WE are heartbroken.
A dark cloud once again hovers above us.
Barely a month since the demise of Justice Andrew Mutema we have lost another gallant son of the soil.
Dr Sikhanyio Duke Ndlovu has departed to join the constellation of Zimbabwe’s finest.
This man was not just a fundi.
We are writing about him, we are talking about him, we are celebrating his life and there are many stories about the man that will remain unwritten and untold.
But one thing for sure is that Dr Ndlovu was a man of great humility.
He did not wear his qualifications and achievements on his lapels
The country has lost a committed cadre who worked tirelessly for the nation’s independence and educational development.
Cde Ndlovu established the Gonakudzingwa Educational Programme, one of many programmes he began in a bid to craft a Zimbabwean who would be independent in all arenas.
Dr Ndlovu created the Zimbabwe Distance Education College (ZDECO) not as a business and profit making venture, but a passion to uplift his fellow brethren.
He made education affordable so that all would access it to improve their lives.
Most important about Dr Ndlovu is what he symbolised and stood for.
A gentle giant, he was a man of valour.
He was an icon of the liberation struggle, an embodiment of hunhu/ubuntu.
He never sought accolades or self-glory.
He was consistent in his work to uplift the majority, right up to his death.
He was a patriot.
He loved his country, passionately; tears would fall freely from his eyes when his ideals and Zimbabwe were injured.
He devoted his life to the nation.
Every encounter with him was a charming and enlightening experience.
He had time for everyone, he never discriminated.
Dr Ndlovu’s passing on though a sad loss once again reminds us of the enormous task we have before us.
He has departed during a time he was chronicling our history, that all important story.
And we must continue to narrate and write profusely the histories, escapades, and achievements of our heroes, of our people.
If we do not continue the work that Dr Ndlovu was engaged in others will definitely do it for us.
They will write what they want about us not our story as we have lived it.
Foreign historians will distort and misrepresent our pasts to suit their viperous agendas.
Like Cde Ndlovu, let us take up the pen, it is the responsibility of every patriot to defend the nation through every means available.
Let us claim and seize our narrative spaces so that our detractors find no room to formulate their mischievous plots.
We do mourn Dr Sikhanyiso Duke Ndlovu, this is his moment of glory as he passes on.
His life, his struggle, his story is our pride and our heritage.
He will forever have a special place in our chronicles.
We all are identifying with him, liberators, pseudo-liberators, patriots, traitors, and villains.
Even in death he is a unifying force.
He was a typical war veteran, true to himself and to the world.
He lived an honest life and has earned the nation’s respect, go well, famba zvakanaka/ hambakahle comrade.