The ManicaPost
Freedom Mutanda and Luthando Mapepa Chipinge Correspondents
THOUSANDS of mourners including the First Lady, Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, thronged the Chitima homestead in Chipinge to pay their last respects to provincial heroine Cde Alice Chitima nee Mutema who died on Saturday after a short illness.
She was 78.
Cde Chitima was declared a provincial hero and buried at the Chipinge District Heroes Acre amid pomp and fanfare.
Speaker after speaker spoke about how the late Central Committee member helped the poor and the disadvantaged.
Zanu PF national chairman Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, said she was grieved by the passing on of a leading light who lost her daughter in the struggle but continued to hold the party dear to her heart.
“Mbuya Chitima worked with the likes of Cde William Ndangana and Cde Kumbirai Kangai in the 1970s. She was now part of our family as a party. Her daughter, Chenyu, was a friend during the struggle although she didn’t come back from the war. She disappeared somewhere in Harare. From then on, I took Mbuya Chitima as my mother. Cde Chitima was down to earth and it is my hope my sister, Dorothy, will take that paragon of humility as her model,” she said.
Cde Muchinguri said the late heroine was the longest serving Central Committee member who served for 18 conservative years.
The party’s Manicaland provincial chairman Cde Mike Madiro, thanked the departed heroine as an organiser and lover of stability in the party.
“Cde Chitima was a great organiser and she helped Air Chief Marshal Muchena on his way to Mozambique. She is credited with breaking the ZANU Ndonga monopoly in the district alongside Cde Morris Sakabuya during his time as a District Administrator. Thus, let’s discard factionalism to preserve her legacy,” he said.
The First Lady, Cde Auxillia Mnangagwa said the party had lost a true cadre.
She said she was humbled to have known Cde Chitima as her deeds made her a heroine in the eyes of many people.
“Her track record is rich. She was a hands-on person. She was an example to many young people. She has left a legacy of hard work and bravery,” she said.
However, the burial had its fair share of troubles after family members chased away rival party members whom they blamed for the passing on of the late heroine.
This follows the chaotic Chipinge Central primary elections which were subsequently aborted in which the late heroine’s daughter Cde Dorothy Mabika was one of the contestants.
