Hildegarde Arena
Reflecting on this quote, I asked, "How do we mourn the greatness, valour and chivalry of the likes of Commander of Commanders, Retired General Solomon Tapfumanei Mujuru? Are tears enough? What memories of him should propel us to move on?"
Last Saturday, thousands thronged the National Heroes Acre where some of our liberators lie - a record number since the interment at the national shrine started in 1981. They did the same in his home area of Chikomba, and in Marondera, the Mashonaland East provincial town. Many acknowledged that the nation gave him a befitting send off - one that spoke volumes of the immense contributions he made to Zimbabwe. But is that bereavement enough for fighters like Cde Rex Nhongo and others whom we have placed in Zimbabwe's hall of fame?

Indeed, soldiers never die, they fade away - but fading away from our memories or what? As I watched his widow Vice President Cde Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru and their daughters I saw pain. Walking hand-in-hand with President Mugabe, ordinarily attired like any woman going to a funeral wake, it was like father and daughter walking together, full of pain however.
How often have we heard the President calling her "musikana iyeyu Teurai Ropa"? Despite this monumental tragedy that had robbed her of a life partner and fellow freedom fighter, the President trusted her ability to mourn her husband while leading the nation as acting President while he attended the Sadc heads of state and government summit in Luanda, Angola.
The same with her children - young women mourning their father not as the General's and Vice President's daughters, but like ordinary women who understand Shona registers. It was simplicity at its best, and a lesson for many in our midst.

We are still baffled by that consuming fire tragedy, and it would be foolhardy to say that we don't have questions. We welcome VP Mujuru's call for answers based on thorough investigations and not speculation from people's fertile imaginations. It is therefore only proper that the police and other experts conduct their investigations unhindered for they have that burden of proof that will clear the air, which as a matter of fact is the issue I wish to glean. Why the media excesses? Indeed questions abound, but why reduce Cde Rex Nhongo to nothing, but a bar talk persona? Why did we see a media frenzy which made observers think that all those screaming headlines were nothing but mere acts?

One observer finally said, "Since when has the private media mourned a Zanu-PF cadre the way they are doing? What is in it for them? And, when you sample the headlines, what does it tell you? What is the bigger picture in those headlines?"
From the headlines that we started seeing since last week Wednesday, the biggest shocker was the Monday August 22 Newsday screaming headline: "Mujuru death: Zanu-PF responsible - Biti".
Before that there was, "Gen Mujuru house fireproof": former farm owner speaks". Earlier editions carried some of the following headlines: "War in Zanu-PF". This came out the day the General passed on.

The day after, they had: "Gen Mujuru death: Zanu-PF in turmoil". All these were building up to the final verdict by Biti when he told MDC-T supporters in Mutare a day after the General's burial that Zanu-PF were the culprits.
Two weeklies had: "Mujuru death ‘no accident': Former owner says it is inconceivable he could not have escaped the fire." The other, "Mujuru allies cry ‘murder most foul'."

The police must have so many witnesses if people could come up with such definitive conclusions. So, this is how we have decided to mourn Cde Rex Nhongo, and console his family? Why cheapen death? You mean to tell me that it needed the former white farmer, an aggrieved party for that matter to tell us that "his" house was "fire proof"?
The Sunday Times reported that Guy Watson-Smith the former owner of the house where General Mujuru was tragically killed said, "One has to wonder whether the truth about Mujuru's death will ever come out. Our house was a sprawling single-storey (bungalow) building, roofed entirely with asbestos sheeting . . . Of course that makes absolutely fire-proof, and the walls were brick and cement. All that could have burned was roofing timbers and ceilings, and to imagine the fire spreading quickly without help is hard to do . . ."

So, how does a house become fireproof if certain elements could burn? The paper concluded that this came as no surprise "as Zanu-PF has a long history of chicanery?" Again, where is the evidence that makes someone make such a generalised statement? Why was it necessary for the media to bring an aggrieved party to comment on an issue that the police were dealing with? Was it a ploy to try and perforate credible evidence that the police might come up with? Why was it important to repeat his claims when Newsday had written the story two days before?
However, it was the MDC-T secretary-general's statement that really went overboard. Tendai Biti said, "We hold Zanu-PF responsible for the killing of General Solomon Mujuru. Zanu-PF invests in

violence and they now engage in (burning) people. That's the Zanu-PF we know. Violence is in their DNA. That's what they know best and their fingerprints show violence," said Biti.
Talk is cheap. Who is the "we" Biti was referring to? Since when has MDC-T been empathetic to the Zanu-PF cause? We hope that Jomic and the Media Commission took note of the malice and hate language in the statement.

The General was Zanu-PF and a Zanla cadre who executed the guerrilla struggle with excellence. And as President Mugabe said, although fire took his life, that fire will not consume the mighty works he performed to make people like Biti insult people's common decency. Isn't it also surprising that MDC-T would not consider postponing its Mutare rally in order to bereave with the nation?
But on second thought, it was not necessary, because the General's widow, another Zanla fighter is a Zanu-PF Vice President, and they are on a "change" expedition to transform what the two and other cadres from Zanla and Zipra worked so hard for.

Cde Rex Nhongo, you are larger than life and we cherish the legacy you left us.
It was no accident that your first name is Solomon, from the Biblical Solomon - the wisest and most endowed king. Your Chimurenga name Rex is from Latin and means king.

As a revolutionary, you deserve better, and not these media excesses. Cde Teurai Ropa and family, may the Spirit of the Lord give you strength to bear the pain.

• tendai.manzvanzvike@zimpapers.co.zw