Harare: President Robert Mugabe has sent condolence messages following the death of Mbuya Amai Maud Muzenda and George Rutanhire.
To the Muzenda family, President Mugabe said he has learnt with deep sadness of the death of Amai Muzenda, wife of the late Vice President, Dr Simon Vengai Muzenda.
“An epitome of African motherhood, Gogo Muzenda stands tall as a symbol of the triumph of motherly femininity over adversities imposed on the African family unit by demands of the country’s struggle against settler colonialism,” he said.
Mugabe said betrothed to a fierce nationalist and freedom fighter in the mould of the late Vice President, Gogo Muzenda was, for a long time, left to raise the Muzenda family without support from her husband who would either be operating underground or would be languishing in prison inside the then Rhodesia.
He said once freed, the late Vice President went into exile, leaving Ambuya Muzenda to shoulder the burden of raising the family single-handedly.
President Mugabe also spoke highly of Rutanhire’s commitment to the national cause that he abandoned his role of a catechist in the Roman Catholic Church for the struggle in the early 1970s and did so together with his newly- wedded wife, Susan, who survives him.
The President said it has been a very difficult month for the nation, but Zimbabweans must all remain strong and united. zbc
