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The late Dr Mzee

Walter Mswazie Herald Correspondent
To honour the late Vice President Dr Simon Muzenda for his supreme sacrifice for the country’s independence struggle, Masvingo Sports Club will hold a free open golf tournament under the patronage of the Muzenda family.

The late Dr Mzee died at the age of 80 on September 20, 2003. He was laid to rest at the National Heroes Acre.

Dubbed the: “Muzenda Golf Memorial Tournament,” the event will be held on October 7 this year and is expected to attract a number of golfers in and around the province.

Other participants are expected to come from as far as Harare. The tourney, which started last year, has become an annual event and is supported by the late icon’s children.

In an interview, Captain Vitalis Muzenda, the son of the late Vice President, said it was befitting to commemorate the life of their father through hosting sporting activities in his home city of Masvingo.

He said his father was a man of the people who easily mixed with people from all walks of life. This, he said, was because of the late Vice President’s philanthropic and selfless nature.

“The tournament, which has become an annual event, will attract the who is who from the local business community and others from Harare,” Captain Muzenda said.

He said his father always wanted people to be happy, hence they felt motivated to organise events that could bring people of Masvingo together. “My father was a jovial character and he used to give to the community. Sometimes we felt jealousy as his children after discovering that we always played second fiddle to other children from the society especially from Zvavahera Village in Gutu.

“He would take children from the community as his own, sending them to school, some to boarding schools, universities and colleges. Such philanthropy is worth emulating and what we are doing as his children is tantamount to appeasing his spirit.”

Captain Muzenda said the whole family of seven children — three girls and four boys — will strive to emulate the late Vice President especially on giving back to the community.

The family has also set their sights on reviving the Muzenda Foundation which has seen a number of children from disadvantaged families being supported with school fees.

He said the foundation had donated golf kits to pupils at Donbosco Primary School and Runyararo Primary School in Masvingo as a way to promote the sport in schools targeting the youths.

Cde Tongai Muzenda, who is also the Gutu South legislator, said the family also wants to host a number of activities to keep their father’s legacy alive.

He also appealed to the corporate world to support the initiatives in cash or kind. Tongai said the family, like any children, feel the loss they have suffered through the death of their father and lately their mother, Mbuya Maud Muzenda.

Mbuya Muzenda died last month and was interred at the National Heroes Acre. “I think we are not better placed to talk about how our parents lived as children because we can be accused of bias.

“It needs someone to narrate the kind of life that my father led with his family especially singling our mother who toiled and endured the colonial oppression during the protracted struggle for independence,” Tongai said.

“We are happy that some people are doing that on our behalf already. We have the business community that has offered to assist us in the annual Gutu Muzenda Marathon that I personally direct.”

He acknowledged the Friends of Joshua Nkomo Trust who have upgraded the Muzenda family home in Mucheke Suburb into KwaVaMuzenda heritage site.

“That is commendable and we are grateful for such a gesture and I have also learnt through the media that the party, Zanu-PF, is advocating for the erection of a statue in Gutu in honour of my father,” he said.

Masvingo business executive Dr Fredrick Kasese said the late Vice President was a larger than life character. “The late VP was a rare character. He was often referred to as less educated, but his bio-data tells us the opposite. He was an intelligent man from the time he attended primary school up to the time he completed his carpentry studies in South Africa and several courses while in jail,” he said.

“His infinite love for education, which I think he had copied from his late grandmother, was second to none. This saw him sending dozens of children from his community of Zvavahera to school and most of them are now doctors and lawyers with some assuming top positions in Government.”

The late VP Dr Muzenda is survived by seven children.