‘She fulfilled Chitepo’s dream’ [See also pictures]

The late Cde Victoria Chitepo has been accorded national heroine status, with a visibly grieving President Mugabe describing her as an exemplary woman of integrity worth emulating.

Formally announcing the conferment of hero status to mourners at her Harare residence yesterday, Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Dr Ignatius Chombo said Cde Chitepo was unanimously declared a national heroine after all Politburo members agreed she deserved the honour.

President Mugabe gave an emotional tribute, describing her as a “natural hero” and mother figure always prepared to lend a helping hand.

He chronicled the role she played during the liberation struggle from the time she looked after comrades in Tanzania, where she lived with her late husband, founding Zanu Chairman Cde Herbert Chitepo.

President Mugabe said after her husband died in 1975, Cde Chitepo remained committed to the liberation struggle and continued to work tirelessly for the party.

“She has gone now but she has written her own page or book of the struggle. She had borne quite a difficult burden pakafa murume, she was shattered but she still felt she did not only have children to look after, she had, also, the party her husband had worked for to care for . . . “What her husband left undone she would do now, the fulfillment of the ambition and the mission which her husband left unfilled, she fulfilled it all.”

President Mugabe’s said Cde Chitepo, who died at home last Friday as she prepared to attend Zanu-PF’s Central Committee, was steadfastly loyal.

“Tarasaikirwa na mai. Vanga vari mai vanyerere asi vari mai vemusangano. Ndakanzwa kuti vakanga vaita shungu yekuti vauye kumusangano yedu ye Central Committee nezuro, ndokubva zvakona vakafira mu bathroom.”

President Mugabe called her a graceful peacemaker, full of love and humility.

“I am sure every one of us here has a different story, everyone here has her own story to tell about Mai Chhitepo; that story will always have an element of love, an element of her preparedness to assist, (her) charitable disposition, wanting to assist and wanting reconciliation.

“She never was quarrelsome. No, never. She was never involved in conflicts; she also always encouraged harmony in the party, dialogue in the party and togetherness in the party,” the President said.

He encouraged the Chitepo family to take comfort and reassured them he would stand by them.

President Mugabe said First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe was a close friend of the late heroine but was unable to attend as she was in the Far East with her daughter Mrs Bona Chikore, who is about to give birth.

“There was such a great friendship between my present wife and Mai Chitepo. I was not able to get her on the phone yesterday; she had to run, vakaenda kumwana, mwanasikana.

“Akati ndoda kuberekera kuno kwandakadzidza. Kunana Chiremba vandinoziva so she is about to give birth. She is about to give birth, it’s a matter of days… She will be heartbroken.”

He added: “I know she (Cde Chitepo) is naturally a hero … I will never forget her, never forget her generosity, never forget her commitment, never forget her love. Wherever I am, in my small prayers, I pray to God to receive her with both hands.”

Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he was one of the comrades looked after by Cde Chitepo.

“She was a mother to all of us. In March and April 1963 I was one of the people taken to Panga Tanzania and stayed at her house. She took care of me, just as was the case with many other comrades because she was a mother to all cadres.

“The family will also be pleased to learn that the journey she traveled with President Mugabe before and after the liberation struggle lasted for close to 70 years,” he said.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo said Cde Chitepo was a unifier.

In a statement yesterday, he said: “The untimely death of Cde Victoria Fikile Chitepo on Friday morning has shocked the entire Zanu-PF family to the marrow.

“Even all the patriotic people of Zimbabwe in general must have been dismayed by her sudden departure from this world without ceremony.

“Cde Chitepo was a special breed of leader just like her late husband, Cde Herbert Chitepo. She was an exceptional revolutionary who humbled herself in all situations.

“She led by example at all times and never viewed anyone with tribal, regional or racial lenses. She was a leader of purpose, principle and courage.”

He added: “A fountain of wisdom and a gifted mother, as dutiful as she was, she passed on heading for the Zanu-PF Central Committee meeting, a demonstration of her superlative commitment to her party and country.

“She was a deep thinker and a woman of admirable intellectual capacity and integrity.Her contribution pre and post independence in the country is unquestionable.

“She has left a legacy of selfless service for generations to come. We dare not betray her by indulging in factionalism. May her soul enter and rest in eternal peace.”

Dr Chombo said Politburo members did not need to look at Cde Chitepo’s CV to agree to grant her hero status.

He said burial arrangements would be communicated to the nation in due course.

Senate President Cde Edna Madzongwe; cabinet Ministers Sydney Sekeramayi, Prisca Mupfumira, David Parirenyatwa, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Patrick Chinamasa, Samuel Undenge and Miriam Chikukwa; service chiefs and other senior Government officials all went to pay their condolences at the Chitepo home yesterday.

Cde Chitepo is survived by her four children, Nomusa, Zanele, Thokozile and Kule.

Mourners are gathered at 38 Quorn Drive in Mt Pleasant.