Dr Muzenda’s other family
This Wednesday, Zimbabwe commemorates the 14th anniversary of the death of Vice-President Dr Simon Muzenda. To celebrate the life of the Son of the Soil, The Sunday Mail will run a series of articles on the illustrious hero. Last week, our Chief Reporter Kuda Bwititi was in Dr Muzenda’s rural home, Zvavahera, Gutu in Masvingo where he had a conversation with Mr Thomas Chitapwa, one of the people who worked with the late Vice President. Below are excerpts in Mr Chitapwa’s own words.
MY NAME is Thomas Chitapwa and I was born in 1961.
I knew Simon Vengesayi Muzenda because my father also had a close relationship with the Muzenda family.
Our families were bound by history because my father, VaChitapwa, worked for Simon Muzenda’s father, who was affectionately known as VaMavhiya in the Muzendas’ home village of Zvavahera here in rural Gutu.
The relationship between my father and VaMavhiya was so close that it morphed into an unbreakable bond, even though we were not blood relatives.
This was all because VaMavhiya had great affection for everyone that he worked with.
So I can say, Simon Muzenda got many of his characteristics from his father VaMavhiya.
After my father worked with VaMavhiya for many years here in Zvavarehwa area, Gutu, he then left to work in Marondera because Simon Muzenda had also left his home in pursuit of his political career.
Because of his involvement in politics, Cde Simon Muzenda spent a number of years away from his home in Zvavahera and for many years, my father also did not return, as he pursued other interests.
In my childhood, my father told us a lot about the Muzenda family.
He always implored us to conduct ourselves like the Muzenda family as he saw them as an archetypal example of how a family should relate to others.
He always said to us that the best days of his life were when he worked with the Muzenda family.
It was in 1991 that I experienced firsthand the benevolence of Vice President Simon Muzenda when my father and I attended a Zanu-PF rally at Mucheke Stadium.
In his capacity as Vice President, VaMuzenda was one of the main speakers at that rally.
By some stroke of luck, or apparently, because fate decided that it be so, the Vice President spotted my father in the crowd.
To this day, I do not understand how he spotted us among that large crowd.
He asked one of his security officers to allow us to come to the high table so that he would talk to us.
When the Vice President saw my father, he was full of joy.
His exact words to my father were: “I want to provide a better life for your children. Please allow me to adopt them.”
The Vice President gave my father a promise that he would take good care of us and provide us a better life than what we were used to in Murehwa where we were now staying.
It did not take much time for VP Muzenda to live up to his word.
The process started one fine day when the Vice President’s convoy of top-of-the-range vehicles made a grand arrival at our humble dwellings in Murehwa.
He expressed his wish that he wanted to adopt me and my brother to live with him.
Despite his high status as Vice President of the country, VaMuzenda was humble as he formally approached all our relatives in the area and undertook to do all that was necessary so that he could formally adopt us as his own family.
I was heartened by the manner in which Simon Muzenda religiously followed all the procedures to facilitate our relocation to Zvahavera.
He paid everything that was required to our family members and made sure that all was done according to custom.
After we left Murehwa, we stayed at the Vice President’s official residence in Chisipite for some weeks.
I then had a long chat with him one day and he assured me that he would help me to achieve whatever I wanted to do in life.
He asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I told him that my interest was in farming.
It was then that I was given the role of superintending over his agriculture projects in his home village of Zvavahera.
I was not a close family relative to him, but because of his affectionate character, he just loved giving a better life to others.
He provided for everyone in my family.
VaMuzenda adopted our entire family and provided for all our needs such as paying school fees for my young brother who was able to complete his education up to university.
My young brother even took the surname Muzenda.
During my time in Zvavahera, I become the Vice President’s right hand man as I was in charge of all his agriculture projects in the area.
In 1992, he invited President Mugabe to see the piggery and irrigation projects as he shared with him his dream of how he intended to empower the people of Zvavahera.
My role as the person in charge of these projects was to spread these projects to every household in Zvavahera village.
He also built a house for me to make sure that I lived comfortably.
VaMuzenda mobilised donors to make sure that every household in Zvavahera had irrigation.
He built a dam to ensure that there was enough water supply for the irrigation projects.
All 40 households benefited from the initiative.
All the 40 families received all the necessary equipment and were able to start irrigation at their homes.
I cannot imagine what more a man can do to show benevolence to his community.
I will always see VaMuzenda as the father of benevolence, he was benevolent to me and adopted me into his own family and treated me like his own child.
He was benevolent to the entire community in Zvavahera because he provided them with the irrigation project to make them sustain themselves and ensure that they could farm the whole year to get income to cater to all their needs.
I will never forget Simon Vengesayi Muzenda. He was a true hero who drew gratification from assisting others.
VaMuzenda did a lot for my family, we were taken from the humblest of circumstances in Murehwa to a better lifestyle.
I was amazed that a mere rural boy like him was feted with such royalty status. It was all because Vice President Muzenda had so much love.
He derived gratification in making other people happy.