Sunday Mail former editor dies

Veteran journalist and former editor of The Sunday Mail Pascal Mukondiwa has died. Mukondiwa (70) died at Chitungwiza General Hospital yesterday morning.

The second child in a family of five, Mukondiwa was born on February 14, 1945 in Kadoma. He studied journalism with the London School of Journalism in the late 1970s before joining the then Rhodesia Printing and Publishing, now Zimpapers, through a cadetship programme in 1978.

He worked for titles that include The Manica Post, The Chronicle, The Sunday News and The Sunday Mail, where he rose to become editor before leaving in 2000. He came out of retirement to join the fledgling Patriot newspaper in 2012 and retired again in August 2015.

Mourners are gathered at his home in Norton.

According to his son, Robert, Mukondiwa’s body will be taken to his rural home Chiuriri Village, Mutoko today for burial tomorrow.

Robert described his father as “a unifying figure, model of generosity, virtue and love. He inspired several lives in the thankless but gratifying profession of journalism. He was a respectable father, brother and friend. He will be forever missed”.

Zimbabwe Union of Journalists secretary-general Foster Dongozi said Mukondiwa’s death was a loss to the media industry.

“On behalf of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists and the journalism family I would like to express shock and sadness following the death of Cde Pascal Mukondiwa,” said Dongozi.

“He was a good man, a teacher to upcoming journalists. His death is a loss to the industry and the nation as a whole.”

Former ZUJ president and Zimbabwe Media Commissioner Mr Matthew Takaona, who worked under Mukondiwa, described the late journalist as an expert communicator.

“Most journalists at Zimpapers and across the media in Zimbabwe who are now in management went through Pascal’s hands. I would like to pass my condolences to his family and the entire media fraternity.”

Mukondiwa is survived by 10 children. The Sunday Mail