Zimbabwe Writers Mourn Fallen Literary Giant

18 FEB, 2019 - 00:02 
Gilbert Munetsi
Own Correspondent

The domestic literary sector has described the demise of Dr Charles Muzuva Mungoshi as the fall of an institution as they regarded him as “writers within a writer”.

With 18 distinct published works to his name, the decorated novelist, poet, playwright, short story writer, actor, mentor and translator succumbed to neurological complications at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals on Saturday, having battled ill-health for a decade.

He is survived by wife Jesesi, four sons (Farai, Graham, Nyasha and Charles), daughter Tsitsi and seven grandchildren.

Several established writers constituting the umbrella Zimbabwe Writers’ Association thronged the late Dr Mungoshi’s Zengeza 1 home to pay their last homage to a personality that some described as both a pioneer and beacon of Zimbabwean literature.

Among them were Musaemura Zimunya, Shimmer Chinodya, Memory Chirere, Ignatius Mabasa, Chirikure Chirikure, Dr Ruth Tsopotsa, Shumirai Nhanhanga and ZWA chairperson Monica Cheru-Mpambawashe, among others. Also in their company was the former director of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, Elvas Mari, who is also a member of the Charles Mungoshi Foundation.

Mari decried the coming to naught of efforts by NACZ to establish a Hall of Fame to preserve works by contemporary artistes, noting this would have been the genesis of any other recognitions such as the National Arts and Merits Awards (NAMA). Through the foundation, he said, they would, however, strive to keep the late legendary writer’s legacy alive.

Chinodya also had praises for the renowned author.