(Last Updated on February 7, 2013 by Editor)
ZIMBABWE – President Mugabe has urged Zimbabweans to unite and help each other in times of need. He said such behaviour help to preserve Zimbabwe’s culture and tradition.
Addressing mourners gathered at the funeral of Ambuya Mary Shamu, mother to Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu in Harare yesterday, President Mugabe said it was important for people to uphold their culture.
“Kudana zvagara zviripo. Zvichirevei? What you are here for shows love among the people. Helping each other is part of love. All that we learn from the Bible is superceded by love.”
President Mugabe said according St Paul’s Corinthians, charity and love was all that God wants people to cherish. He said it was because of love that people come to each other’s assistance during times of mourning and sickness.
“Afirwa tinova nekuchema nemhuri chido ichocho (We show our love for the bereaved when we moarn together). Maitiro edu aya handiwo anoitwa nevarungu kana mukaenda kuEurope. Havaungani zvatakita izvi. Izvi itsika yedu.”
President Mugabe said even as Zanu-PF and as Christians, everyone joins the bereaved family in mourning the departed. President Mugabe said it was difficult for someone to lose a mother.
He said mothers were more intimate to their children as compared to fathers. “They give us life from time of birth,” he said.
President Mugabe hailed Ambuya Shamu for raising eight children. “Would today’s girls have eight children? Unongonzwa vachiti aa-h ndoita two chete. Two chete kutambisa… We want the country to have many Shamus, many Mugabes. If we have two only murikunyima nyika… aiwa tipei vana vedu.”
He said Zanu-PF and members of the inclusive Government were mourning with the Shamu family. President Mugabe said Minister Shamu had worked hard for both the party and Government.
He said when Cde Shamu join the liberation struggle in Mozambique, no-one knew about his parents. President Mugabe said they had later known that Shamu had lost his father at an early age. He said Shamu was deployed to the media section during the war.
Minister Shamu paid tribute to President Mugabe for joining them in mourning their mother. He said his mother’s ailment started as diabetes but later affected her heart. “We thought that she was going to recover. End of last year, around November, she was having breathing problems,” he said.
Minister Shamu said he was scheduled to travel South Africa when Ambuya Shamu died.Vice President Joice Mujuru led senior Zanu-PF officials and Cabinet in paying their condolences to the Shamu family.
Meanwhile,in his message of condolence Zanu-PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo said Mbuya Shamu brought up her family to a most admirable and envied levels.
“The virtues of discipline, hardwork, commitment, uprightness and service to humanity were her hallmark which clearly instilled and distilled into the family’s character.
“She came, she served, she shepherded and she has departed.” He said Zimbabwe had lost a resevoir of tenacity and a Christian of destiny. Mbuya Shamu’s will be buried at Plot Number 32 in Musengezi tommorrow.