by: UK Bureau & IOl
THE widely revered former Midlands governor and Zanu PF politburo member Cephas Msipa who died in Harare on Monday will now be buried at the National Heroes Acre following pressure from the ruling party.
Msipa, who was declared a national hero, succumbed to pneumonia at the age of 85.
Family members told the media that he would be buried at the Midlands provincial heroes’ acre on Saturday, having expressed a wish to be laid to rest closer to his wife.
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Msipa’ wife died in 2013 and was buried at the provincial shrine in Gweru.
However, family spokesman Masimba Msipa said Tuesday that burial had been switched to Harare after “consultations” with the ruling party.
“Although the family would have wanted him to be buried in Gweru next to his wife, we have agreed that he will now be buried at the national shrine on Saturday,” he said.
“We want to make it clear that we are not in conflict with the party and, we appreciate that VaMsipa was not only our father, but father to many.
“We have been working very well with the committee organising his funeral arrangements and we really appreciate that.
“We also appreciate that Cde Msipa was not only our father, but a father to everyone.”
Following his retirement from politics, the former Midlands governor was openly critical of President Robert Mugabe’s rule.
A member of the late Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) during the struggle against white rule, Msipa went to see Mugabe at State House, and the two old comrades spoke frankly.
In an interview with African News Agency (ANA) in Harare last month, Msipa recalled his meeting a few weeks earlier with Mugabe.
“He wants to die in office. He said he is not retiring. He said people don’t retire in politics and that he was going to stay here (in office) until he is 100. So I said to him, ‘well in that case you will be a speaker at my funeral’.
“I suppose that was a joke, but that is his aim. I told Mugabe about the massive corruption of some of his ministers. I was frank. I told him there will be bloodshed in this country if he doesn’t change now, when there is time,” Msipa told ANA at the time.
“And that he shouldn’t be surprised if that happens. I told him that if either of us has a heart attack, no one will be surprised. I told him I was ready, but is he? He is a prisoner somehow. He just looked at me, and I felt sorry for him. He said no one talks to him so I did that. I talked with him. He respects me. I offered to help (over the succession issue) and said we shouldn’t still be fighting with young people.
“I told him he loves his party (Zanu PF) more then he loves the people. That was a blunt statement to make. He didn’t react. He said nothing, and then he looked so frail. He became more active when I told him the churches and business wanted to talk to him. I will go back to him in a month or two and we will talk again.”
Mugabe’s Grace worry
Msipa said Mugabe would not be worried that his expensive lifestyle would change if he retired.
“It’s not a question of money. He knows he will still be well paid and he will still travel as he does now, on the state,” he said.
“He is worried about his family. And people really hate her, (First Lady Grace Mugabe) Many people think all our problems are because of her. I suspect once he goes she will pack and leave in ten minutes.”
Msipa, who was briefly arrested during the crackdown on Zapu in the early 1980s, later joined Mugabe’s Zan -PF, and was one of the mediators who helped forge a political unity agreement between Zapu and Zanu PF after thousands of Nkomo’s supporters were massacred and detained after 1980 independence by a new, North Korean-trained brigade.
Gukurahundi
The massacres became known as Gukuruhundi in Mugabe’s Shona language, or “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains”.
“I reminded him that during Gukuruhundi I invited him to meet people who wanted to see him, and I asked people to talk to him freely, and that he should listen to the people and respond to them. So he asked me if I would be prepared to chair such meetings again, now, in the interests of the country, and I said I would do it.”
Msipa said he had spoken out about tough issues directly to Mugabe before.
He recalled: “His wife, is saying, what will happen if you go? Well, she is saying he will rule from the grave. Well, I had told him in the (Zanu PF) politburo we have a problem in this country because your wife has been hijacked. I expected him to react, but he just looked at me.
“Perhaps it is possible that he sees remaining in power as some kind of protection, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But I also remember that once when we stayed together he was an extremely nice man. Somehow he respects me.”
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