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President Mugabe and Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi console Air Force of Zimbabwe Commander Air Marshal Perrance Shiri and mother to the late Titus Takudzwa Chikerema, Ms Angeline Chiponda in Borrowdale, Harare, yesterday

Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
SOME people calling for security sector reforms have no moral grounds to make such statements, President Mugabe has said. The security sector, the President said, played a pivotal role in bringing Zimbabwe’s independence, yet some elements — some of whom fled the liberation struggle — call for the reform of the security sector.

The President said this while addressing mourners gathered to pay their last respects to Titus Takundwa Chikerema, son to Air Force of Zimbabwe Commander, Air Marshal Perrance Shiri who died on Sunday after a short illness.

The funeral was held at Air Marshal Shiri’s Borrowdale residence.
Titus is expected to be buried this morning in Chikomba district.

President Mugabe said service chiefs like Air Marshal Shiri, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine Chiwenga and others, spent all their youthful life in the bush executing the liberation struggle.

“Vakakurira muhondo ivava. Ndivo vainzi nechitaunhau, zvisina pazvinokwanisa kuti apa ndipo pedu, aaa tinoda kuvheneka security, vachibviswa. Unobvisa vakauya nenyika iwe, wanga uri chura changa chigere zvacho muno, chisina pachinoziva. Wakanzi huya kuhondo ukaramba, ukadududza,” President Mugabe said to applause.

MDC-T had, during the subsistence of the Inclusive Government, been calling for security sector reform.
The President said when most of the liberation fighters joined the struggle, they did not really understand the enormity of the decision, but were merely driven by the desire to liberate their country.

“Kuzoti tisvike pakadai kwaive kuzvipira kwavo vachiri vadiki. Vasati vasvika pazera ranga rasvikwa naTitus uyu, vachiri madzimati, vasati vanyatsoona kuti kwatiri kuenda ndekupi, chiedza chisati chauya asi chido chete nendangariro yekuti tirwire nyika yedu, hameno zvichaitika kwatiri asi tinenge tirimugwara rekurwira nyika yedu, mheno patichasvika.

“Dzimwe nguva tichatadza kuyambuka rwizi, dzimwe nguva tichariyambuka tosvika mhiri munyika yedu yeZimbabwe inova ndiyo Canaan yedu. Chiedza chakauya zvishoma zvishoma. Unenge wasvika pekuti kufa hakuna zvakunoreva,” he said.

President Mugabe said when he went to Tanzania in the mid 1970s, some of them were already there, despite their youthful age.
“Vakanga vari vadiki. Kana vasikana vakanga vasati vatomboziva kuti anonzi ndinokuda sei, dzaingova pwere imiwee.
“Zvino ndivo vava maCommander,” he said, drawing laughter from the floor.

Turning to the death of Titus, the President said the loss was a sad one.
He said he understood what it means to lose one’s son, after he lost his in the early 1960s while he was jailed by the Ian Smith regime.
President Mugabe noted that youthful as Titus was, he was already assisting his father at the farm.

Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni and Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Cde Didymus Mutasa also paid their condolences.

Other senior Government officials present included Secretary for Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Mr George Charamba, Defence Secretary Mr Martin Rushwaya and Civil Service Commission chairperson Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwah.

Service Chiefs present included Gen Chiwenga, Zimbabwe Prison Service Commander Major General Paradzai Zimondi (Retired) and Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri.