By Patricia Mpofu
JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe’s first Vice President Joseph Msika has died, his ZANU PF party has confirmed Msika, 86, died Tuesday at Harare’s West End clinic.
ZANU PF chairman John Nkomo confirmed the death of Msika on Tuesday that had been subject of strong rumour in Zimbabwe but with no official word of confirmation or denial.
“It is a great loss to the nation and to the Msika family,” said Nkomo who is also a senior minister in Zimbabwe’s unity government responsible for national reconciliation and healing.
Nkomo, among likely candidates to succeed Msika, said of the nationalist veteran: “I served under him in different posts during the liberation struggle. He leaves us at a time Zimbabwe is free. I have learnt a lot from him. He is an icon (of the freedom struggle).”
The former Vice President had been in and out of hospital since he suffered a stroke in 2005 at his home and was rarely seen in public this year.
One of the founding fathers of Zimbabwe’s liberation movement from white minority rule, Msika deputised the late Joshua Nkomo in the Zimbabwe People’s Union (ZAPU) party before they joined President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party after the 1987 Unity Accord.
He became one of ZANU PF and Zimbabwe’s two Vice Presidents following the death of Nkomo in 1999. Joice Mujuru, who was junior to Msika, is ZANU PF and Zimbabwe’s other Vice President.
Like many of his liberation struggle colleagues, Msika spent years in jail for opposing the white supremacist governments of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe’s name before independence).
He was part of the ZAPU delegation to the 1979 Lancaster House talks that paved the way for Zimbabwe’s 1980 independence from Britain.
Never too diplomatic especially on issues he felt strongly about, Msika ruffled some feathers on both sides of Zimbabwe’s political divide during his decade-long tenure in the country’s second highest office.
For example, Msika three years ago publicly accused Mugabe and ZANU PF of attempting to falsify history by portraying themselves as the pioneers of Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence that he said was started by himself and a few others in the city of Bulawayo.
In 2000, he courted the ire of the opposition when he labelled their supporters useless dogs. Msika is survived by his wife Maria and three children – Tambudzai, Shelton and Taguma. – ZimOnline
