Jonathan Moyo’s daughter dies in South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA – Zanele Moyo, the daughter of Zimbabwe’s Higher Education Minister, Jonathan Moyo, was found dead in her room Saturday morning.

The minister received the tragic news whilst he was in the middle of an address at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo.

The Tsholotsho North MP briefly returned to the room with Dr Machivenyika Mapuranga, the Secretary for Higher Education, who announced the tragic news.

The minister left for Harare and was expected to leave for Capetown last night.

Moyo used his twitter account to confirm the news saying: “God’s people my angel daughter Zanele is no more”.

Zanele, who celebrated her 20th birthday on August 12, was in the first year of her International Relations degree programme at the University of Cape Town.

Her sister, Lungile, said Zanele was found by a friend who got concerned when she did not answer her phone yesterday morning.

“We still don’t have the full details of what happened, but her friend who called us said she managed to gain entry into the property with the help of a locksmith at around 11.30am.

She had already passed away when they found her,” Lungile said by telephone from Johannesburg. Lungile described her sister as a “very happy person who loved to make people laugh”, adding that she was “very wise for her age”.

But she also spoke of her sister’s battles with depression.

“She was suffering from depression on and off, but I don’t know what troubles she was going through right now, if any.”

Zanele, the second youngest of Prof Moyo’s five daughters, was born in Kenya. She attended Arundel School and did Advanced Level at The Heritage School, both in Harare.