Shamuyarira A Leading Light, Says Zimbabwe President Mugabe
June 6, 2014
Herald Reporters
President Mugabe has paid tribute to former Cabinet Minister and Zanu-PF Politburo member Cde Nathan Shamuyarira, who died in Harare on Wednesday evening, saying he distinguished himself professionally and politically. Cde Shamuyarira died aged 85 at West End Hospital. “I learnt with deep grief and sadness of the death last (Wednesday) night of Cde Nathan Shamuyarira at West End Hospital,” he said in a statement.
“Although Cde Shamuyarira had been unwell for quite sometime, we still hoped he would be with us a little longer. Sadly, this was not to be, as he breathed his last yesterday (Wednesday).”
The President said Cde Shamuyarira’s professional and political career dovetailed with important moments in Zimbabwe’s history.
“Initially a teacher like most educated black Rhodesians were wont to be in those difficult and limiting colonial years, Nathan, along a handful of others, etched new professional direction in the media industry through the then white-owned liberal Daily News, a paper he eventually edited,” said the President.
He said alongside his predecessors at African Newspapers Ltd — Jasper Savanhu, Masotsha Mike Hove, Lawrence Vambe and Kingsley Savanhu — Cde Shamuyarira personified new possibilities in the careers of indigenous people.
“Their appointment, rare at the time, bespoke of compulsive intellect which the dominant white supremacist ethos of his time could not ignore and with which it had to come to terms,” said President Mugabe.
“Indeed his scholarly cast would see him excel academically at the United States of America’s Princeton University where he acquired a doctorate in 1967.
“Again, this was another rare achievement in those dark Rhodesian days, indeed a demonstrative assertion of African intellect in a dispensation of negative colonial profiling.”
President Mugabe said like many educated Africans of the time, Cde Shamuyarira was initially hesitant to enter politics.
“Yes, like most of his peers, he needed persistent cajoling to jump into the political fray, a role so ably played by the late national hero Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa, who persuaded him to join national politics.
“Unlike most of his peers at the African Newspaper group who ended up being ‘black members of white establishment’ to use Cde Shamuyarira’s words, he himself threw his lot with the nationalist struggle.”
President Mugabe said Cde Shamuyarira never looked back once consciousness caught on with him, with his seminal book “Crisis in Rhodesia”, published in 1965, indicative of his sharp mind and nationalist drive.
“His career as a lecturer in various parts of the world, principally at the renowned University of Dar-es-Salaam was always interspersed with commitments to the struggle, initially under Zapu, then under Zanu, and then under the breakaway Frolizi led by the late James Chikerema,” he said.
“Later and through my personal persuasion, Nathan would rejoin Zanu, subsequently relocating to Mozambique where, alongside other leading cadres, he directed the propaganda thrust of our armed struggle.”
President Mugabe said Cde Shamuyarira would be remembered for his role in building a modern information and media industry in Zimbabwe.
“His contribution to that sector, both under the party and in Government, both by way of building information and book structures, and by way of providing editorial direction, shall always rank foremost in his overall legacy to our country,” he said.
“As our Foreign Minister, he contributed immensely to the overall projection and visibility of Zimbabwe as a non-aligned, progressive Pan-African country founded on values of Third World solidarity. Indeed, during his tenure, Zimbabwe hosted key world summits. We will miss him sorely.”
President Mugabe urged the family to take solace from the fact that Cde Shamuyarira had served the nation well and led an eventful life.
“On behalf of the party, Zanu-PF, Government, my family and on my own behalf, I wish to condole with the Shamuyarira family, his widowed wife, especially. Sadly Amai Shamuyarira will now have to manage without her life-long, loving partner and bosom companion.”
Born in 1929 to an evangelist of the Methodist Church, Cde Shamuyarira attended Waddilove Institute where he qualified as a primary school teacher.
After leaving Waddilove, he taught at various primary schools and used the time to complete his secondary education and then taught for some time at Tegwani School in Plumtree.
From 1950-53, he taught animal husbandry at Domboshava before he got a job as a reporter with African Newspapers Ltd in 1953.
He excelled, rising through the ranks to become the first black African editor of the Daily News in 1956.
From 1959 to 1962, Cde Shamuyarira was editor-in-chief of African Newspapers Ltd, after which he left journalism when the late national hero Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa asked him to join Zapu, which was recruiting African intellectuals to spearhead the struggle for independence.
However, the colonial settler regime banned Zapu that same year and the party’s leader, the late Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo, asked Cde Shamuyarira to join a delegation to the United Nations in New York even though he held no official position in the movement at the time.
Upon returning, Cde Shamuyarira was appointed lecturer in Adult Education at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
In 1963, he and other nationalists broke from Zapu to form Zanu, and in September of the following year he left Southern Rhodesia to study Political Science at Princeton University in the United States and graduated in 1967.
After that, he was appointed a lecturer at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, where he doubled up as Zanu’s secretary for external affairs.
In 1970, Cde Shamuyarira and Cde James Chikerema engaged in deliberations on unifying Zapu and Zapu in Lusaka, Zambia, resulting in him resigning his lectureship to take up the post of treasurer for the new Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe in 1971.
Disagreements with leading lights of the struggle, such as Chairman Herbert Chitepo, saw him leave once again for the University of Dar-es-Salam in 1973.
At Independence in 1980, Cde Shamuyarira joined Government in charge of the information brief, a portfolio he was head again in the 1980s, in between which he was Zimbabwe’s third Foreign Affairs Minister.
Cde Shamuyarira left Government in 2000, to concentrate on his work in Zanu-PF where he was secretary for information and publicity.
In 2004, Cde Shamuyarira was appointed patron of the Palestine Movement; and that same year was crucial to the establishment of the Zimbabwe Automotive Accident Fund, which provided food and scholarships to orphans of road traffic accident victims.
As one of the first black journalists in Zimbabwe, he established the Nathan Shamuyarira Foundation in 2006 whose aim was to sponsor trainee media practitioners and other disadvantaged students.
In 2007, Cde Shamuyarira played a key role in establishment of the local chapter of the African Liberators Heritage Programme to preserve the memory of the continent’s liberation struggles.
Tributes pour in for intellectual revolutionary
June 6, 2014
Farirai Machivenyika and Paidamoyo Chipunza
Zimbabwe Herald
Deacon Drive in Harare’s Hogarty Hill has an unmistakable sense of loss. Green trees and colourful flowers lining the road do little to mask the pervading sombreness that grips hundreds of people streaming in and out of Mrs Dorothy Shamuyarira’s house in this leafy neighbourhood. Until Wednesday night, it was a home that she shared with Cde Nathan Shamuyarira.
But the veteran nationalist died that evening, and the magnitude of the loss can be felt among the mourners; who count among their numbers grieving family, weeping colleagues and teary eyed protégés.
Cde Shamuyarira was many things to many people, and a freedom fighter to all.
Yesterday, many described him as one of a rare breed of intellectual revolutionaries who contributed immensely to organising and mobilising support for the liberation struggle.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and war veteran Cde Chris Mutsvangwa said: “The role of intellectual revolutionaries in the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe is not fully appreciated. We had a period where people were groping for direction and how to confront the entrenched racist Rhodesian state.
“It needed somebody who could abstract, who could think and who could read the national landscape and graft it on the global stage and come out with policies and programmes which then would fashion the training of the cadre, the army, the soldier.”
Cde Mutsvangwa said it was the intellectuals that gave sound ideological grounding to young, idealistic cadres who braved Rhodesian bullets and the dangers of the bush to join the armed struggle.
“That is where the role of the intellectual became paramount and Cde Nathan Shamuyarira was among those very important people in fashioning the mind of the cadre.”
Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Cde Faber Chidarikire lamented that Zimbabwe had been robbed of a fountain of wisdom.
“His invaluable advice helped us as a province as he was always there when we needed him. He is someone who will be difficult to replace,” Cde Chidarikire said.
Cde Lovemore Chihota, who was Zanu-PF’s representative in Tanzania during the Second Chimurenga, spoke of Cde Shamuyarira critical role in Zanu’s formation and growth.
Cde Shamuyarira’s timeline
June 7, 2014 Local News
Born in 1929: Cde Shamuyarira attended Waddilove Institute and qualified as a primary school teacher. Taught at Tegwani School in Plumtree.
1950-53: Teaches animal husbandry in Domboshava before getting a job as cub reporter with African Newspapers Ltd, in 1953 he becomes first black African editor of the Daily News in 1956.
1959-1962: Editor-in-chief of African Newspapers Ltd, but soon leaves journalism after late national hero Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa, asks him to join Zapu.
1962: Appointed lecturer in Adult Education at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
1963-69: He and other nationalists break from ZAPU to form ZANU, and in September of the following year, goes to Princeton University in the United States to Study Political Science. Graduates in 1967. Teaches at University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, where he doubles as ZANU secretary for external affairs.
1970-79: Cde Shamuyarira and Cde James Chikerema engage in deliberations to unify ZANU and ZAPU in Lusaka, Zambia. Resigns lectureship to take up the post of treasurer for the new Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe in 1971. Disagreements see him leave once again for University of Dar-es-Salam in 1973.
1980-1999: Works in Government as minister of various briefs, including Information, Posts and Telecommunications, and Foreign Affairs.
2000: Leaves Government to concentrate on party work.
2004: Appointed patron of the Palestine Movement.
2006: Establishes the Nathan Shamuyarira Foundation in 2006, to sponsor trainee journalists and other disadvantaged students.
2007: Plays key role in establishment of the local chapter of the African Liberators Heritage Programme.
 |
| Zimbabwe official Nathan Shamuyarira is declared a national hero. |
Herald Reporters
President Mugabe has paid tribute to former Cabinet Minister and Zanu-PF Politburo member Cde Nathan Shamuyarira, who died in Harare on Wednesday evening, saying he distinguished himself professionally and politically. Cde Shamuyarira died aged 85 at West End Hospital. “I learnt with deep grief and sadness of the death last (Wednesday) night of Cde Nathan Shamuyarira at West End Hospital,” he said in a statement.
“Although Cde Shamuyarira had been unwell for quite sometime, we still hoped he would be with us a little longer. Sadly, this was not to be, as he breathed his last yesterday (Wednesday).”
The President said Cde Shamuyarira’s professional and political career dovetailed with important moments in Zimbabwe’s history.
“Initially a teacher like most educated black Rhodesians were wont to be in those difficult and limiting colonial years, Nathan, along a handful of others, etched new professional direction in the media industry through the then white-owned liberal Daily News, a paper he eventually edited,” said the President.
He said alongside his predecessors at African Newspapers Ltd — Jasper Savanhu, Masotsha Mike Hove, Lawrence Vambe and Kingsley Savanhu — Cde Shamuyarira personified new possibilities in the careers of indigenous people.
“Their appointment, rare at the time, bespoke of compulsive intellect which the dominant white supremacist ethos of his time could not ignore and with which it had to come to terms,” said President Mugabe.
“Indeed his scholarly cast would see him excel academically at the United States of America’s Princeton University where he acquired a doctorate in 1967.
“Again, this was another rare achievement in those dark Rhodesian days, indeed a demonstrative assertion of African intellect in a dispensation of negative colonial profiling.”
President Mugabe said like many educated Africans of the time, Cde Shamuyarira was initially hesitant to enter politics.
“Yes, like most of his peers, he needed persistent cajoling to jump into the political fray, a role so ably played by the late national hero Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa, who persuaded him to join national politics.
“Unlike most of his peers at the African Newspaper group who ended up being ‘black members of white establishment’ to use Cde Shamuyarira’s words, he himself threw his lot with the nationalist struggle.”
President Mugabe said Cde Shamuyarira never looked back once consciousness caught on with him, with his seminal book “Crisis in Rhodesia”, published in 1965, indicative of his sharp mind and nationalist drive.
“His career as a lecturer in various parts of the world, principally at the renowned University of Dar-es-Salaam was always interspersed with commitments to the struggle, initially under Zapu, then under Zanu, and then under the breakaway Frolizi led by the late James Chikerema,” he said.
“Later and through my personal persuasion, Nathan would rejoin Zanu, subsequently relocating to Mozambique where, alongside other leading cadres, he directed the propaganda thrust of our armed struggle.”
President Mugabe said Cde Shamuyarira would be remembered for his role in building a modern information and media industry in Zimbabwe.
“His contribution to that sector, both under the party and in Government, both by way of building information and book structures, and by way of providing editorial direction, shall always rank foremost in his overall legacy to our country,” he said.
“As our Foreign Minister, he contributed immensely to the overall projection and visibility of Zimbabwe as a non-aligned, progressive Pan-African country founded on values of Third World solidarity. Indeed, during his tenure, Zimbabwe hosted key world summits. We will miss him sorely.”
President Mugabe urged the family to take solace from the fact that Cde Shamuyarira had served the nation well and led an eventful life.
“On behalf of the party, Zanu-PF, Government, my family and on my own behalf, I wish to condole with the Shamuyarira family, his widowed wife, especially. Sadly Amai Shamuyarira will now have to manage without her life-long, loving partner and bosom companion.”
Born in 1929 to an evangelist of the Methodist Church, Cde Shamuyarira attended Waddilove Institute where he qualified as a primary school teacher.
After leaving Waddilove, he taught at various primary schools and used the time to complete his secondary education and then taught for some time at Tegwani School in Plumtree.
From 1950-53, he taught animal husbandry at Domboshava before he got a job as a reporter with African Newspapers Ltd in 1953.
He excelled, rising through the ranks to become the first black African editor of the Daily News in 1956.
From 1959 to 1962, Cde Shamuyarira was editor-in-chief of African Newspapers Ltd, after which he left journalism when the late national hero Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa asked him to join Zapu, which was recruiting African intellectuals to spearhead the struggle for independence.
However, the colonial settler regime banned Zapu that same year and the party’s leader, the late Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo, asked Cde Shamuyarira to join a delegation to the United Nations in New York even though he held no official position in the movement at the time.
Upon returning, Cde Shamuyarira was appointed lecturer in Adult Education at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
In 1963, he and other nationalists broke from Zapu to form Zanu, and in September of the following year he left Southern Rhodesia to study Political Science at Princeton University in the United States and graduated in 1967.
After that, he was appointed a lecturer at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, where he doubled up as Zanu’s secretary for external affairs.
In 1970, Cde Shamuyarira and Cde James Chikerema engaged in deliberations on unifying Zapu and Zapu in Lusaka, Zambia, resulting in him resigning his lectureship to take up the post of treasurer for the new Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe in 1971.
Disagreements with leading lights of the struggle, such as Chairman Herbert Chitepo, saw him leave once again for the University of Dar-es-Salam in 1973.
At Independence in 1980, Cde Shamuyarira joined Government in charge of the information brief, a portfolio he was head again in the 1980s, in between which he was Zimbabwe’s third Foreign Affairs Minister.
Cde Shamuyarira left Government in 2000, to concentrate on his work in Zanu-PF where he was secretary for information and publicity.
In 2004, Cde Shamuyarira was appointed patron of the Palestine Movement; and that same year was crucial to the establishment of the Zimbabwe Automotive Accident Fund, which provided food and scholarships to orphans of road traffic accident victims.
As one of the first black journalists in Zimbabwe, he established the Nathan Shamuyarira Foundation in 2006 whose aim was to sponsor trainee media practitioners and other disadvantaged students.
In 2007, Cde Shamuyarira played a key role in establishment of the local chapter of the African Liberators Heritage Programme to preserve the memory of the continent’s liberation struggles.
Tributes pour in for intellectual revolutionary
June 6, 2014
Farirai Machivenyika and Paidamoyo Chipunza
Zimbabwe Herald
Deacon Drive in Harare’s Hogarty Hill has an unmistakable sense of loss. Green trees and colourful flowers lining the road do little to mask the pervading sombreness that grips hundreds of people streaming in and out of Mrs Dorothy Shamuyarira’s house in this leafy neighbourhood. Until Wednesday night, it was a home that she shared with Cde Nathan Shamuyarira.
But the veteran nationalist died that evening, and the magnitude of the loss can be felt among the mourners; who count among their numbers grieving family, weeping colleagues and teary eyed protégés.
Cde Shamuyarira was many things to many people, and a freedom fighter to all.
Yesterday, many described him as one of a rare breed of intellectual revolutionaries who contributed immensely to organising and mobilising support for the liberation struggle.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and war veteran Cde Chris Mutsvangwa said: “The role of intellectual revolutionaries in the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe is not fully appreciated. We had a period where people were groping for direction and how to confront the entrenched racist Rhodesian state.
“It needed somebody who could abstract, who could think and who could read the national landscape and graft it on the global stage and come out with policies and programmes which then would fashion the training of the cadre, the army, the soldier.”
Cde Mutsvangwa said it was the intellectuals that gave sound ideological grounding to young, idealistic cadres who braved Rhodesian bullets and the dangers of the bush to join the armed struggle.
“That is where the role of the intellectual became paramount and Cde Nathan Shamuyarira was among those very important people in fashioning the mind of the cadre.”
Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Cde Faber Chidarikire lamented that Zimbabwe had been robbed of a fountain of wisdom.
“His invaluable advice helped us as a province as he was always there when we needed him. He is someone who will be difficult to replace,” Cde Chidarikire said.
Cde Lovemore Chihota, who was Zanu-PF’s representative in Tanzania during the Second Chimurenga, spoke of Cde Shamuyarira critical role in Zanu’s formation and growth.
Cde Shamuyarira’s timeline
June 7, 2014 Local News
Born in 1929: Cde Shamuyarira attended Waddilove Institute and qualified as a primary school teacher. Taught at Tegwani School in Plumtree.
1950-53: Teaches animal husbandry in Domboshava before getting a job as cub reporter with African Newspapers Ltd, in 1953 he becomes first black African editor of the Daily News in 1956.
1959-1962: Editor-in-chief of African Newspapers Ltd, but soon leaves journalism after late national hero Dr Samuel Parirenyatwa, asks him to join Zapu.
1962: Appointed lecturer in Adult Education at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
1963-69: He and other nationalists break from ZAPU to form ZANU, and in September of the following year, goes to Princeton University in the United States to Study Political Science. Graduates in 1967. Teaches at University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, where he doubles as ZANU secretary for external affairs.
1970-79: Cde Shamuyarira and Cde James Chikerema engage in deliberations to unify ZANU and ZAPU in Lusaka, Zambia. Resigns lectureship to take up the post of treasurer for the new Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe in 1971. Disagreements see him leave once again for University of Dar-es-Salam in 1973.
1980-1999: Works in Government as minister of various briefs, including Information, Posts and Telecommunications, and Foreign Affairs.
2000: Leaves Government to concentrate on party work.
2004: Appointed patron of the Palestine Movement.
2006: Establishes the Nathan Shamuyarira Foundation in 2006, to sponsor trainee journalists and other disadvantaged students.
2007: Plays key role in establishment of the local chapter of the African Liberators Heritage Programme.
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