Zimpapers Logo

Address by his Excellency the President, comrade R.G. Mugabe, at the burial of Retired Brigadier-General, Dr Felix Ngwarati Muchemwa, at the National Heroes Acre yesterday.

Zuva ranhasi izuva rokusvimha, kuchema mumwe wedu watagara naye kwenguva yakareba muhondo, asi akazoita urwere. Kwete urwere unonzi muviri pachawo wavamba kusaita zvakanaka, asi urwere hwatinoti kumaonero edu hwakabva kuvavengi vedu vaiuya mumakamba, mumabase edu nenzira dzakasiyana siyana kuti vatikuvadze vatikanganise hondo yedu yechimurenga.

Dzimwe nguva kudya kwedu; zvaiuya zvekudya, hameno kuti zvaiuya nemutoo upi, vaisangana nazvo kupi, zvainge zvakakandwa mushonga unokuvadza, poison. Kune dzimwe nguva yaive nzira yatakazoona kuti iri kuteerwa nemuvengi. Vaive nevanhu muno, nekuziva urombo hwedu muhondo, kuda mbatya kwataiita. Mbatya dzaiiswa mushonga, poison. Wodzipfeka pamuviri watobatana nazvo.

Asi zviripachena, muvengi waitinyangira nemabomb nepfuti tichikandirwa mabomb iwayo nzvimbo nenzvimbo. Tikarasikirwa nezviuru zvakawanda zvemacomrades. Vose naavo vataiiti tirikuchengeta semarefugees kana vana vezvikoro. Ariaaniko watirikuradzika nhasi uyu? Mwana wake ataura zvishomani zvezvimwe zvinangwa zvavakapihwa mumhuri asi isu tine ruzivo rwezvizhinji pamashandiro atakaita naye. Hongu zvechikoro tinoziva chikoro chaakaita dambudziko raakava naro muchikoro imomo rekutaura zvemusangano werusununguko. Rekutaura nemagariro enyika, kutsoropodza hurumende richimutandisa pachikoro. Akaita mhanza yekuenda kunze kwaakazonopedzisa chikoro chake akava dhokotera. Haana kuda kuuya kumusha kuzorapa varwere kuno. Akafunga kuti angabatsire zvikuru akauya akazosangana nesu kumasango ikoko uku. Kubatsira varwere.

Asika semaitiro edu hapana wainzi anonopinda mumagamba kuvabatsira iye asiriwo gamba. Saka ndiyo input yataurwa pano nababa (Francis) Ribeiro yechipiri yaakazoita. Tadzoka mabasa akawanda asi rake rakava rokurapa ari kumaitiro edu mutsika yedu sezvo akanga adzidziswa kuva musoja. Waive mumarangi iwaya ekumasoja atinoziva dakara azova brigadier. Asi takazomuitawo Minister futi, kusikukuviri. Tinoda kuti uuye tichironga nezvenyika nevarwerewo vasiri chete vemumauto asi varikunze tobatanidza navo vese. Huya tishande tose muhurumende nekuoona kwedu kuti ahh, wakanga akuvadzwa. Hameno kuti ndezvekudya here kana kuti zvekungobatwa kumakumbo uku, machemicals emazuvano aya. Saka takaona urwere hwacho hwanyanyisa. Saka takazomutora kuhofisi kwangu ndikati chiuya uve advisor wedu kune madisabled edu atinawo. Saka ndobasa raanga achiita, achitipa advice yekuti vagere sei nezvipi zvinosungirwa kuitwa.

Kana mazuva edanhiko paye pavanoenda kumasport anga asingashaikwe ikoko. Masport anooganaizwa gore negore naMai Mugabe emadisabled, iye namai Muchemwa vakanga vasingashaikwi. Vaingowanikwa variko. Asi achirwara achiona kuti arikurwara. Nguva nenguva, ndarwara ndirikuenda kuEgypt. Ndokwakanga kwaonekwa kuti dzimwe nguva kungave nerubatsiro. Hongu kwakave nerubatsiro kwenguva asi zvakazopotsa, zvakazokurira comrade wedu nenguva. Poison yacho haina kuda kukurirwa. Takazonzwa kuti arwarisa. Ndochirwere chamutora pekupedzisira. Kuenda kuEgypt ikoko kwaaimboti aenda adzoka aenda adzoka. Rwendo rwuno Mwari akati haa zvakwana chizoroora. Ndati ndikupei shoko iri vamwe dzimwe nguva vanga vasingamuzive asi munhu watakashanda naye zvaka- komba.

Gamba remberi mberi asingatye asi asingazvirove dundundu kuti ndineruzivo rwakati. Kuzvininipisa asi shungu yekueenderera mberi iripo. Shungu yekuti nyika yedu ibudirire irambe iripo. Shungu yekuti vanhu vagare zvakanaka iripo. Ndiye watirikuviga apa nhasi, Felix Muchemwa. Gamba remberi mberi .

We have heard about his illustrious life from the family. Kumba kwandakaenda vakataura. Today again his son has spoken. Those of us who worked closely with him can testify to his great intellect, which, however, did not burden his other virtue of humanity. Always humbled, yes. Always smiling with that reassuring sense of compassion. Indeed his whole charming personality could not have been fitter for any other profession than that of ministering to life as a medical doctor.

For here was one rare instance where personal cast and professional choice simply merged, simply tallied in ways hard to repeat. Indeed in ways sure to benefit mankind. Vamwe tikaenda kuchikoro tikawana degree, haaa, hatichada kuti tive vanhu vanongogara nevamwe veshure. Takungoda vemberi chete. Maparty nevemberi chete. Ane chidzidzo ichocho chekuti kwete zvidukupise. Fundo yako ifundo yekuti iwe pachako uve nenjere yerubatsiro. Vaunobatsira ivavo havangave mapatients ako kana uchiratidza kuzvikudza, kuzvida, kuvhaira, kurova dundundu. Saka tinova neruzivo rwekuti when he was in high school kuFlechter ikoko he was talking politics. Wakanga avamba kare politics ari ikoko. Achizobva ikoko aita A-Level yake akuuya kuuniversity akava president weunion, students union paUniversity yedu yeZimbabwe kuvarungu. White students included.

For the first time munhu mutema, a black student was accepted. Mazuva iwayo don’t forget vatema vaive vashoma paUniversity of Zimbabwe. Charter yeUniversity of Zimbabwe stated that a university should not have more than 12 and a half percent of non whites, Africans since it was a university yakanga yaitirwa not just Southern Rhodesia, but also Federation including therefore, Northern Rhodesia and Malawi, Nyasaland. Not more than 12 and a half percent of the population of the students at the university, only that number was to be African and that number was not to be exceeded. Otherwise the culture, it was said, of the university would go down. So uzhinji hwese vaive mawhite students.

Anyway, he had the fortune of leading them all — but then there was the struggle and he could not avoid. He had that passion, that instinct, that drive to want the struggle to succeed and he was following it, talking about it. MaRhodesians, neruzivo rwavo got to know about it and asati apedza degree rake reMedicine, achiri pakati ndokubva atandwa. Ah, oenda kupi?

He wanted to finish his degree and he had in mind that once he has finished it, he will try as much as he could to join the struggle. Akawana rubatsiro rwevanhu vekuBritain. Akakakatana nana (Ian) Smith kuti vaite let him come and finish his degree reMedicine. So akaenda kuBirmingham.

Ndokwaakazonopedzisira fundo yake. So away from Rhodesia in Britain as a student in exile, Felix had more direct access to those in leadership, especially those in charge of transforming our struggle to a full armed revolution. He got to know Chairman Herbert Chitepo, got to know General Josiah Magama Tongogara and many others based in Zambia and those who passed through the United Kingdom where Felix Muchemwa was completing his medical degree.

Felix would later work as a lecturer and researcher at Birmingham University. Ndopaakamboshanda paBirmingham University. Each conversation, each interaction with these men and women in the thick of the struggle emboldened him.

So now Dr Muchemwa had to make a decision and in June 1977, he decided to leave, to leave this post, this cosy life as a doctor, as a lecturer for the harsh life, of the struggle in the bush. The camps of Mozambique. It did not have to, as in indeed was in the case of many Rhodesian black professionals who remained abroad pursuing their narrow professional interests and enjoying life of relative combat. No! That was not for him. That he took such a hard decision putting apart from the rest speaking volumes in terms of what kind of personality he was. For the success of our liberation struggle we needed medical experts like Dr Muchemwa. Taida vanachiremba ka. He was not alone. We had the late later on Dr Herbert Ushewokunze at the helm, Dr Gwada also late, Dr Mvuti again late and of course Dr Sydney Sekeramayi whom we still have.

Takanyorerana nana Dr Sekeramayi pavakapedza tikati chiuyayi vakazo decider kuuya. Zvandakangandisingazivi zvandakazoziva musi wandakaenda kumba kunobata mawoko marimwezuro kumba kwava Muchemwa ndezvekuti a vaDr Sekeramayi ndovanemwanasikana akaroorwa nemwanakomana wavaMuchemwa. Ndikati aa, manga muri gejegeje makuroorerana zvenyu madoctor. So there are as you saw Dr Sekeramayi namai Sekeramayi varipamwe chete nemhuri. They are the chief mourners of our dear departed. It was not easy for these men who worked with numerous makeshifts medics under them. Mishonga kwakangakusina mumasango umu. Raingova gwakumukwaku. Kudya kwakangakusina, so mapatients taifirwa nevanhu vakawanda.

But these dedicated men and women who had no real benefactors except what they could get from the Government of Mozambique and perhaps here and there from the Red Cross. They did their best. They tried their best to save lives. Life in the camps was quite harrowing, far different from what liberation movements had been used to when their operations were still very small and just based in Lusaka and Tanzania. Now we had stretched and we had lots of camps and a huge population in Mozambique.

So where we have such a population, not having enough to eat, poorly dressed, living in shacks where mosquitoes were not good friends. Lots of diseases naturally affected our people and they had to take care to do their best.

The camps bordering Mozambique and Zambia were full to the brim bursting at the seams with people. Vaitiza vachibva kuno kumusha vachiuya kuma camps edu. Vaiuya vana vadiki vachiti tirikuenda kuhondo vose vaichengetwa.

So we really had that difficulty. The camps were overcrowded and because there were often sites in malaria infested areas, disease infested areas, we had lots of deaths. We had outbreaks of many diseases some of which were never seen or witnessed in our country here. Living conditions were not always hygienic for that matter, in those overcrowded camps.

Water was rare, saka kana mvura yekugeza yakashomeka kudaro, well tsvina inowandawo and the result is obviously that people will start suffering from some diseases. Food was not always adequate and cases of malnutrition were numerous. To all that, now here is the issue. Add on the death factor for those who were in the front and got injured.

They would try as much as possible to do what they could; they improvised clinics that we had, but when cases were serious times naturally, we had to send those patients to hospital in Mozambique. But despite the fact of these difficulties, our doctors persevered right up to the end. Sorely motivated by the desire to save life and limp at no reward. There is an example, aah vamwe vanoda mari kuenda kuna doctor, une mari here kana usina mari hatikurape.

But here was the Hippocratic Oath yekuti doctor haanga regerere pamhiko dzawo munhu achifa nekuti haana mari. Well our doctors were not being paid and that was their sacrifice on the part of Dr Muchemwa alongside the other doctors. But today what we read, we read of a standoff between doctors and medical insurers. We never cease to wonder what has become of the Hippocratic Oath that demands that care must nevertheless be given to the sick even where you are being paid less.

Have our doctors lost their values that used to define them? Values that used to define them to life and its sustenance that life is dear. Do not allow people to die. Do all you can to save life. True we expect everyone doctors included to be rewarded evenly for work done, but is it not important for us all in the medical field to appreciate the social context within which we execute our duties. Vamwe havangofunga zvawo kuti we still are fighting a war, our liberation war.

Tiri pane chimwe chimurenga just now. We have sanctions that have been imposed on us and therefore there are those limitations and restrictions that prevent our economy from running smoothly. Sometimes it’s not possible to export our goods at all because of certain countries. To get assistance from international institutions like all other countries do in order to assist our production.

Even as we want to pay our partners who will have assisted us, our monies are frozen. New York says no and penalises all banks that handle Zimbabwean money. So there is always difficulties and some people don’t seem to appreciate. They think aaah, no we are just like any other country, free as air. We are not.

There is that aspect of givenness, of sacrifice. We are working for the welfare of the people and putting the lives of people first and your own interests being subjected to the interests of the people. No, not many are like Felix Muchemwa. No. Dr Muchemwa would have asked for no less than we are asking from his peers that let’s be understanding.

He never put money first. He indeed served his people right up to the end. But as I speak there is still a standoff between medical staff and authorities kumahospitals kwedu. Comrades and friends the fact of our serving the people, putting the people first is the fact of us making great sacrifices. A great sacrifice.

If we had not put the interests of our people first, the fact that our people were being suppressed, oppressed, subjected to a racial system, which was brutal and that we needed to do all we could to redeem them. We would not have embarked on a liberation struggle. It was our people, the interests of our people, the lives of our people, their right. Just putting the people first.

On one occasion when I interacted with Dr Felix Muchemwa as he had become advisor to me on disability issues, he brought me a book titled “The Struggle for Land in Zimbabwe: 1890 to 2010”. Just that title, you will agree it’s a forensic diagnosis of the land ownership crisis by a guerrilla medical practitioner.

I wonder as sick as he was and if not sick very much occupied as he was, where did he get the time that he managed the time to write that book and I recommend that book to you, that you read it.

The book covers various concessions made between Rhodes’ men and King Lobengula. It traces the broader principles underpinning land apportionment from days of occupation.

It then settles down to specific case studies illustrative of the general alienation of land from our forefathers, how our forefathers lost their land, by area, by chieftaincy, by region and even by each European ethnic group that occupied the different parts of the our country.

The book then delves into the First Chimurenga, then the aftermath characterised by the legally legitimation and consolidation of the overall land alienation. The study also focuses on our Second Chimurenga, but all the time making the issue of the land, which was our main grievance its central theme.

And indeed even as we negotiated, the late Comrade Joshua Nkomo and myself with the British at Lancaster House, 1979, it was a land quest. We wanted to have this issue settled first. Will our land come to us or not? We want it back, and it was with such a government. They agreed that we could get back the land through land reform and agreed also to fund the process. Or be it to a limited extent.

So there it is. The land has come to us, thanks to comrades such as Felix Muchemwa and others who are here and many others who are still alive. Vese vanenyembe vamurikuona varipo ava. Vene vazvo. Mungatovati mutupo mwenewazvo. If they are to give you the history of the struggle, tingazadze makomo nemakomo emabhuku. Nhamo dzaivepo. Matambudziko aivepo.

Asi mushure ndozvatiwanisa nhasi uno rusununguko rwatinarwo. Vamwe varikutamba narwo. Vachiti vakapihwa munda vakuudzosera kumabhunu kuti huyai handigoni kurima, huya undirimire. Ndozvatingati takafira, zvirikufira nanhasi vamwe including vatiri kuradzika mhasi Dr Muchemwa? Zvinorwadza kuti vamwe vanhu vanenge vasinganzwisise kuti nyika iyi yakakosha ndeyeropa.

Hongu nemifaro yatava nayo, nemitambo yatava nayo, tava vanhu vakasunguka. Asi zviripo zvakakosha zvatinosungirwa kuramba takachengetedza.

So as we gather to bury Dr Muchemwa let’s not let the lessons which his life demonstrated and imparted on the society ever be lost.

He taught us commitment to a cause. If you have a cause to fight for, stand firm.

I have always said they say yes, they say might is right but where you have inherent rights to your land to life and you stand for it, we must be free it’s our land. Yes we will die at the end, right will overcome might.

He taught us commitment, yes, that once you are committed in circumstances where you are fighting for that which is yours the claim to comfort and suffering, fear of death; all that seems to take second place. Ndinofira changu.

He taught us the lesson of sacrifice, real sacrifice. Kwete yekudududza hanzi ndirikuendawo kunojoiner vamwe, wodududza munzira umo zvakaita ana (Morgan) Tsvangirai.

We should not be doing that for a benefit. Don’t be a self-seeker. Be a selfless individual working for the goodness of all. That’s what Muchemwa is telling us. And he even also taught us that your education and your skills are really hollow. They might just serve you, yes, but unless they serve the greater good of the masses, they really are not as meaningful as they should be.

So we say today our revolution must continue. We must be united and be united behind the party. The party that defends what we vote for, to defend our gains.

The party that tells us that the land on which you now have a home, which you now till, where your schools are built, was fought for, suffered for, died for. Don’t fail those who sacrificed their utmost for it.

Don’t malign them through your actions, through your talk, through your division, through disunity, through partnership with our white detractors who want to undermine our gains, our revolution even our Government and are seeking regime change. Vamwe vanoti haa, mapolicy enyu aya arikutitadzisa kufara. MaAmerica, maBritish vangade kuuya nemari yakawanda. Pour lots of funds into the country. If we do not have policies like the indigenisation and empowerment. Nonsense!

If we are going to suffer, be denied resources by the outsiders, then demanding that they should do as they like in our country. We say no. Keep your resources. Our land which we have died for, suffered for is greater, much greater than your resources. Your resources will come and go. My land will always be there. It shall always be Zimbabwean. We shall always have Zimbabwe. So that’s what Dr Muchemwa worked for.

To believe that our struggle has been a sacred struggle. Sacred struggle which has yielded this land and given it back to us, given it back to our people, our chiefs, our elders, everyone. Given it to our generations, you today, them tomorrow and those others again who will come after you tomorrow, again and again and again and again. So forever and ever.

So Zimbabwe shall always be in the hands of the sons and daughters of Zimbabwe for all time. You fought Felix, a good fight, a good fight; you are a good soldier and indeed, a good doctor who served many and a lover of your people. Therefore, an outstanding humanitarian.

Cde, I say to you as we part, go well. Go well our honest Dr. Our Doctor of the revolution. Go well son of the soil. Go well son of the people. Lover of the people. Lover of the soil. Ndatenda.