By Sylvia Chidochemoyo Kunaka

MOST, if not all, of us can relate to the indescribable feelings one goes through the night before an interview.
One usually has a sleepless night trying to recall everything learnt during schooling years.
I vividly remember the very first day I met Cde Alexander Kanengoni and it was for my interview.
I walked into his office and sat down waiting for the interview to begin.
I was expecting a ‘normal’ interview where you are asked questions related to your field of study, the job you are applying for and the usual questions, but instead he took my academic transcripts and nodded his head and just said: “We are here to teach you,” and that was about it.
Soon after I got the job, I had my first diary session which he chaired and again, he repeated his statement: “We are here to teach you.”
At the back of my mind I questioned his sanity.
Then, I thought this is a small organisation Information Communication Technology (ICT)-wise, had it been a big corporate like a bank or a telecommunication company then I might have had lots to learn.
But learn I did, a lot, and I am still learning, which is why his sudden departure has devastated me, I still had much to learn.
He reminded us always that the important legacy any man, any teacher, any leader could leave behind was historical knowledge.
While most leaders spend most of their time behind closed doors, in high offices and corridors of power, Cde Kanengoni spent most of his time with us.
He spent an average of six hours in a week, that is three hours on Monday and three hours on Friday seated with us sharing and imparting his vast knowledge on history and the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe.
He would tell us stories that justified why we must be a proud people.
He would point out how it was not so prudent for Nigerian President General Muhammad Buhari, in his inaugural speech, to quote an entire passage from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads to fortune and omitted, all the voyage of their life ends in shallows and misery.” (Shakespeare)
He shook his head in dismay and said: “It was as if his election by the Nigerian people was not sufficient without being endorsed by the British.
“How could General Buhari search for heroes to inspire him in the freezing wilderness of English culture when Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart for example, that African literary bible, lay next to him, unopened?
“Africa needs visionary leaders who put the interests of their citizens and that of the continent first.”
He taught us about slavery and the colonisation of Africa.
Not that European history about Napoleon Bonaparte we were taught at school, but the real story of Zimbabwe and that of slavery.
He would ask us to identify on the map of Africa, British and French colonies.
He taught us about the effects of colonisation, emphasising civilisation was not brought by whites.
“We were civilised before the whiteman came,” he would say.
“The whiteman came and took our resources and forced us into slavery that is all.”
He would go on to teach us about the independence of Africa and his favourite was for us to recite the founding fathers of Africa and the African Union (AU) as well as the vision of the founding fathers.
“It is important to recall the vision of the founding fathers,” he would say.
“They dedicated their lives and worked tirelessly to bring Africa her independence and sovereignty.”
Cde Kanengoni would tell us again and again, never tiring, the story of Zimbabwe before colonisation and after, the liberation struggle and about life in Protected Villages; we never tired of hearing these stories.
He would narrate how he decided to join the liberation war and his experiences.
He told us stories about the events during the ceasefire period and the comrades’ experiences at Assembly Points.
“It was a period of adjustment, of quiet grief, of mourning, of pain,” Cde Kanengoni would say.
Cde Kanengoni was a man who lived true to his teachings, a teacher, a patriot, a fount of knowledge who always encouraged us to do the right thing for the people and the nation.