…Sekuru Nyambuya opens up on first Grand Reef Aerodrome flight experience

Ngoni Dapira
THE re-establishment of Grand Reef Aerodrome is not just a government accomplishment on the socio-economic front, but a historical conquest for black Zimbabweans that used to see airplanes fly from there to Middle Sabi during the colonial Rhodesia era, but the flights were only reserved for the minority white settlers, a senior citizen has said.

Grand Reef Aerodrome is located near Odzi township about 37 kilometres west of Mutare with a runway of 1200m x 30m.

The Grand Reef Aerodrome billboard.

Those were the sentiments of sekuru Shaddie Nyambuya who was the first to buy a return ticket and check in for a Fly Air Zimbabwe flight from Mutare to Harare last Saturday and returned back home in Mutare on Tuesday. In a follow-up interview yesterday (Thursday) with the octogenarian who turns 85 in November, he said his flights to Harare and back to Mutare were perfect. He had gone to see a specialist doctor in Harare.

Sekuru Nyambuya applauded the re-establishment of Grand Reef Aerodrome not only as a key economic enabler for the province, but also overturning the historical narrative of white supremacy. He said the former Rhodesian Forces military airbase during the Rhodesia era was a symbol of white supremacy, so revamping it and demilitarizing it for public commercial use post-independence is a declaration of black consciousness and black empowerment.

“The journey was flawless, not a single problem to and from Harare. Their service is professional and the standards are great. I know because I have been on other flights before from Harare to Johannesburg in South Africa visiting my children there,” said sekuru Nyambuya.

Air Zimbabwe head ground operations Tafadzwa Zaza (extreme left) congratulating sekuru Shaddie Nyambuya (centre) as the first customer with his daughter Patience Dube and family friend prominent Mutare real estate businessman Joseph Sanhanga (extreme right) cheering on.

Adding, “We used to see airplanes fly from Grand Reef before Independence, but airplanes were a preserve of the whites. For me demilitarizing Grand Reef and revamping the aerodrome for public use is changing the historical narrative. A lot of our people were killed by the planes that came from Grand Reef especially the Nyadzonia attack of 1976. This is black consciousness to show that we are now free and running our country,” he said.

Sekuru Nyambuya started off as a teacher up to 1975 then changed professions to become a postmaster and went on to become the first black postmaster at Odzi Post Office in 1980. He said he has always been pro-development in Manicaland and always felt direct air connectivity was lacking, citing that this helps a lot of elderly who no longer like traveling long journeys on the road due to various ailments.

“There are people with medical conditions that cant travel long distances by road, whilst for us the elderly, long journeys are tiring, so we really want to thank President Emmerson Mnangagwa for supporting this revival of Grand Reef and our resident Minister Advocate Misheck Mugadza for keeping on pushing for this initiative. Thank you as well Transport Minister Felix Mhona for making this happen and Tourism Minister Barbra Rwodzi that I heard pledged to give me a  complementary return tickets and to make me an ambassador of Air Zimbabwe for the Harare-Mutare route,” said a jovial sekuru Nyambuya who could not hide his excitement.

Sekuru Shaddie Nyambuya at Grand Reef being received by his wife mbuya Getrude Nyambuya on Tuesday from Harare.

Born in Mutasa sekuru Nyambuya said he has lived in Mutare all his life and wants to see the eastern border city grow economically, given that it is resource rich. He said together with his wife Gertrude, they are really looking forward to see regular flights between Harare-Mutare and they will support the initiative.

The Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Hon Rwodzi last Saturday at the official ceremony celebrating the inugraul flight to commercially land at Grand Reef, decided to appreciate sekuru Nyambuya for being the first commercial flight customer to buy a return ticket from Mutare-Harare. Return tickets are selling at US$150 whilst a one-way ticket is going for US$85.

Not only did she pledge that the Tourism Ministry would buy him another return flight ticket but also undertook to make him a brand ambassador.
“To our first customer sekuru Nyambuya, as the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality we are going to buy him another return flight ticket. We want him to become our brand ambassador because he did not hesitate to support this new initiative beating many of you young people here to buy a ticket first. We saw him check in with his bags. Going to Harare is now only 30 minutes. Please let us support this initiative the people of Mutare,” said Min Rwodzi in her remarks.

Sekuru Nyambuya said he hopes after construction works are done at Grand Reef there will be regular flights from Harare-Mutare, at least three times a week to begin with.

The former Rhodesian forces airbase was never operationalized after independence in 1980, but it has now since been demilitarized and will be open to the public for commercial flights after certification by the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ).

CAAZ gave the Grand Reef Aerodrome a waiver for use after meeting minimum requirements just for the Sanganai/ Hlanganani/ Kumbanayi World Travel Expo that ended today (Friday) at Mutare Sports Club. Air Zimbabwe had indicated that the flights would be from 8 to 14 September just for the tourism expo.