Dr Mzee: The man who only hated Satan

From Page 8 sense of equality with others in us and would teach us to work hard in everything we wanted to be in life. I grew up not very different from other people in the rural community. He refused us any special treatment,” said Cde Tongai.

He added that his father was a spiritual medium or traditional healer was a lie. “He was not. He was a proponent of cultural values and was excited about everything traditional. He had a strong spiritual resolve and would dream like anyone else, like you and me,” he said.

Cde Tongai added that he was very kind and understood that he had a big family — the family Zimbabwe where he dedicated much of his time to. He said he was very traditional and enjoyed traditional dishes such as pumpkin leaves with dovi, audible ants (majuru) as well as sorghum and rapoko sadza. Mice (mbeva) were also part of the delicacy that the late Vice-President enjoyed. His humility was the umbilical cord that connected him with the villagers.

Cde Josiah Hungwe who is among the crop of politicians who were mentored by Dr Mzee spoke passionately and glowingly of him describing him as a unifier. They concurred that had he been around most of the things that are occurring in the party and in Government were not going to happen.

Cde Hungwe said Dr Mzee loved everyone and only hated Satan. He said the late Vice-President was a natural leader who did not want to go to school to perfect any of his qualities.

He said he was a down to earth kind of politician who detested corruption and maintained an open door policy that helped him connect very well with the communities.

He added that Dr Mzee was the cement that unified the party and had he been around the factions and factional fighting were not going to be there.

Born on 28 October 1922 in Gutu District of what was then the Victoria Province of Southern Rhodesia, Cde Muzenda attended Nyamande Primary School before proceeding to Gokomere Mission and later to Domboshava where he trained as a teacher.

In 1945, Dr Mzee demonstrated a high degree of political consciousness when he turned down a farming scholarship to train as an agricultural administrator, arguing that such a career will lead him to a collision course with his own people as the job required him to supervise the killing of cattle belonging to fellow African people.

Dr Muzenda then went to teach at Empandeni Mission where he met President Mugabe. The two became friends. His passion for education made him to enrol at Marianhill College in South Africa for a three-year Diploma in Carpentry. After completing the course, he worked in Durban, South Africa before returning home in 1950.

It was then that he married his childhood sweetheart, Maud Matsikidze. Armed with the political experience that he earned from his sojourn in South Africa, Dr Muzenda became involved in trade unionism in Bulawayo, becoming prominent in 1953 when he was elected Secretary General of the African Voice. He became a mentor to many who went on to become prominent nationalists.

Dr Muzenda was also one of the guiding personalities who were instrumental in the formation of National Development Party (NDP) in 1960.

He was later elected to be the NDP Organising Secretary for Masvingo. When the NDP was banned, Dr Mzee became the administrative secretary for Zapu in the then Fort Victoria. Cde Muzenda was a renowned poet. Such a path, however, landed him in trouble in 1962 when he recited the famous Nehanda Nyakasikana poem. He was banned from entering the area.

Represented by the late firebrand barrister and later Zanu-PF chairman, Cde Hebert Chitepo in court, Dr Muzenda successfully challenged the ban. However, he was again arrested in Zvishavane for an alleged seditious speech blamed for igniting riots in the town.

He was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment but served only two years which he described as a time of study.

Upon his release, he attended Zanu’s first congress in Gweru in 1964 where he was elected Deputy Organising Secretary. Soon after his election, he was arrested for possessing a pistol and was sent to Sikombela where he reunited with President Mugabe. Upon his release, he moved to Zambia, then to Mozambique.

Dr Muzenda suffered a personal tragedy as he lost one of his daughters Theresa during the Chimoio attack. He became Vice-President of Zanu-PF at its congress in exile held in Chomoio in 1977. On the diplomatic front, he attended the Geneva Conference in 1976, Lancaster House as well as the Malta and Dar es Salaam talks.

In recognition of his selfless and unparallel contribution to the liberation struggle, Dr Muzenda was appointed Zimbabwe’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1980. In 1988, he was appointed Vice-President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.