together and I am so happy, so happy that they have found time to come and see me,” said President Mnangagwa while bidding farewell to 14 of his former classmates at the University of Zambia Law School (UNZA).
Indeed, the excitement was palpable and a much-needed breather for President Mnangagwa who, every day, has his pulse on tightening the bolts and nuts as well as aligning the matrices of a burgeoning economy.
“There is nothing so important in life than when people you played with 50 years ago remember you and come and see you. I don’t know what I can do to reciprocate but, I am extremely, extremely happy that they have come to see me. These were my colleagues and schoolmates in Zambia,” said President Mnangagwa.
From the day the group set foot in Zimbabwe, marked by a State banquet hosted in their honour on Wednesday, the visit has been punctuated by bouts of lighthearted laughter and reflections from colleagues who have gone on to excel separately and with varying degrees of success in their career paths.
For President Mnangagwa, a rewarding and immediate career in the legal field was not to be, as he swapped the courtroom and the arms of justice for a punishing date with the liberation war for Zimbabwe’s independence. Justice Esau Chulu spoke on behalf of the visiting delegation and was asked if they ever imagined their classmate would rise to become a Head of State.
Jokingly interjecting his colleague, President Mnangagwa had the room in stitches of laughter when he quipped, “. . . he thought he himself will be President.”
Addressing the question, Justice Chulu said, “. . . in life that’s what happens, you never know who you play around with, who you are entertaining, and what that person might be in future. Here is indeed that bond of relationship, friendship, driving around together in Lusaka, Zambia, but little did we know that we are hosting a future President. So, indeed God blessed us as a class to have one of us rising to the status of Head of State, and so we are so grateful to God who has made it,” he said.
His office was thrilled to see the President enjoying and reminiscing on events that happened in his 30s.
Deputy Chief Secretary Presidential Communications George Charamba summed it up as a jovial reunion of old colleagues and spoke of how refreshing it was seeing the President unwinding and getting a breath of light-hearted laughter off his usually busy schedule.
“This was a true reunion of old classmates and what a hearty encounter it was,” said Mr Charamba. “The President was overjoyed to be with his age mates and college mates and he poured out very light-hearted reminiscences of the life that they lived then.
“There was a swapping of very hearty reminiscences on the part of these former classmates, jovial through and through,” he said.
Peter Tanyanyiwa