Dr 'Mzee' Muzenda left a perfect model

This month in 2003, Zimbabwe lost a politician that will take some generations to find an equivalent. The late Vice President affectionately known as Dr Mzee was an astute politician and a shrewd leader of rare qualities. When he died, President Robert Mugabe openly shed tears. Indeed he knew how much he had lost in Dr Mzee. He knew he had lost an unmatched assistant.

Eleven years after his death, the void left by the late VP can still be felt especially in the political landscape.

Dr Mzee is one of the politicians in the Zimbabwean history whose moral fibre was unblemished. He married Maud Muzenda, his teenage girlfriend. He went through thick and thin with his sweetheart. Most of the politicians divorced the wives they left behind while they joined the liberation struggle. Coming back from the war, most of them found themselves occupying high offices as government officials. This transformed their lives and as life improved, they thought of improving their wives too.

Unfortunately most of them replaced their pre-independence wives with new and young ones. People like Dr Mzee never left their wives in the transformation process. Dr Mzee never divorced and his family was one of the perfect family unit to be envied. Not at any time was he involved, let alone rumoured to be involved in illicit sexual affair. He died a natural death as a dignified politician, father, grandfather and leader.

This is the moral standard that our modern politicians must emulate. There have been unprecedented divorce cases among our politicians. Some of them are in disgraceful polygamous marriages while others have been divorcing in a shameful manner. Some have actually died disgraceful deaths least expected of honourable politicians. Cde Muzenda left a perfect model for today's politicians.

He was a staunch land reformist. In one of the clips currently shown by ZBCTV, he explained that a single commercial white farmer could own a vast land which was more than the land collectively owned by villagers under three chiefs in Gutu. That demonstrated the urgency of the land reform which he was a strong advocate.
It is still to be seen if some people do not still own outrageous farms that resemble those referred to by Dr Mzee. He spoke strongly against multiple farm ownership. Had death not robbed his life, he could have by now solved the problem of multiple land ownership. The greatest tribute that Zimbabwe's authority can pay to Dr Mzee is to fulfil his aspirations. The multiple ownership of land must be dealt with once and for all.
 
There are many Zimbabweans who are still in need of farming land. These people are crying for as small as three hectares of land yet some selfish individuals are clinging onto thousands of land, some of which are underutilised.

Cde Muzenda was an honest businessman. One could easily trace the source of his wealth. This is the example that today's politicians must embrace if they want to inherit the esteem that was given to Dr Mzee by the general populace. President Mugabe is one of the few politicians with ethical business practices. Our politicians and the businesspeople must emulate this perfect business model.