Chindori-Chininga: Fearless, honest

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THE late Guruve South legislator, Edward Chindori-Chininga was a fearless and honest politician, close associates said yesterday.

THE late Guruve South legislator, Edward Chindori-Chininga was a fearless and honest politician, close associates said yesterday.

BY OUR STAFF

Chindori-Chininga died in June when his vehicle rammed into a tree at Shinje turn-off along the Harare-Guruve road.

He was subsequently declared a liberation war hero.

At a memorial service held in Harare yesterday, speakers paid a glowing tribute to the former Mines minister as a man who was candid in what he believed in.

Uzumba Zanu PF MP Simbaneuta Mudarikwa said Chindori-Chininga brought development unlike other politicians who resorted to sloganeering without bringing change in the lives of constituents.

“He was the one who brought meaningful development, vamwe vaingoti pamberi, pasi (sloganeering), Mudarikwa said.

He said at times Chindori-Chininga was criticised for his openness. Mudarikwa said Chindori-Chininga’s death was God’s will and it would be wrong for his relatives to consult tsikamutanda (witch hunters) on what had caused the death of the former cabinet minister.

Speaking on behalf of government, Zanu PF politburo member Nicholas Goche said Chindori-Chininga would speak his mind out.

‘’We appreciated his counsel, his advice. We benefitted from his contribution and he played his part, very importantly, in the politics of the party and province,” he said.

Goche said on the day Chindori-Chininga met his fate, he had sent him an SMS requesting an email address as the Guruve South MP wanted to forward a document. Goche saw the message late.

“I should have acted immediately. Now I don’t know what was in that document,” he said.

Soon after his death, there was widespread speculation that Chindori-Chininga was murdered by his political foes.

Goche said he was invited to join provincial politics alongside Chindori-Chininga by the late Border Gezi in 1993.

Chindori-Chininga’s daughter Krystal said her father had a contagious and unfaltering happiness.

“He would smile and you feel a surge of lightness in your chest, and you had no choice but to smile back,” she said.

Krystal said Chindori-Chininga’s spirit remained with the family.

“If you wish to see his face, seek out his brothers and nephews. If you wish to hear his voice, listen to my sisters and I when we speak,” Krystal said.

The memorial service was attended by Zanu PF politburo members Sydney Sekeramayi, Saviour Kasukuwere and Victoria Chitepo, Zanu PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson Dickson Mafios, friends and relatives among others.