MNANGAGWA CHASED MUZENDA FROM GWERU, SAYS MUGABE

Updates by The Herald
1525: President Mugabe has finished addressing and readies to take the two liberators to their final resting place.

1523: As a party, President Mugabe says Zanu-PF is people oriented. He says the army is there to protect the people. So is the police. They are for the people. He has implored Zimbabweans not to fear the army saying it is there to serve the people. His Excellency has also blasted traffic police officers ordering them to stop corruption and harassing people on the roads.

1518: “We say to George, son of the soil, you played your part. You played it with utmost humility and very strong ideological direction,”
President Mugabe has assured the late Cde Rutanhire that he will ensure that his works are carried forward in the same manner he envisioned. He adds that Zanu-PF is not a party that push individual agenda but is concerned with the people.
“Vanhu, vanhu, vanhu,” President Mugabe says.
1516: He has implored schools not to be ashamed of teaching Zimbabwean history.
“We don’t want to hear teachers saying we do not want to teach it yet they want to teach about Napoleon. Where do they know him from? This is a double tragedy. As I told you, when I looked at these two, I felt deep pain and my tears were welling up,”
1510: He says at one point, Minister of Mines Cde Chidakwa told him that he was not well.

“I encouraged him to go for a check up. He came back to me exclaiming at what we saw. He said after tests, he saw fat in his own blood and was advised that it is the same fat that blocks veins and blood struggles to be pumped around the body,”

President Mugabe says Cde Rutanhire struggled with the bullet which he lived with. But still, he never laid back. He would struggle and come to the meetings. He struggled to make Herbert Chitepo Ideological college move forward. He thrived to teach young people. Some of us were never taught anything.
1504: “We were worried and are still worried by lack of ideological knowledge. You hear people, someone has fallen sick and they say aroiwa. That’s lack of ideological knowledge. A leader akararwa anonzi aroiwa, ah, when did this start! Technology is advanced and we encourage people to go for constant check ups. Certain diseases attack. The bodies are not ours,”

1501: “I want to thank you all who came here. To Mai Muzenda, go well. Those who believe in God, we will pray. Those who believe in traditional healers, hamenowo.”
Turning to Cde Rutanhire, President Mugabe says, “young man, are you gone? Why? Why now? He says Cde Rutanhire was a very respectful cadre. Very committed and very dedicated.
Because of his conduct, he says “we did not hesitate to appoint him to various posts in the Government.”

1455: President Mugabe says Mai Muzenda remained committed to the party even when her body was failing her.
Addressing the Muzenda siblings, he says “That is the kind of mother you had. She was full of love,”
1449: His Excellency has urged young people to draw inspiration from the life Gogo Muzenda led.

“At a tender age, she was left by her husband who was going to the struggle. She remained behind with children and raised them well. It was not easy but she carried herself well.”
1442: President Mugabe implores the Muzenda siblings to stay united and be guided by principles they were taught by the parents.

“Mai vaenda nhasi but stay united. If you need help, don’t be shy to approach us. Don’t be shy to approach elders in the party,”

1439: “The other day Director General Bonyongwe came to me saying he just came from visiting Amai Muzenda and he told me she is too ill adding that he saw people smearing some creams to her. I told him that it is a catholic tradition and its called a sacrament. Bonyongwe wanted to stop them saying he thought it’s a concoction from traditional healers. No, I told him,” he says as mourners, who include DG Bonyongwe, break into laughter.
1435: “Vaenda Amai vemhuri nhasi. Before we came here, I said to Tsitsi I am sorry. You are now the mother of the family. We also travelled with Vengesai, the son who is a pilot, and I asked him how is your mom, he told me she is not well,”

1434: “I had never seen him shaken like he was at one point in Chimoio. His daughter, Theresa had perished during the bombing of the camp. He was so devastated. ”

1431: “Well, Muzenda managed to do all what he was doing with us because, at home, he knew that Mai Maud Muzenda was taking care of children very well,”

1422: “There was unity. Not what we are seeing today. This is not the Masvingo we knew. We hear they even identify witches and wizards. We now hear that even the President is one. Ah, why now when we came all the way? We don’t have wizards in Zanu PF, we only have people who lose party ideology.  President Mugabe says at one point, they sent Cde Muzenda to go and buy a goat but he never came back with it. When we inquired, he told us that it had been involved in an accident. We wondered how but the truth was that he had passed through a binge, got drunk and offered the goat for a braai,”

1417: President Mugabe says later they moved to Gweru and Muzenda complained that boys from Gweru pestered him to go back to his own home area.

“I asked who are those and he told me, Emmerson and others. That is how he went back and he started working from Masvingo together with the likes of Josaya Hungwe,”

1411: Going down the memory lane, President Mugabe details the nature of friendship they had. He says the friendship saw Muzenda following him to Empandeni Mission where he also wanted to teach.

“But later, Muzenda disappeared and we wondered where he had gone, only to later learn he had gone to South Africa to do further studies in carpentry. He later came back and went to work in Bulawayo. Not many people had access to education. Very few people had been to school. Those who had better education were the likes of Nkomo (Joshua) and Muzenda who had gone to South Africa to learn. These became torch bearers of the struggle,”

1408: President Mugabe says he silently asked if God could not separate the days adding that George was more like son to Gogo Muzenda. The friends that I had during the struggle are the likes of Muzenda, Takawira and Sithole adding that they shared life. Muzenda knew about my family as much as I knew about knew about his.
1402: “We heard the narrations by the two families. The Muzenda and Rutanhire families. When we had services, I felt a deep sorrow. In my heart I asked, God, what wrong have we done do deserve this? Have we erred in our way of life? He says he is pained by the loss of comrades who dedicated their lives to liberating Zimbabwe. I do not think we did any wrong God, the country that had been forcibly taken away from its rightful owners, we fought and brought it back. Many went out to fight. Many came back but again, many remained in the bush,”

1358: “The bereaved, Muzenda family, the honourable VP, Cde Mphoko and Mai, Cde VP, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, we were with him but he told us, he has not fully recovered and will not be able to come to the Heroes Acre. He went home to rest.  The President of the Senate Mai Edna Madzongwe, Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Mudenda, Chief Justice Malaba, Minister of Harare Province, Cde Mirriam Chikukwa, ministers here present, comrades and friends,”
1357: Dr Chombo has invited President Mugabe to address the mourners.

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