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President Mugabe

Lovemore Mataire Senior Reporter
PREPARATIONS for Kutama College’s centenary celebrations in Zvimba are at an advanced stage, with school authorities expecting over 6 000 guests to attend the event this Sunday.

Co-ordinator of the celebrations, Brother Aaron Mazhambe said Bishop Dieter Scholtz of Chinhoyi Diocese is expected to be the main celebrant of Eucharistic celebration while President Mugabe will also attend the occasion as the patron of the Kutama Old Boys Association.

“The Kutama Mission Centenary Celebrations preparations are at an advanced stage and are going on as planned.

“The day will be punctuated with a number of activities like educational and business expos, entertainment from various artistes, poets, dancers and other exciting activities that are appealing to generations that have passed through Kutama Mission over the last century,” said Brother Mazhambe.

He said the occasion is meant to reflect on the history of the school founded in 1913 by Father John Loubiere, a Jesuit Roman Catholic priest as a Christian centre.

Brother Mazhambe said, at its inception, the centre focused on evangelisation but later developed into an educational centre through the establishment of primary education.

In 1926, the Jesuits at Kutama established a two-year teacher training course for primary school teachers spearheaded by Father Jerome O’Hea.

“The Jesuit priests later found it taxing to combine pastoral work and running a school. It was then that Bishop A. Chichester invited the Marist Brothers to come to Kutama. In 1939 the first group of the Canadian Brothers Anthony Huot, Michael Ernest Pare, Ernest Victor Ouellet and Dominic Gobeil led by Brother Patrick Luis arrived and took over the running of the educational segment of Kutama Mission. From then on, the mission started to develop in leaps and bounds. The college currently has an enrolment of 1 020 boys,” said Brother Mazhambe.

He said the coming of Fr Jerome O’Hea in 1931 brought in a new dimension in the life of Kutama Mission in that a hospital was soon built to cater for members of the community, which was later named the Father O’Hea Memorial Hospital.

The headmaster of Kutama College Brother Jacob Mutingwende said Sunday’s celebrations were meant to cherish the transformation of a nation through education and evangelisation.

“It’s an opportunity to assess the impact evangelisation has had on the community and the nation at large. It’s also a time we remember the Jesuit missionaries who founded this mission,” said Brother Mutingwende.

Brother Mazhambe said the school boasts of having produced great leaders in politics, education, health, economic, religious, judicial and social fields who include President Mugabe, Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Dr Ignatius Chombo, Principal Director in the Office of President and Cabinet Dr Innocent Tizora, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Permanent Secretary Dr Washington Mbizvo, Professor George Kahari, Mines and Mining Development Minister

Cde Walter Chidhakwa, Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement Dr Douglas Mombeshora and many others.