Dr Obert Moses Mpofu
TO say death is cruel is an understatement, but to say “Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” just serves to remind us that the ways of the Lord are hard to fathom and harder to question. But the heart continues to weep — Why? Why my brother, Chris? Why God?
To this day, as I ink out my sorrows, the universe and your angelic self will not talk back to me.
All the same, my aching heart begs for an answer to this very eternal question of mine.
Last time we met in flesh, regardless of being a pale shadow of your known gleeful self, you assured me: “Doc, I will be fine!”
This begs me to mournfully ask again: Is this what you meant?
But well, you are in a fine place in the right hand of the Father.
Your comrades here are just not fine.
We are told the “dead” are deaf.
Deaf you could be, but blind to letters you cannot be! You died a man of letters.
To think that we ran the doctorate race together and you decided to add another doctorate degree amazes me.
That was a display of genuine love for knowledge. Unlike others of your intellectual stature, you made yourself relevant to the big and small of our mighty mass-line party.
You were a tolerant genius; you made sense of everyone’s thinking regardless of their place in society. Never a day did you arrogantly mistreat others for being less lettered than you.
In the meekness of your heart, we were all equal to you. Definitely, your hosts in heaven will not be put to task to give you eternal peace.
You were a peaceful man on earth.
Heaven has, indeed, inherited a revolutionary angel in you, my brother. It is our loss and heaven’s gain.
Serving with honour and distinction
At independence, he was appointed Principal Executive Officer to the then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
In a short space of time, in 1982, to be more specific, Dr Chris Mushohwe was appointed to head the Prime Minister’s scholarship programme.
Meanwhile, he also served as the Comptroller to the Prime Minister’s Household in 1986.
In 1988, Dr Chris Mushohwe was Director for State Residences before his elevation to Principal Director in the Office of the President and Cabinet in 1993.
Within the first decade of independence, he had acquitted himself as a bureaucrat and statecraft steward of honour and distinction.
His first decade of public service is an uttermost display of how much he was an epitome of a meritocratic leadership credence.
In 1994, he reclaimed his liberation credentials by becoming the Manicaland Secretary for Labour and Production.
This role was affirmed by his direct involvement in nationalist activism of the mid-70s as a member of the then ZANU.
Surprisingly, he would not constantly remind comrades that he directly faced the brunt of the armed struggle. He had this self-effacing humility and, in a room full of ex-combatants, one would think he was the least of participants in our armed struggle. He would not bother reminding the converted about the bruises he was leased by the armed struggle.
With Mushohwe at the helm of managing the Presidential scholarships, every province benefitted from this programme.
His imprinted legacy to this scholarship programme is that of the regional balance it continues to bear.
Dr Mushohwe will be remembered for detribalising access to education.
A nonpareil stalwart
The late nationalist was stuck with the people of Mutare West as a Member of Parliament and Central Committee member since 2000 until his elevation to glory.
Under the Robert Mugabe administration, Dr Mushohwe held several senior Cabinet portfolios.
After November 2017, he was deployed to the party headquarters as Secretary for Economic Affairs on a full-time basis.
He had served as the party’s Economic Affairs Secretary since 2014.
His continued service to the ruling ZANU PF also substantiates the magnitude of discipline attached to his character.
Such is the dividend of discipline; it makes one indispensable and hard to dispose of.
He is a living template of consistency to the revolution. This is what our youths in the party must emulate for the longevity of our revolution to be safeguarded to eternity.
Dr Mushohwe will be remembered for his honest and ever-polite character.
His rational character will be remembered forever.
He is simply irreplaceable.
I am certain his soul was well-received by the heavens.
ZANU PF has lost a voter!
* Dr Obert Mpofu is the ZANU PF Secretary for Administration in the Politburo
