Amai Muzenda was a perfect example of African motherhood: Mugabe

While conveying his condolences to the Muzenda family, President Robert Mugabe said that the late Maud Muzenda was a perfect example of African motherhood. Mugabe also mourned the late George Rutanhire and said he deserved to be declared a national hero due to his contribution to the struggle.

Below is Mugabe’s full condolence message:

I learnt with deep sadness of the death yesterday (Tuesday) of Amai Muzenda, wife of the late Vice President, Cde 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 our struggle against settler colonialism. Betrothed to a fierce nationalist and freedom fighter in the mould of our late Vice President, Gogo Muzenda was, for a long time, fated 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.

Once freed, the late Vice President went into exile, leaving Ambuya Muzenda to shoulder the burden of raising the family single-handedly. She thus bore unaided the brunt of parenthood, itself no easy role given the broad socio-economic pressures faced by African families surviving under settler colonial conditions, and of course the direct political hostilities and open harassment to which families of nationalists were subjected by the racist regime. Still she held firm as the sole head of the family, even then while still playing her part in supporting the greater cause of our liberation struggle.

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Like most mothers, she too bore children for the struggle, even losing one of them in one of the many bombings on our camps by the racist Rhodesian regime. As we mourn her sad departure, we thus recognise and celebrate this exemplary family’s given-ness to the national cause.

Gogo Muzenda’s death comes barely a week after we laid to rest another heroine, Senator Shuvai Ben Mahofa, and just a few days after the sad departure of Cde George Rutanhire, himself, a giant of our struggle.

More: Herald