Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe
last night confirmed the conferment of the status on Dr Nzuwah, who was aged
68.
“I have received the message that Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwah has
been declared a national hero,” said Minister Kazembe in a brief statement.
Dr Nzuwah’s family had earlier said they were still working
on burial arrangements and will now have to work with authorities on the
interment programme.
In his condolence message, President Mnangagwa said the
nation had been robbed of a long serving, dedicated and loyal civil servant.
Dr Nzuwah succeeded Mr Malcolm Thompson in 1992 as
chairperson of the then Civil Service Commission and served for 26 years before
his retirement in 2018, making him the longest serving member of the
Commission.
President Mnangagwa said: “On behalf of the ruling party
Zanu-PF, Government, my family and my own behalf, I express deep sorrow and
grief to the Nzuwah family, especially to Mrs Nzuwah and the children who have
lost a devoted husband, loving father and guardian.
“May they take comfort from the knowledge that the nation
joins them in mourning his loss. May his soul rest in peace,” he said.
He said Dr Nzuwah was an eminent academic, whose early
scholarly works were in nationalist research in support of the liberation
struggle.
“As a committed cadre, he placed his professional skills
and career at the disposal of the struggle and his country soon after the
attainment of our independence.
“Hence together with the likes of fellow academic
contemporaries in the mould of the late national heroes Dr Tichaona Jokonya, Dr
Charles Utete and the current Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr
Misheck Sibanda and many others, were reassigned from the University of
Zimbabwe to throw their weight behind public service,” said President
Mnangagwa.
He said the late Dr Nzuwah would be remembered in annals of
bureaucracy as the first indigenous person to chair the Public Service
Commission.
“He distinguished himself by ably superintending over the
transformation of our civil service from a colonial bureaucracy serving
minority interests to placing it at the service of the majority of our people
in a post independent Zimbabwe,” the President said. Herald
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