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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau
Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba has described former President Robert Mugabe as an iconic Pan-African leader and an epitome of academic excellence whose policies helped Zimbabwe to attain the highest literacy rate on the continent.

Passing her condolences to the Mugabe family and the nation, Dr Gwaradzimba said the late former president is remembered not only in Zimbabwe but the world over, as an iconic pan African leader-par-excellence who fought throughout his entire life to liberate and emancipate the African people.

“On behalf of Manicaland province, and indeed on my own behalf, I would like to join the nation in this dark hour of bereavement in conveying my utmost heartfelt condolences to the Mugabe family and the nation at large on the passing on of one of the greatest revolutionaries of our times, Cde RG Mugabe,” she said.

“Cde Mugabe was made of a rare fabric. To him, there was no task that was too difficult to accomplish. Zimbabwe is credited today for having the highest literacy rate in Africa because of the deliberate policies that he crafted in the field of education at independence. He fought very hard to democratise education. The deliberate academic trajectory resonates well with his personality because he himself was a celebrated academia and an epitome of academic excellence.”

The Minister said Cde Mugabe was known as a defender of democracy, a liberator who championed and upheld the national sovereignty. “I had an opportunity to interact with him even in the war, where he organised and mobilised the guerrilla war and led the revolution to its logical conclusion.

He was known for his resoluteness as far as black empowerment was concerned,” she added.

“As a nation and indeed the people of Manicaland, we find solace in the fact that he fought a good fight. They say heroes don’t die, they rest.

Their visions live for eternity and the baton stick has been passed on us to take Zimbabwe forward and not to betray the legacy that he left behind. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”