BULAWAYO – President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his two deputies snubbed the burial of national hero Professor Phinias Makhurane on Saturday after his family passed up the offer of a burial at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.
Professor Makhurane, the founding Vice Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, was laid to rest in Gungwe, Gwanda district, last Saturday morning.
The 79-year-old died on December 1, succumbing to diabetes.
Mnangagwa, who had dispatched Vice President Kembo Mohadi to the Makhurane family home on Thursday to announce that the Zanu PF politburo had accorded him national hero status, downgraded the government’s involvement in the funeral by sending Zanu PF spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo to represent him.
Mnangagwa appeared to have been stung by the family’s refusal to have Makhurane buried in Harare. The family said they were honouring his wishes to be buried next to his ancestors at the family cemetery.
The government, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, was forced to switch burial preparations to Makhurane’s rural homestead instead.
Khaya Moyo, who was accompanied by the Matabeleland South Minister of State Abednico Ncube and the Deputy Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs Victor Matemadanda, told mourners that Mnangagwa “instructed us to be with you on this solemn occasion.”
“All I can say is that His Excellency sends his greetings to all. I have been asked by the President to convey a message, a message that has been repeated by those that spoke before. It’s a message from the President conveying condolences to the Makhurane family at such a great loss,” Khaya Moyo said, without explaining why Mnangagwa or his deputies Mohadi and Constantino Chiwenga could not come.
Makhurane’s son, Lesedi, thanked the government for the recognition and burial assistance, saying the family was “humbled and touched.”
He described his father as a “simple man” who welcomed everyone to his rural home.
“He got doctorates and travelled all over the world but at the end of the day he was just a simple man,” Lesedi, one of four children, said.
Khaya Moyo added: “His departure is a massive blow not only to his family but to the country as a whole. He knew no tribe, no region and no negativity.”
