When a hero dies... as Gwanda buries veteran educationist

The old Ndebele adage "umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu" meaning that a person is confirmed who he truly is by the people around him, was confirmed in rural Bengo Village of Gwanda South on Sunday morning as thousands of people from all walks of life from across Gwanda and the country gathered to bury veteran educationist Stuart Nkwate Mdlongwa.

Mdlongwa died unexpectedly on Wednesday in a road accident 3 km away from his rural home in Bengo, Gwanda while travelling on an official trip from Gwanda Town to near by Nhwali Village for a World Vision funded and Ministry of Education coordinated community programme.

Reports from eye witnesses at the accident site claim that the World Vision vehicle they were travelling in hit a pothole resulting in the female driver losing control of the vehicle and overturned three times resulting in Nkwate Mdlongwa's ill-fated death.



The little village of Bengo came to a stand still on Sunday Morning as over 3 000 people of all walks of life from all over Gwanda Districts and indeed all corners of the country gathered to bid their final goodbyes to a man who dedicated his entire life to the provision of quality education to the children of Gwanda. The huge turnout at the funeral all but confirmed Nkwate Mdlongwa as one of the rare true heroes of the people.

Gracing the sombre occasion was senior education officers from Matabeleland South Province led by the Provincial Director of Education Mrs Tumisang Thabelo accompanied by her three Deputy Directors and the seven Matabelaland South District Chairpersons.

Also present at the funeral were senior political leaders from across all political parties in the country who mingled peacefully in solidarity to confirm the heroism of Mr Nkwate. Of note was the presence of former Members of Parliament for Gwanda South Mr Orders Mlilo (ZANU PF) and for Gwanda North Rev Thandeko Zinti Mnkandla (MDC T), former Matabeleland South Chairman of the MDC Petrus Mukwena. Former Senator for Gwanda Mr Japhet Dube (ZANU PF) also joined the mourners.

Apologies were received from current Gwanda South Member of Parliament and Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Abednico Ncube who however earlier in the week visited the family at their Gwanda home to extend his condolences.

Local authority leadership was also strongly represented by the presence of the Mayor of Gwanda, Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu, his Deputy, Councillor Albert Ndlovu and their councillors. The out going Town Clerk of the Municipality of Gwanda Mr Gilbert Mlilo represented the Municipality so was Mr Ronny Sibanda the Chief Executive Officer of Gwanda Rural District Council and councillors from the District Councillors.

Speaking before the burial which was carried out in a heavy down pour, guest of honour, the Provincial Director of Education, Mrs Thabelo described the death of Mr Nkwate as a heavy loss for the entire Matabeleland South province as he was one man who always gave his all in the development of education in the province.



"Nkwate was the kind of person who would always go that extra mile when it came to the education of the child from Gwanda," she said.

Mrs Thabelo emphasised that it Mr Nkwate had a passion for the development and recognition of indigenous languages in the country especially Gwanda District. Mrs Thabelo highlighted that the new Constitution of Zimbabwe has included a number of indigenous languages as official languages in the country of which six are spoken in Matabeleland South and the late Mr Nkwate played a leading role in making sure that the languages of Matabeleland South were recognised.

Mrs Thabelo concluded by describing Mr Nkwate as an educationist par excellence a fact which was also confirmed by all other speakers including Mr Nkwate's eldest daughter Thapelo. Speaking on behalf of her siblings, Thapelo described her late father as a true educationist who did not only enforce the importance of education in the community he served but started with his own children.

"Our father always believed in the value of education so much that he would never tolerate us producing poor results at school. We are glad that as he is laid to rest today he completed his desire as he left all of us as qualified and educated professionals," said the sobbing daughter. Mr Nkwate was born in Gwanda District on the 20th of April 1953 and did all his primary education at Gwanda South Schools before proceeding to Thekwane High School where he did his form four. After completing school he trained as a teacher at the United College of Education before teaching at various schools also in Gwanda South. While teaching he was studying for a Bachelor of Education furthering his studies until he got himself a Masters Degree in Education Planning and Policy Studies.

The late Mr Nkwate rose through the ranks in the Ministry of Education from being a teacher, to Headmaster, to District Education Officer and eventually Provincial Staffing officer. He initially retired from the Ministry in 2004 to concentrate in one of his other passions, farming, before the Ministry re-engaged him on annual contracts which he had only just extended for another year at the beginning of the year.

Mr Nkwate Mdlongwa is survived by his wife Sipho who is the Director of Housing and Community Services at the Municipality of Gwanda, five children (three girls and two boys) and nine grand children.