President Mnangagwa consoles Satuku and Tshovani families

Harare (New Ziana) – President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday mourned the deaths of Brigadier General Fidelis Satuku (Rtd) and Chief Tshovani, the paramount chief of Chiredzi.

Brig General Satuku (Rtd) died on Monday from a kidney ailment while Chief Tshovani succumbed to COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Consoling the Satuku family, President Mnangagwa urged his family to derive solace and comfort from the sterling role the late Brigadier-General played in liberating and defending Zimbabwe.

“The death on Monday of retired Brigadier General Fidelis Satuku after a long battle with kidney ailment was a blow to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and to our nation. A wartime freedom fighter, the late Brigadier-General Satuku whose chimurenga name was George Mackenzie distinguished himself as a fighter for freedom and justice in settler-colonial Rhodesia until our independence,” he said.

“Thereafter he attested into the Zimbabwe National Army as a young officer participating in many of its regional peace making operations in countries such as Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Brig-Gen Satuku (Rtd), who died at the age of 64, joined the war of liberation in 1976, when he crossed the border into Mozambique to join Zanla forces.

At Independence Brig-Gen Satuku (Rtd) was integrated into the Zimbabwe National Army as a Major and served in various capacities until 2015 when he retired from service.

Meanwhile, President Mnangagwa described Chief Tshovani as a far-sighted leader who worked closely with government in conceiving plans for the development of Chiredzi.

“In him, government had an honest advocate of broad-based community empowerment through agrarian transformation and mechanisation. Today the people of Chiredzi are all the poorer without their paramount chief who was a father figure to all,” he said.

“The only fitting tribute government can accord this great man is by carrying forward the transformation of rural Chiredzi for community empowerment and gainful employment. To that end, government will hasten dam and bridge construction projects in Chilonga, two key infrastructures the late paramount chief was anxious to see developed for his people. I have directed that paramount Chief Tshovani be accorded a state-assisted funeral in his honour.”

New Ziana