All set for Mama Mafuyana gala

THE Joshua Nkomo Legacy Restoration Trust (JNLRT) says it is organising a memorial gala for the late Father Zimbabwe's wife, Johanna Fuyana also known as Mama MaFuyana, who died in June 2003.

The JNLRT said the annual commemorative event in honour of MaFuyana will be characterised by music and sporting activities.

This year's commemorative event will be held at MaFuyana Township in Maphisa, Matabeleland South province on December 22 to coincide with the Unity Day holiday.

"The JNLRT seeks to use this activity as the glue that brings together our communities in peace, unity, love and tolerance," JNLRT representative Mncedisi Tshabalala said in a statement yesterday.

"The event is dedicated to the memory of Johanna Fuyana, the late wife of Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, the late VP of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

"A very strong woman who stood by her husband during the liberation struggle, MaFuyana sacrificed a lot for the liberation and independence of our beloved country Zimbabwe. She was affectingly known as the mother of the nation."

Records show that Johanna literally raised the family alone at the couple's Pelandaba home while Nkomo was held up in the liberation struggle.

MaFuyana was harassed and abused by the Rhodesian colonial system.

At one time, she was raided at her Pelandaba home by members of the Southern Rhodesia Special Branch, detained and barred from travelling.

She once did time at the notorious Gonakudzingwa restriction camp, sharing prison life with the likes of the late Ruth Chinamano.