THEY might write about you in footnotes.

You may not have made it on the front pages, but got tucked inside some little corner in our papers, well that is not surprising.

We claim to be so knowledgeable, intelligent even wise but oh how ignorant we are!

I know you will not begrudge this lack of attention, you never sought it.

But fact is fact.

You are a titan.

You were a patriot.

You knew who you were.

With your vast experience and knowledge, in the corridors of academia you never pushed anyone around.

In fact, the young Turks would try to push you around.

But you remained solid and grounded.

Your demise is indeed akin to burning down of a whole library.

You were as practical as they came.

You were no mere academic.

You risked it all for the motherland.

You did not shirk from any debate about your country and the continent.

Our podiums were more preferable to you while your colleagues would go to any lengths for invites to European and American tables.

It was on our tables and podiums that you showed us you were no mere academic.

Indeed you did not exist in some ivory tower.

You showed the world that sociology was not about some old white bearded men.

You showed how practical sociology, as a subject, is.

You showed how it worked locally — how Western theories on society were not the alpha and omega.

You made the subject enjoyable to black students who could otherwise have found it revolting, considering how it seems to present social theories as having originated just from white thinkers.

If it was about Zimbabwe, being African and black you did not mince your words.

When questions were raised about us, many, even if they do not acknowledge it, came to you for answers and you delivered.

You go to join Vimbai Gukwe Chivaura and Sheunesu Mpepereki who went ahead.

You have become an ancestor.

A voice we believe will intercede on our behalf in the yonder world.

We are not saddened by your loss.

We celebrate your life.

It was a life well lived.

A life of service.

Your teachings will not dissipate.

There is an African rising who is conscious of who he/she is.

Your wisdom and knowledge will continue to guide us.

We will not cry for you, maybe weep for ourselves.

Life never ends, you taught us.

It simply continues in another form.

And for those in touch with their humanity and culture, they never experience a loss.

You are the definition of a hero.

Education did not put you in a pigeon hole.

It did not blind you, especially to the realities of being black and African.

It did not make you frown upon the so-called uneducated.

It did not make you arrogant but increased your humility.

You interacted with beginners like they were fellow fundis.

Most importantly, you showed us the richness of our culture.

The value that resides in so-called blackness.

To you, blacks were not even underdogs but the real champions and the paragons of virtue.

We are the true masters of the universe.

Continue to guide and look upon us.