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Updates by Elita Chikwati, Simiso Mlevu and Costa Mano

1439: Official proceedings have ended and we also conclude our updates. Thank you for joining us

1435: The National Anthem is now being sung

1417: President Mugabe hands the national flag to Dr Utete’s wife Verna before leading the laying of wreaths

1359: Dr Chombo has now asked President Mugabe to lead the deceased’s family relatives to Dr Utete’s final resting place.

1349: President Mugabe has finished his address.

1345: “The Mawarires I don’t even know him, and those who believe in that way of living, well, are not part of us in thinking, they are not part of us as we try to live together. If they don’t want to live with us they should go to those countries that are sponsoring them. We will say no forever, find another environment if you’re a pastor, I don’t know if he’s a man of religion. A man of religion will speak the biblical truth. 1st Corinthians what does it say? Love one another. So beware these men of God, not all of them are true preachers of the bible. I don’t know whether they are serving God, well, we spell God G.O.D they spell God in reverse. Ladies and gentlemen as we bid farewell to Dr Utete I want to bring this challenge to draw the sense of togetherness from this man,”

1340: “The impact of his work on our society will last, so that is the man. On the question of unity, he helped us a lot and we, comrade Nkomo and I had that Unity Accord but the Unity Accord that needs us to be one to be sufficiently conscious of not just our selves as individuals but of others as well, to build that love and harmony our dearly departed Vice President used to almost sing..Love begins with me, with you and with all of us. He was a man  of love, a man of real source of harmony with others. I never had a of a single quarrel that might have had with others. If I made a suggestion that he might not have liked he would have said “wouldn’t this have been better if we had done this’ and this is what we must do as a society,”

1337: “Arguably the second most taxing part of his career came with the land reform programme except this was his passion and he had done some writing on it…it needed deep belief and courage and of course real belief in the revolutionary policy of our reform. He was in every way in step with pour thinking in the party, every way instep with the policies that came with our Politburo.

“A true land reform programme must give way to agrarian reform programmes..we must never hunger, never import food never ever, there is no cause for it. Those who have land must please use it properly, produce, those who need it let them have it. Let them have to use it to produce not to use top sit over and to pride themselves on the fact that ah we now have land,”

1331: “Together with others and also working with the party we had to do vast work of rehabilitation. People who had been displaced, whole villages, whole chieftainships they had to come back to their homes and we had to find ways of doing but we also had to give some basis of doing so, policy basis and we owe it largely to him. We are truly grateful to the Utete family for having equipped their son for the emerging challenges of our time,”

1326: “We had to look for those who had acquired education without and within the country and give them positions..all of them were degreed people and they all agreed to come to be civil servants but he was at the top of them….it took a disciplined cadre and orderly mind and tireless officer for all that to happen. Today in that tiny casket lies the chief architect of our public service..completely revolutionise, completely Africanised..Dr Utete was at the centre of our policy formulation,”

1321: President Mugabe describes how Dr Utete was recruited to lead Government by accepting to shape the new bureaucracy by Africanise it without denting its efficiency.

1317: “Every inch a scholar, a deep practical thinker…after the March 1980 elections one of the biggest challenges we faced was running a Government without an iota of experience..we went as far as appealing to Lord Soames to stay on as we gathered experience. I said to Lord Soames I know two things-teaching and fighting the liberation war,”

1314: “The message of his death reached me while in Rwanda..it was devastating, I could not reconcile with it..the last time we had met was at the funeral of Mai Chitepo,”

1311: President Mugabe is now on the podium

1304: He says Dr Utete was a man full of integrity saying he counseled young family members to upright and had exceptional leadership qualities.

“I wish we could be able to clone Dr Utete, I’m sure we would have a better Zimbabwe. I can assure you as a family will keep his legacy alive…allow me to thank, on behalf of the family, president Mugabe, Cabinet as well as Government officials who assisted us as well as all those who have come to our assistance during this difficult time,” he says

He has finished his address.

1259: A family representative is now addressing the mourners. He narrates the academic achievements of Dr Utete.

1251: A preacher is giving a sermon

1240: The body of the late Dr Utete has arrived at its final resting place where he will be laid to rest joining several other heroes who dedicated their lives to liberation and emancipation of Zimbabwe.

1236: President Mugabe has arrived at the National Heroes Acre.

 

1210: Service Chiefs too are among mourners already gathered here

1209: VPs Mphoko and Mnangagwa have arrived at the national shrine to join thousands who have braved the scorching heat to bid farewell to the architect and builder of public service.

1158: Some of the mourners who are celebrating the life of a man who served diligently behind the scenes in the civil service do so in song and dance.

1154: Home Affairs Min Dr Ignatius Chombo who is also Director of Ceremony has also arrived at the shrine

1153: Security services Ministers Dr Sekeramayi and Cde Mohadi have arrived here at National Heroes Acre

1150: The body is now being taken to the National Heroes Acre

1125: The President is leading the body viewing ceremony.

1116: President Mugabe arrives.

1105: Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has arrived.

1051: Service chiefs have arrived at Stodart Hall. Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko has also arrived

1047: Thousands are gathered here at National Heroes Acre to bid farewell to Dr Charles Utete.

1001: The Gun Carriage carrying the body of Dr Utete has arrived at Stodart Hall

0936: Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has arrived

0924: Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni arrives

0907: Minister of State Security Cde Kembo Mohadi and wife Tambudzani have arrived

0905: Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Cde Mabel chinomoma arrives

0845: Mbare chimurenga already singing outside the hall

0841: People have started gathering at Stodart Hall to bid farewell to yet another fallen hero Dr  Charles Utete who collapsed and died at his Highlands home last Friday. Dr Utete, a former Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet becomes the first civil servant to be interred at the national shrine.

Regarded as the brains behind public service, he is being honoured for his sterling job in setting up the structures beginning in the early 1980s.