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Provincial Heroes’ Acre at the burial of liberation war heroine Mrs Charlotte Sonwabile Msipa, wife to former Midlands governor Dr Cephas Msipa, President Mugabe said elections should be held in a peaceful environment.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said people should not fight the church just because it was brought by the whites who later colonised Africans.
“Tinoda runyararo, tive nerunyararo, tibatsirei zvikuru. Irwo rwendo rwatiri kuita kusvika kumaelections, kuve nerunyararo pavanhu vedu, tive vanhu vakabatana munyika yedu. Hatina kurwa Chimurenga tichiti tichaparadza chechi nokuti yakauya nevarungu, aiwa.
“Takauya tichiti chechi tinotsigirana nayo. Ndozvatakauya nazvo izvozvo. Zviito zvavachena, zvitadzo zvavo handi zvitadzo zvechurch as the church ah-ah, kwete.
“The doctrine is clear, the Bible is clear, the sins of man are not the sins of the Bible, kwete. Saka tiri tose ipapo, ndokusaka tichiramba takabatana tose.”
President Mugabe said the church played a role in the liberation struggle as it offered special prayers, albeit in secret, for nationalists in detention and in restricted areas as well as those who were undergoing military training outside the borders.
“They pray so that as leaders we do not retreat in our duties. Some will be appeasing spirits . . . vachipira chivanhu chedu vamwe vachiita chiKristu, zvese zvanga zvakabatana.
“This is because the war of liberation was not a stroll in the park, it was full of challenges. It demanded that many people, all of us, we come together and put our ideas to the same task.
“At home, if you did not have the support of your wife, you would quit because you would question yourself the logic of engaging in the fight for independence when your family is suffering.
“But if the wife is supporting you, praying for you, receiving messages that your children are being taken good care of, that problems may exist but things are not as bad, unoramba uchiti ndinokweva, unoramba uchiendererawo mberi.”
President Mugabe said families were a determinant among those who went to war.
“We would be detained in places for political reasons like Wha wha Prison where we would meet with others from different parts of the country,” he said.
“That is where you would see the brave and the cowards. Some would start complaining after spending three days only…ah mukadzi wangu kumba ndowana atorwa. Ah, unochema nyaya yemukadzi wako, mazuva mashomanana iwaya.
“What kind of wife is taken in such a short period? We also had sell-outs, some would go to the whites behind our backs for them to be released. They would tell the whites that it is so and so who is engaging in politics. However, we also had others who were committed and courageous, who did not retreat. People like Dr Msipa, he never retreated.”
President Mugabe said since the days he was Prime Minister and to today as Head of State, he had known Dr Msipa as an upright, honest and principled man who shunned corruption.
He said Dr Msipa was forthright and honest and would not hesitate to point out anything that he would not be happy with.
“VaMsipa is my uncle and I have been his Prime Minister and President,” said President Mugabe.
“This is my first time to tell him that he is an honest, frank and upright man.
“There is no corruption in Dr Msipa, there is no retreating in this man and there is no stealing in him. I know because I stayed with him for years at his Highfields house when I returned from Ghana. I believe Dr Msipa is the man he is because of ambuya varere apo.”
President Mugabe said most families of political detainees and restrictees crumbled in the absence of the family heads.
He said only those with strong wives like Mrs Msipa survived.
President Mugabe said he attended the burial of Mrs Msipa in his capacity as a nephew to Dr Msipa and his late wife.
“As President I do not normally attend burials at provincial heroes acres, but I together with my wife, Amai Mugabe, we felt compelled to come to bury our aunt,” he said.
“Ambuya was a soft and humble woman who managed to instill discipline in her children in the absence of her husband. We want to thank the church as Government for what you are doing. We will continue to ask for the church’s support similar to what it has done today.
“When I say church, I mean all churches, regardless. Tibatane zvakadai. What you did today, giving a befitting send-off to my aunt and her spirit as well as many others that you accord the same service should be commended.
“You are also there to help us raise our children, assisting them in schools, in hospitals, helping them grow as Christians and as people who are well-mannered and disciplined.
They grow up not just as people endowed with Christian values, but with our own traditional values as well. I want to conclude by saying mbuya fambai zvakanaka, rest in peace, tatenda,” said President Mugabe.
Online Reporter