He was 86. The national hero status declaration was made by
Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri yesterday.
She was accompanied by Zanu PF acting national Political
Commissar Cde Patrick Chinamasa, when she delivered the message to the Ribeiro,
Mashonganyika and Makaka families in Harare.
She described Fr Ribeiro as a friend, a gallant son of the
soil, a freedom fighter, great researcher and theologist par excellence.
“We came as Zanu PF family and Government of Zimbabwe sent
by President Mnangagwa to pay our condolences and inform you of the honour
bestowed on our friend, Fr Ribeiro after considering his role in the liberation
of this country,” said Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri.
“Fr Ribeiro fought for the independence of this country
despite being a cleric and he even continued to serve after independence. He
had unpleasant experiences during the war as he prayed for prisoners before
hanging.
“He was a friend to the prisoners and had a great
influence. He also assisted former President Mugabe and national hero Edgar
Tekere to cross to Mozambique. He represented President Mnangagwa when he was
arrested during the war.”
Cde Chinamasa said he last saw Father Ribeiro on Monday
when he came to his office to present some papers.
“He told me about some prison officers who died in prison
and what should be done to them. I did not know this was my last day with him,”
he said.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri then took the opportunity to
teach mourners about the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for every citizen to
protect him or herself and others through following the World Health
Organisations guidelines that include washing hands, maintaining social
distance and sanitising hands regularly.
Relatives and friends described the late national hero as
friendly, unifier, generous, a novelist, a music composer and great historian
into the liberation struggle history.
On Thursday, President Mnangagwa described the death of Fr
Ribeiro as a great loss to the nation as he served Zimbabwe with distinction.
From serving in many rural parishes during the colonial
era, Fr Ribeiro later on dedicated his life to catering to the spiritual needs
of many freedom fighters, both those who were serving long prison terms and
those who were unjustly condemned to death by the country’s erstwhile
colonisers.
President Mnangagwa was among the condemned and only
escaped the hangman’s noose because he was under-age.
“In the case of condemned former prisoners like myself, his
figure became one of the only contacts we had with the outside world. Or the
only and last human being one would see before one met one’s cruel fate at the
hands of colonial authorities,” said President
Mnangagwa.
“His religious chores as a prison chaplain thus brought him
in direct contact with souls in acute distress. Indeed, it exposed him to
horrid scenes of settler penal cruelty, scenes which haunted him to his last
day in this life.
“I mourn his passing on as one of the few lucky ones he was
able to rescue from the gallows, a development which makes his demise
particularly poignant and quite painful to me personally.”
Fr Ribeiro who reconstructed the last moments of the famous
Chinhoyi 7, including tracing their family trees across the country, was at the
time of his death tracing final steps of numerous freedom fighters who fell
prey to the cruel colonial penal system before independence.
Apart from contributing to the reconstruction of the
national struggle narratives, Fr Ribeiro also put his life, along with other
missionaries, on the line as he fought for the liberation of Zimbabwe
Together with the late Sister Aquina, late Moven Mahachi
and Sekuru Tangwena, Fr Ribeiro played a critical role which ensured the late
Cdes Robert Gabriel Mugabe and Edgar Zivanai Tekere absconded to Mozambique for
purposes of leading the struggle after the assassination of Zanu Chairman, Cde
Herbert Chitepo, then in exile.
Until the achievement of independence, Fr Ribeiro’s
commitment to the liberation struggle was unquestionable. Fr Ribeiro was also a
music composer of repute. He composed church hymns, which are part of sermons
in the Roman Catholic Church to this day.
Critically, Fr Ribeiro assisted in the composition of the
national anthem and as an artist was part of the team that designed the
national flag.
Added President Mnangagwa: “He did a lot more than singing;
he was an accomplished novelist who wrote in one of our local languages under
the then Rhodesia Literature Bureau.
“Alongside late Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa and late
Solomon Mutsvairo, Fr Ribeiro blazed the trail employing national languages for
creative writing.
“It spoke highly of him as an author that his flagship
novel ‘Muchadura’, became an abiding set-book in schools.
“Today we mourn the passing of this man of many talents. On
behalf of the party Zanu PF, Government, that of my family and on my behalf, I
wish to express my deepest condolences to the Ribeiro family.
“Above all, I tender my sincere condolences to the
Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Harare, His Grace Archbishop Robert
Ndlovu and the entire membership of the
Catholic Church in Zimbabwe.
“We keenly feel and share your pain and grief, praying that
the Good Lord rests Fr Emmanuel Ribeiro’s soul eternally.”
Fr Ribeiro was born in 1935 in Chivhu and attended Kutama
Mission, Gokomere, and Gweru Teachers’ College.
He studied Theology at Chishawasha Mission before enrolling
for a Master’s Degree at Bloomington College of Music in the US.
Fr Ribeiro was trained at Chishawasha Mission from 1952 and
was ordained on December 13, 1964. Herald
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