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Pathisa Nyathi Correspondent

The man was a freedom fighter, politician, nationalist, diplomat, civil servant, author, Government Minister and senior Zanu PF administrator and eloquent spokesperson.

He was these expertly woven and rolled into one.

In terms of character, he was jovial, affable, sociable and genial, and ever laughing heartily.

These were traits, which were never divorced from the man. He spoke at the top of his voice, smiled visibly and gesticulated in a manner that exhibited his domineering and endearing trait.

Smart, well-kitted out, he chose attire that fitted him well, as if born with it.

The man is Simon Khaya Moyo, affectionately known as SK, who breathed his last at the Catholic Church-run health institution, Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo.

Born 76 years ago in an area where the Catholic Church has a strong presence, SK grew up in the Mangwe area where the Talawunda Moyos predominate extending from Kezi (Kgetsi) to where he was born on 1 October 1945.

Among the members of that ethnic group were Tafi Zibuya Moyo and Jason Ziyapapa Moyo, both of whom played critical roles in the struggle for the liberation of Zimbabwe from colonial bondage.

Seeing as there is a proliferation of documented information on the man, I chose to highlight those occasions when I interacted with him at close range.  As I do so, I will shine the spotlight on his career to render a fuller expose on the history and career of the man.

The one occasion that I have some indelible memory of was back in 1997.

SK was at the time the Minister of Transport and Energy. Ministerial portfolios followed him from 1992 when he was appointed Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce.

The post came after he had won the election as Member of Parliament for Bulilimamangwe South Constituency where Dr Isaac Lentswi Nyathi had once been the incumbent MP.

In the 1995 general elections, he retained his post as MP and that led to his appointment as Minister of Transport and Energy. I would meet and interact with him in that capacity.

In November 1897, the first steam locomotive arrived in Bulawayo from South Africa, via Botswana.

It was emblazoned with the big letters, “Advance Rhodesia.”

A decision had been taken in 1997 to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of the strange and noisy contraption after whom many babies born in that year were named.

The man who was in charge of the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) was Alvord Mabena, who served as general manager.

That provided the link and opportunity for me to meet, at close range, with SK and other senior Government officials and ministers.

At the time, I had been engaged by Alvord Mabena to pen his biography.

Our first contact took place at the GM’s palatial residence along Leopold Takawira Avenue in Bulawayo. Colleague Paul Randa Dube accompanied me.

Together with Mabena we travelled to many places including his rural home, Ngungumbane in Mberengwa, gathering relevant historical data.

A commemorative train was to move from Bulawayo’s main Railway Station to Plumtree and back. Commemorative festivities commenced in Bulawayo.

The Minister of Transport, SK was among the dignitaries who graced the occasion.

Vice-Presidents Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo and Simon Vengayi Muzenda were on the train. So was John Landa Nkomo.

These senior Government ministers, the Vice-Presidents, SK, and the GM, Alvord Mabena occupied one special coach.

In that coach, there was one who qualified based on being a scribe. That was yours truly, the author of this article.

I was not part of the lively interactions. I was penning the final chapter on the history of Alvord Mabena. SK was at his liveliest; cheerful and participating in the interactions that went back into the struggle days for independence.

SK spoke highly of the Makokoba nationalists, especially Bernard Mutuma, who he regarded as the ‘‘Mayor of Makokoba’’.

Others in the same vein included Jason Ziyapapa Moyo, Benjamin Madlela and Edward Ndlovu. Not for a single second was there some golden silence in the prestigious coach. The political passengers went down memory lane and the wise waters made some significant contribution towards livening the conversations.

I enjoyed the trip and more enjoyable was the fact that I was not excluded from the wisening process. It so happened that the majority of the high-ranking officials in the high-class coach were former Zapu nationalists.

VP Muzenda was not lost as he lived in Bulawayo’s Mzilikazi township for quite some time.

SK was one of them and shared in that history couched in lighter moments. The history being narrated was his too.

SK had been in the group of elite pupils who, after completing primary school education, proceeded to Fletcher High School which was the second school to offer secondary education to the blacks.

Ngwabi Bhebhe, later to become a respected historian and Midlands State University Vice Chancellor, was already at Fletcher High.

Celestine LP Moyo, a relative of his, was one of their teachers.

The first school to offer secondary education to blacks had been Goromonzi High School in today’s Mashonaland East Province.

It was products from these institutions that proceeded to the University of Rhodesia, the successor to the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

However, with the bottleneck system applicable to Africans in Rhodesia, not all graduates from A-level schools proceeded to University.

SK was one such who then decided to go to Zambia where the liberation movements were based.

He was sent to the University of Zambia (UNZA) where he did a Diploma in Social Studies before entering the prestigious Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.

He was in Zambia at the time after the 1971 split when JZ Moyo was in charge of the external wing of Zapu, as its commander-in-chief.

Nkomo and other nationalists were in detention camps and prisons.

That explains why SK was sent for military training in the GDR and later the Soviet Union.

JZ realised the need to minimise the ideological mismatch and gulf between civilians and the military within ZAPU cadres.

It was at that time when SK was in the newly-created Revolutionary Council.

It was within the special coach that I sat and commanded my pen to write profusely, while I maintained my peace. The final chapter in the book was appropriately titled, Alvord Mabena: The Man and His Roots.

I was learning and was privy to the jovial sides of the men who otherwise maintained a dignified stance in the presence of the povo.

Joshua Nkomo was on the quiet side but would, from time to time, join in the conversations where he thought they were going in a wrong direction. SK was the man who expertly commanded his pen.

That came about after Nkomo relocated to Zambia to lead the armed struggle following the death in a parcel bomb of JZ Moyo in 1977.

SK would serve as the personal assistant to the Zapu leader once he relocated to Lusaka, Zambia. It was SK who wrote Nkomo’s speeches and the choice was right for one who knew how to command his pen.

So, wherever Nkomo went, SK was his shadow and aide. The many conferences that Nkomo attended, SK also attended. He was at the Malta and Lancaster House conferences.

Some of the glitter and aura from Nkomo rubbed onto SK who rose through the Zapu Party ranks till he was a member of the organisation’s Central Committee.

That was to become the trend after independence and after the Unity Accord of 22 December 1987.

SK rose to the Central Committee and the Politburo. Ministerial portfolios followed him and was to end up as spokesperson for his party where he practised his communication skills.

In 2001, SK was appointed Ambassador to South Africa, serving up to October 2010.

A relative of his, Nelson Moyo, has been ambassador to South Africa before. It seems there was a trend that Zimbabwe’s ambassadors to South Africa were former Zapu/Zipra cadres.

Following the demise of Nkomo in 1999, the Joshua Nkomo Foundation was created to preserve his legacy.

His safe house at Matsheumhlope was provided to the Foundation to create it as a museum. I was involved from the outset and there I met, at close range, SK who was loyal and loving to the man he worked with both in PF-Zapu and Zanu-PF.

With the likes of Dr Sikhanyiso Duke Ndlovu, Thandiwe Nkomo Ibrahim, Francis Nhema and Frederick Mutanda we worked to ensure the image, legacy and heritage of Joshua Nkomo was kept alive for posterity.

SK was committed to that effort.

Later other people who became trustees joined us and among them was Gertrude Moyo nee Ngwenya who had been SK’s wife and former commander of the Zipra’s Women’s Brigade after its relocation from Mkushi Camp in Zambia following the Rhodesian bombardments in October to 1978.

The brigade was based at Solwezi further to the north. The two had two sons, Khanyisa Mduduzi and Langa Mandlenkosi Moyo.

The other trustees were Dumisani Nkomo, Nyararai Sibanda and BG Mangena.

Where the likes of SK left off ,the new crop of trustees kept soldiering on to ensure the contributions to the struggles for Zimbabwe’s independence that Nkomo selflessly pursued endure into eternity.

The other occasion when I saw SK in action was when there was an agricultural field day for Matobo District which was won and therefore held at Jack Mlangeni Ncube’s homestead at Mahetshe (Moekeji) a few kilometres south of Maphisa. SK was the guest of honour.

I saw him as a performer on stage. He was exuding energy and lurched onto the dance floor with both arms resembling the horns of an ox. That was the affable, jovial and ecstatic man who was always well dressed and proud of his achievements. When a man or woman does not sing his/her own praises he/she should not expect others to do so.

Zimbabwe is without doubt the poorer without SK. May his very dear soul rest in eternal peace.