The Sunday Mail
John Masuku
AS we remember my father-in-law, the late Manicaland businessman, Mr Charles Marume Dziruni, who died on January 15, 2000, we celebrate his perseverance and patriotism during the bitter liberation war.
One of his three well-stocked general dealer shops known as Chimbike Store in Gandanzara area was burnt down by Rhodesian soldiers and his brand-new truck reduced to a shell by a land mine originally targeted at enemy forces by freedom fighters.
Word from the guerrillas for Mr Dziruni to avoid the mined road at uNgweme on the fateful day had not reached him on time.
Despite the truck being reduced to a heated iron scrap, his long-time driver, Caleb Rashama, popularly known as Sarashama, emerged from the blast unscathed.
With four of his children having crossed to Mozambique to join the liberation struggle, and one of them not returning home at Independence, Mr Dziruni, known as Mr C in family circles, continued to support ZANLA forces that operated in his area.
This prompted the Rhodesians to try and destroy his businesses.
“Baba Dziruni was saved by a guerrilla commander named Captain Mago, who vowed to protect him because of the unwavering support he gave to freedom fighters in the form of food and clothes,” said Mr C’s surviving spouse, Lillian (nee Dodzo)
Those suspected by the Rhodesian soldiers of aiding so-called “terrorists” were taken to Downs torture camp at Mutasa District Commission offices and severely assaulted.
The businessman had established his general dealer shops from the late 1950s since returning from South Africa, where he worked in hotels in Cape Town.
He started with Gonde Store in the Chiremba area on the shores of Osborne Dam, followed by Chimbike and Nyagambu Stores. This was in Rongorayini, Dziwa area, near Bonda Mission.
Apparently this is where, at the original “paruware” (rock) family homestead, he had grown up and attended school with the late first ZANU chairperson, Cde Herbert Chitepo, in primary school.
At all his shops, Mr Dziruni, as an approved buyer of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), assisted many peasant farmers to sell their produce.
Back in the 1970s, besides the nearby Rugoyi Clinic and few neighbours, he was one of the few that had a telephone, which the wider Gandanzara and nearby communities used for emergencies.
With the coming of Uhuru in 1980, the celebrations didn’t last long for Mr Dziruni and many businesspeople, including bus operators, who, despite enduring heavy war-time losses, were expected to pay up their huge tax arrears.
Many enterprises folded.
Mr Dziruni was similarly affected.
By then, I had married Agnes, affectionately called Ekkie, one of his many daughters. I got to know about his engagement with Manicaland homeboys, namely the then Minister of Mines, Maurice Nyagumbo; former Speaker of Parliament, Didymus Mutasa; as well as Naomi Nhiwatiwa, who was then Deputy Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunications in Prime Minister Robert Mugabe’s first Cabinet.
The three politicians received him very well and openly acknowledged his admirable contribution of assisting freedom fighters at the war-front.
But despite promises to assist him and all concerned businesspeople, there was no deliberate pronouncement on war tax exemptions and indeed nothing ever changed as the taxman pounced on all defaulters. Never to allow setbacks to overcome him, he took advantage of the huge demand for pork at the time and went into piggery to raise capital for compliance and business recovery.
In no time, he was back on his feet, even becoming a pioneer of rural electrification in his area, something which later benefitted nearby schools like Dope, areas like Masowe and the Osborne Dam construction in 1991.
He further sponsored sports tournaments and donated trophies and prize money, especially in surrounding schools.
He also expanded his businesses to include hairdressing, butchery, restaurant, welding and carpentry shops.
A loving, progressive and generous polygamous family person whose other wives were from Mtetwa, Mwando and Kororo families within his business catchment areas, Mr Dziruni had several children now scattered all over the world.
He invested in giving his children equal educational opportunities, thus grooming them for decent jobs and entrepreneurship, locally and abroad.
I personally witnessed and experienced Mr C’s business acumen, humility and fatherliness on my first visit to my wife’s home in Gandanzara soon after Independence, when he asked me to join him on one of his all-day restocking trips in Mutare.
As I jumped to the back of the truck to join loaders, he quickly invited me to come and sit next to him in front while Sarashama drove all the way, thereby providing himself with an opportunity to know more about my broadcasting job and family in Harare and Matabeleland.
The errand to source goods for his three shops took us up and down Mutare’s fully stocked wholesalers, where Mr C proudly introduced me to his friends and business associates, mainly of Indian descent, as his son-in-law who was a radio and television personality. For the next two decades, we became very close. Rest in eternal peace Soko, Babazala Ncube!
John Masuku is a veteran radio/television broadcast journalist and media trainer. Contact him on: Email: [email protected]; Twitter @john_masuku
