Oskido’s father buried
OPPOSITION stalwart and father of music legend Oscar "Oskido" Mdlongwa, Esaph Mdlongwa was buried in Bulawayo yesterday. MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa and his MDC-T rival Thokozani Khupe both spoke at the funeral.
Chamisa described the former Pumula-Luveve MP, who died of Covid-19, as a principled politician.
“Zimbabwe has lost a principled statesman who consistently fought for democracy and good governance,” Chamisa said.
Mdlongwa was a founding member of the country’s biggest opposition party, the MDC, established in 1999 and led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai to challenge Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF.
He had been admitted at a private hospital, Mater Dei, in Bulawayo for almost a week. Oskido, who is based in South Africa, confirmed in a Facebook post that his father died of Covid-19.
MDC Alliance vice-president Welshman Ncube said Mdlongwa was originally a trade unionist who took up politics and became a father figure to many who are currently in opposition leadership positions.
“He was firm, principled, compassionate, kind and trusting ... He dedicated his entire life to the struggles of the working class, the poor and the downtrodden,” Ncube said.
“The giant of a man, Esaph Mdlongwa, the consummate nationalist trade unionist-cum-politician who was a mentor and a father figure to those of us whom he took under his protective wing, departs this world when the country he loved so dearly is in great strife.”
The MDC Alliance in a statement said: “He was the party’s first organising secretary and is a former MP for PumulaLuveve in Bulawayo. We are deeply saddened by this news and express our deepest condolences to his family.”
At the time of his death, Mdlongwa had retired from active politics choosing to guide leaders from behind the scenes.
In his youth, like many young men in Southern Africa, Mdlongwa went to South Africa and worked in mines.
There he met Oskido’s mother, the late Emily Molefi.
On his return to Zimbabwe he worked for the national railway companywhich was a hotbed for the birth of the biggest opposition movement in Zimbabwe.
— Times Live/Staff Reporter