DR VIMBAI Gukwe Chivaura lives on.
His kind, his type does not die.
Just as he said Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi and Robert Mugabe will live forever, so will he.
I imagine his last statement, had he the opportunity to make one, would be: Nothing material is permanent; everything is in a state of flux.
Dr Chivaura was a simple man, but very deeply, driven and motivated to put the African in his right place in the family of nations.
His passing on did not pain me as much as it scared and worried me.
Gone too soon is a true African child, a son of the soil who was proud of his black skin and did not in any way feel inferior or doubt the power of his intellect.
In ancient times, fires were lighted to warn of the approach of the enemy, those fires in due time went out and left ashes.
But they would have done their work, they would have stimulated the enthusiasm of the people and the enemy would be defeated.
The fire was lighted to send a message across space, the medium that carried the fire was of no greater consequence than the illumination.
Dr Chivaura was light on top of the bushel, he illuminated dark spaces.
He had so much to do, so much to say, so much to impart and he tirelessly delivered to the best of his ability.
And as I sit and reflect, I am no more worried or scared.
The good doctor conducted and carried out the work that was necessary, he efficiently and diligently did what was wanted in this particular time, adding to the labours of our predecessors.
Our nation goes on because he played his part in oiling its wheels and ensuring that it continues to move.
He was an intelligent being who was guided, not merely by the present, but by anticipation and hope.
He saw the future of the country, that is why he never despaired but continued to preach and call for self-belief.
I am not sad because I realise that in so far as a thing is real, it will not go out of existence, it will survive for whatever it may be worth.
A written document may have effect long after the document has been destroyed.
It has been said, and true it is, that the soul of a poem is not on the black marks on a scrap of paper nor is its reality dependent on the physical vehicle by which it was conveyed to others.
It is the soul of such things that is real and it is that which persists.
Dr Chivaura believed that the African is much more than what the West has described him or her as.
He was a man guided by facts and never gave up on truths merely because some did not understand or partially understood them.
He delivered truth as he felt it and knew it.
He sought to please no man, woman or constituency in delivering the plain truth.
Dr Chivaura’s individual mind, thoughts, ideas and character survives his physical death.
Just as energy, for instance, continues without loss, changing form, but always constant in amount, death is not the characteristic and fundamental thing in the demise of this colossal character but continued life.
The great man who joins our finest in the yonder world used words to convey ideas and truths which no physics or chemistry can explain, ideas and truths far superior to materials or anything that we can directly observe.
Dr Chivaura, you will go on among us as effective as you were when your spirit and soul was clothed by the flesh that has departed from our realm.
We do not bid you farewell, you remain with us, among us.