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Tendai H. Manzvanzvike-Head of Zimpapers Knowledge Centre

Veteran nationalist, medical doctor and former Minister of Health Dr Simon Charles Mazorodze was born in Mhondoro on November 29, 1933. 

He died on November 5, 1981 and was buried at the Heroes Acre on November 8, 1981. 

Dr Mazorodze did his secondary education at Goromonzi High School before proceeding to the University of Natal where he qualified as a medical doctor.

It was while he was in South Africa that he became politically conscious. 

Upon return to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), he worked in Fort Victoria (Masvingo) and at Harare Hospital (now Sally Mugabe Central Hospital). 

Dr Mazorodze was also a founder member of ZANU, but as a civil servant, he had to be content with underground activities such as contributing money to the party, assisting refugees who were fleeing Zimbabwe, and treating freedom fighters who had been wounded. 

Dr Mazorodze was actively involved in politics and gave financial and medical assistance to ZANLA forces in Manica, Victoria and Midlands provinces. 

 He eventually learnt that he was on the enemy’s most wanted list, prompting him to move to Salisbury (Harare) under the guise of seeking medical attention. 

His widow Alice told of how the Special Branch had cast their eyes upon him as early as 1967, and how in 1975 the Selous Scouts, posing as gardeners kept an eye on him. 

He worked tirelessly in Shurugwi, Zaka, Mwenezi and Fort Victoria, carrying out operations on injured combatants in the bush and supplying drugs. 

He also approached various businessmen in Fort Victoria, Shabani (Zvishavane), Gwelo (Gweru), Selukwe (Shurugwi) and Mashaba (Mashava) for financial aid, and organised the collection of the money, and personally seeing its delivery to the ZANLA forces. 

 His “clandestine” activities led him into trouble with the police and he was arrested from time to time, but this did not deter him from continuing to give his support to the liberation struggle. 

Dr Mazorodze helped in organising the 1980 general elections and was himself elected ZANU (PF) Member of Parliament for Masvingo Province where he had worked longest. 

In 1980, he became Deputy Minister of Health and later Minister of Health. 

In both capacities, he helped restructure and re-organise the health services, since he was part of a “new-look” planning pool set up to restructure the health services sector. Members of the pool visited the country’s districts and assessed what facilities were available and tried to find out whether the local people were happy about the services. 

“The pool’s strategy is to move from district to district, but this has not always been possible as some areas have more urgent problems to be attended to than others,” Dr Mazorodze told the Zimbabwe Information Service in 1981. 

The late Vice President and national hero Simon Muzenda saluted Dr Mazorodze as an innovative person who “transformed the backwater bush hospital in Ndanga into a modern centre of healing”. 

Dr Mazorodze’s family launched a trust in 2010, to assist underprivileged people. 

“This is a special day for the Mazorodze family because we have managed to officially launch the Dr Simon Mazorodze Foundation Trust, which we hope will continue with the legacy left by the national hero,” Mrs Mazorodze said.

“We want to continue with the torch he lit, before and after independence, especially in the medical field where he used to treat injured freedom fighters during the war of liberation,” 

 Source: A Guide to the Heroes Acre: Some basic facts about Zimbabwe’s heroes and the Heroes Acre. (2019) Harare: Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services; The Herald.