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A busy man till his death

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WHILE September 20 2003 marked the end of a life well lived, for 80 years Dr Simon Vengesai Muzenda was the soul of the nation and labelled by some as an ‘African voice’.
Born October 28 1922, Dr Simon Vengesai Muzenda was born in Gutu District, son of a peasant farmer.
Dr Muzenda after spending most of his childhood years herding the family’s cattle, went to Nyamande Primary School at the age of 14.
This was typical of most African children in Rhodesia.
He was raised by his grandmother, who ensured his regular attendance of a local Catholic mission school.
Dr Muzenda went to Gokomere Mission and in 1944 went to Domboshava where he did his teacher training course.
Later in his life he was to be imprisoned for political reasons and he considered his time as educational as he and fellow inmates took this time to further their education.
While in prison he passed his ‘O’ Levels, with eight subjects and two ‘A’ levels and also acquired certificates in commerce and a diploma in economics.
His passion for education saw him being the major force after independence behind the establishment of Masvingo State University.
Dr Muzenda furthered his studies in South Africa.
He had turned down a farming scholarship to train as an agricultural demonstrator.
On his way to South Africa he briefly stayed in Bulawayo where he taught in Semukwe Reserve for four months.
During that time he met a young teacher by the name of Robert Mugabe and little did he know they were to meet again under different circumstances and a friendship would blossom for life.
At his funeral years later this teacher, President Mugabe would say, “My real knowledge of Muzenda accumulated under hard and inclement conditions of the struggle.”
Dr Muzenda proceeded to Natal, South Africa, for a three-year carpentry diploma, where he showed proficiency in the subject.
After completion of his carpentry course in 1948, he taught carpentry at Mazenodin Catholic School in Durban until 1950.
The year 1950 saw him back home to the then Rhodesia where for five years he had been wooing his childhood sweetheart a nurse assistant Maud Matsikidze and finally in that year she accepted his proposal.
However, Maud never really got to enjoy married life until after independence, even after because vaMuzenda would remain a busy man till his death.
There would be times she would be left to fend for the children as her husband was repeatedly arrested.
It is important to note that the couple lost a child during the Chimoio raid on November 23 1977.
Dr Mzee and his wife once settled in Bulawayo where he worked in a furniture factory in Bulawayo called Plywood.
Dr Muzenda’s first job was that of a clerk in a factory and he later moved on to Furniture Stores, Morden Furniture and later Wilfred Mart in Bulawayo.
Five years later, Dr Muzenda moved to the Midlands town of Mvuma and started his own carpentry business.
His eldest children remember him working from home laughing, joking and dancing as he planed wood at his worktable.
Away from family business Dr Muzenda was widely regarded as a man of the people.
He was respected and known as a no-nonsense, plain-spoken man.
His passion for arts and culture was without question and those that were with him in the war would remember him singing his favourite Chimurenga songs while others remember him for his constant recitation of Dr Solomon Mutsvairo’s poem, Nehanda Nyakasikana.
The man was proud of his culture and an avid capable traditional dancer.
Dr Muzenda walked a long and hard journey and not even once did he ever deviate from the path of principle, and the tough course of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
That is why ‘Dr Mzee’ was said to be the ‘Soul of the Nation’.
A son of the soil always remembered and dearly missed, not just by his family, but by Zimbabweans in general.

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