Online Reporter
Joseph Madzimure-Zimpapers Politics Hub
ZANU PF has mourned Central Committee member Cde Edward Raradza, describing him as a warrior for the post-colonial “new economy”.
Cde Raradza died on Friday in Harare at the age of 79.
Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa said Cde Raradza would be remembered as a pioneering, committed and ardent supporter of the Look East Policy, as Zimbabwe fought against and withstood ZIDERA and other related sanctions imposed by the West, particularly from 2002 onwards.
He also credited Cde Raradza with spearheading arrangements for the first non-official funding from China, parallel to policy loans secured through Government channels.
“The entry of competing capital from rapidly rising China helped break the back of the 2002 economic strangulation contrived through the Maputo Ultimatum against Zimbabwe’s historic Land Reform Programme of 2000,” he said.
“These endeavours helped save the Land Reform Programme from collapse and restored national production under the aegis of empowered black majority-rule farmers.”
Ambassador Mutsvangwa said Cde Raradza created conditions for sustained national economic recovery and future prosperity, as promised by the National Liberation Movement and its Chimurenga II Armed Struggle.
Cde Raradza was a former Member of Parliament for Muzarabani South.
Zanu PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Cde Kazembe Kazembe said the province would submit its recommendation to the party leadership for Cde Raradza to be granted hero status.
“He worked tirelessly for the party and served in the Central Committee for more than two terms. He financed party programmes at provincial and national level. He was a mentor and a father figure in Mashonaland Central,” said Cde Kazembe, who is also the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage.
Cde Raradza was the first black Zimbabwean to own a coal mining company after Zambezi Gas and Coal Mine was granted a Special Grant in 2002.
He was the director of Zambezi Gas and Coal Mine.
Matabeleland North Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Richard Moyo said the mining mogul played a significant role in the development of the province.
“The people of Matabeleland North Province will forever be indebted to the development that Honourable Raradza brought to our province.
“He was not only a mining entrepreneur but also a mining and development champion in Matabeleland North Province,” said Minister Moyo.
At one time, Cde Raradza served as vice president of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU).
In 2011, he co-founded Millennium Tobacco Floors, a licenced tobacco auction company operating in Msasa, Harare.
Throughout his career with the Zimbabwe Farmers Union and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Cde Raradza was a vocal advocate for tobacco farmers.
He regularly lobbied Government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for fairer input pricing, timely access to fertilisers and better pricing structures at auction floors to shield local farmers from inflation.
Cde Raradza is the father of Mashonaland Central provincial youth chairman Cde Emmerson Raradza.
Mourners are gathered at Mawari Farm in Centenary, Mashonaland Central.
