Online Reporter
Fungi Kwaramba
National Editor
PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA has described the late Vice President Joseph Wilfred Msika, who died on August 4, 2009, as a visionary leader and fearless founding nationalist who stood firm in defence of the Zimbabwe he helped to liberate.
In his commemorative message, President Mnangagwa said the late Vice President unreservedly committed himself to the total liberation of his Motherland through nationalist politics and the protracted armed struggle that saw him suffering long spells of incarceration, including at Gonakudzingwa, to dislodge an unjust colonial settler system.
“Today, 4th August, 2026, our great nation solemnly joins the Msika family in commemorating the 17th Anniversary of the passing on of Cde Joseph Wilfred Msika, a staunch veteran nationalist and Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe from 1999 to 2009.
“The late Vice President unreservedly committed himself to the total liberation of his Motherland through nationalist politics and the protracted armed struggle that saw him suffering long spells of incarceration, including at Gonakudzingwa, to dislodge an unjust colonial settler system. After Independence in 1980, Cde Msika’s passion for social justice, empowerment and equitable development manifested through his unrelenting support for the Land Reform Programme in favour of the downtrodden black majority,” said the President.
This month, Zimbabwe remembers its heroic sons and daughters in the mould of the late Vice President Msika and keeping the memory alive, President Mnangagwa urged Zimbabweans both inside and outside the country’s borders to take time to remember the sacrifices made by its liberators.
“During this month of August when we commemorate the 46th Heroes Day, and celebrate the Defence Forces Day, it is only befitting that Zimbabweans at home and in the diaspora take time to reflect on the life of struggle, sacrifice and service which the late Vice President Joseph Msika personified. Alongside his peers and luminaries of our National Struggle, the late Vice President and his generation bequeathed freedom and statehood to us as a people, itself the priceless gift a generation can ever win and pass on.
“As the National Development Strategy enters its final stretch, with our Nation resolutely marching towards the attainment of Vision 2030, we continue to uphold the noble values of sacrifice, patriotism, freedom, unity, love and tolerance which Cde Msika espoused,” said President Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwe is on course to achieving Vision 2030, to become an upper-middle-class economy—a status that many of the country’s heroes and heroines sacrificed for as they fought to dislodge the racist Rhodesian regime, which excluded the black majority from key sectors of the economy and treated blacks as second-class citizens.
Cde Msika embodied that fight not just for racial emancipation, but for the economic inclusion of all Zimbabweans.
“May the soul of the late Vice President, Cde Joseph Wilfred Msika, and indeed the souls of other worthy sons and daughters of this Land, rest in eternal peace,” said the President.
“Following the death of Vice-President Joshua Nkomo in 1999, Cde Msika was appointed to succeed him. He served as the Second Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 23 December 1999 until his death on 4 August 2009. At the party level, he also served as ZANU PF’s Vice President and Second Secretary.
As Vice President, he devoted his energies to supporting the Land Reform Programme, which sought to restore land to its rightful owners. President Mnangagwa noted that cde Msika was a man of unwavering principles who served Zimbabweans selflessly before and after Independence.
Born on December 6, 1923, Cde Msika died on August 4, 2009, at West End Hospital in Harare at the age of 85. He was laid to rest at the National Heroes Acre on National Heroes Day, August 10, 2009.
Zimbabwe will be commemorating its Heroes Day on 10 August. President Mnangagwa will preside over the main event that will be held at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, with parallel commemorations at 10 Provincial Heroes Acres and 60 District Heroes Acres across the country.
A total of 50 000 heroes, 5 000 from each province, will be honoured this year on the Day that will be commemorated under the theme, “Lest We Forget”.
The theme honours the sacrifices made by Zimbabwe’s liberation fighters in securing the country’s independence from colonial rule and encourages citizens to preserve the history of the liberation struggle.
