“Upon redeployment Cde Chiri played a pivotal logistical role primarily responsible for the collection and distribution of ammunition to comrades engaged in active operations. This was a task that required courage, precision and absolute loyalty. Cde Chiri was a brave and resolute freedom fighter who stood firm during the darkest and most perilous moments of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, embodying resilience, sacrifice and unwavering hope,” said Min Mugadza.

Ngoni Dapira

LIBERATION war hero Cde Gideon Chamuka Chiri, who passed on last week Wednesday (February 4) and was laid to rest on Monday at the Manicaland Provincial Heroes Acre in Mutare was greatly honoured as a cadre who was selfless and lived a life devoted to service until the time of his death.

Members of the Zimbabwe National Army carrying the cascade of the late Cde Chiri.

Scores of people from different walks of life thronged the Manicaland Provincial Heroes Acres to pay their last respects to the late Cde Chiri. The Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Honourable Advocate Misheck Mugadza officiated over the burial service after President Emmerson Mnangagwa conferred Cde Chiri with a liberation war hero status on last week Friday.

Delivering the Presidential speech, Min Mugadza called on Zimbabweans to uphold the legacy of fallen heroes and heroines by building a prosperous, sovereign and industrialised nation.

Minister Mugadza(with cap) greeting members of the Chiri family and passing his condolences on arrival.

He said the late Chiri who was born at Sakubva Hospital in Mutare on February 2, 1961 had just turned 65, two days before his sudden death from natural causes, shortly after being admitted at Eland Private Hospital in Mutare. Known as Cde Mago Esango during the Chimurenga Liberation war, he said the late Cde Chiri joined the liberation struggle in 1978 at a tender age after he had completed his primary school at Old Mutare Mission and his secondary school at Ellis Gledhill in Sakubva.

“Having realized that his future had been deliberately curtailed by the racial discrimination, bottleneck education system imposed by the white minority regime, the late Cde Gideon Chamuka Chiri made a conscious and courageous decision to join the liberation struggle in September 1978,” said Min Mugadza as he read out the obituary of the late war veteran.

He said the late Cde Chiri received his initial military training at the war front at Dora communal area under the Chaminuka sector, then in December 1978 together with other cadres regrouped at Rowa in Zimunya before crossing into Mozambique for advanced military training under the command of Commander Big Fish.

Members of the ZNA saluting as they waited for the resident Minister Advocate Mugadza to inspect the guard of honour.

Min Mugadza said while they were in Mozambique for advanced training, an operational directive from commander Cde (Josiah) Tungamirirai instructed the group under Commander Big Fish to return to Zimbabwe to boost manpower at the war front.

“Upon redeployment Cde Chiri played a pivotal logistical role primarily responsible for the collection and distribution of ammunition to comrades engaged in active operations. This was a task that required courage, precision and absolute loyalty. Cde Chiri was a brave and resolute freedom fighter who stood firm during the darkest and most perilous moments of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, embodying resilience, sacrifice and unwavering hope,” said Min Mugadza.

He said the late Cde Mago Esango operated in the area stretching from Mwadewekunze to Rimiti in the rural outskirts of Mutare along the Wengezi and Vumba mountain ranges. He operated there until December 1979, the time when comrades went to the assembly point at Dzapasi in Buhera, which marked a significant phase of the struggle as warfare stopped and peacetime came about through the Lancaster House Ceasefire Agreement.

Min Mugadza said throughout his life the late Cde Chiri was patriotic and fought not just for freedom from oppression but for the empowerment and upliftment of every Zimbabwean. After the ceasefire call the late Cde Chiri joined the Ministry of Education and worked as a temporary teacher at Derembwe Primary School from 1980 to 1981. In 1982 he went to Harare at Domboshava Training Institute, which was known as the public service academy back then, to further his education and attained his diploma then returned back home and worked at Mutare Rural District Council as a staff officer and executive assistant for many years.

The scores of people from all walks of life who came for the burial service to bid farewell to Cde Chiri.

Within the Zanu-PF party structures, Min Mugadza said the late Cde Chiri served various portfolios and leadership roles. “He was once the secretary for Mutare District. He was also once the vice chairperson for the Youth League of Manicaland and then he became the Youth chairman for Manicaland,” he said.

Min Mugadza led the proceedings, which included inspecting the guard of honour and the laying of wreaths on the grave of the late Cde Chiri along with other provincial Joint Operation Command (JOC) members and veterans of the liberation struggle.

Speaking on the sidelines, former Mutare South legislator Jeffrey Ngome (2018 -2022) said the late Cde Chiri was his campaign manager when he won the elections back in 2018. He said he learned a lot from him not only as a liberation war hero but as true patriotic statesman who wanted to help steer development in the province and ensure the sacrifices made by his fellow comrades still alive and those departed, were not in vain.

Former Mutare South legislator Cde Jeffrey Ngome (All-black) greeting Zanu-PF party members during the funeral proceedings.

“He would always remind me and encourage me to focus on development and promote peace and unity within the party by not fighting against those that I would have beaten during the primary elections. Let bygones be bygones he would always say,” said Ngome who came to pay his last respect to the late Cde Chiri.

The sister of the late Cde Chiri, Josephine Mwakutuya, speaking on behalf of the Chiri family thanked President Mnangagwa for acknowledging the role played by their brother during the liberation war and conferring him with a provincial liberation hero status.

Josephine Mwakutuya nee Chiri

“We are truly honoured as a family that the President saw it befitting to honour our brother with the provincial liberation hero status.  He lived by his principles as a freedom fighter and always had national interests at heart,” she said.

As become the tradition when a liberation war veteran passes on and is conferred a liberation war hero, after the coffin is lowered into the grave, members of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA)  look to the east and recite their liberation war song “Moyo wangu watsidzira kufira Zimbabwe” in honour of their fallen comrade.

Members of the Manicaland chapter of the ZNLWVA sending off their fellow comrade through a recital of their liberation war song.

“Our aim is to highlight the contributions of our liberation war heroes and heroines buried here. Many people do not know who these heroes were beyond their names, and we want to ensure their legacies are not forgotten,” said one of the war veterans during the sendoff recital.

The late Cde Chiri is survived by his wife Melody(nee Shasha) and four children, consisting of three girls and one boy and six grandchildren.

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