The Sunday Mail
Cletus Mushanawani in Mutare
Hundreds of people yesterday descended on Dambakurimwa Village near Mutare to pay their last respects to Justice Simpson Mutambanengwe who succumbed to renal failure in Namibia last week.
The former High Court judge and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairperson was 87 at the time of his death. Justice Mutambanengwe was accorded a State-assisted funeral by the Zimbabwe Government.
The Namibian government took care of funeral parlour expenses and flew the Justice’s body from Windhoek to Zimbabwe.
Speaking at the burial, Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister Mandi Chimene said, “I am representing President Mugabe who could not make it here because of other pressing commitments. It is with no doubt that Justice Mutambanengwe’s history, both before and after Independence, is well-documented.
“We need to remind each other to be consistent in everything we do. We have many war veterans, but it does not mean that everyone will be accorded national hero status.” In a message read on his behalf, Namibia’s Chief Justice Peter Shivute said, “Justice Mutambanengwe was a leader in political and judiciary circles both in Zimbabwe and Namibia. He was a down-to-earth judge who authored 26 reported judgments while he was serving the Namibian High Court. “When he was serving the Supreme Court, he authored 19 reported judgments. He presided over hard cases in both the High and Supreme courts, but his judgments were of high quality.”
Justice Mutambanengwe was a founding member of Zanu and later its interim Central Committee which steered the party for 10 months before the first Congress in Gweru in 1964.
At that Congress, he was elected Secretary for Pan-African and International Affairs, deputised by Cde Henry Matuku Hamadziripi.
Among the dignitaries at his burial were Local Government Deputy Minister Chris Chingosho, Zanu-PF Secretary for Youth Affairs Cde Kudzanai Chipanga, judicial service representatives and Members of Parliament, among them Cdes Irene Zindi, Batsirayi Pemhenayi, Shadreck Chipanga and Monica Mutsvangwa.
Justice Mutambanengwe is survived by wife Juliana, three sons and 10 grandchildren.
