Mutsvangwa Pays Emotional Tribute to Geza

By Kudzaishe Chimonera

ZANU-PF secretary for Information and Publicity, Christopher Mutsvangwa has paid an emotional tribute to the late Geza describing him as a liberation war comrade and long-standing family friend.

Addressing journalists at the party headquarters, Mutsvangwa said his relationship with Geza dated back to the early years of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.

“You may want to know that l have historically been close to that family because two of its siblings are still alive after going to the war. It’s a very heroic family or clan,” he said.

Mutsvangwa said he first met Geza in 1975 in Mozambique during the formative years of the armed struggle against white minority rule.

“I met Geza in 1975 when Mozambique opened the refugee camp…so l have known him from the beginning and resumption of the struggle in Mozambique,” he said.

According to Mutsvangwa, the two reconnected after independence in 1980, when Geza returned home.

“He only came back home after two years into Independence in 1982, that’s when l met him again,” he said.

He described Geza as a committed supporter of war veterans noting that he had used personal resources to assist former fighters particularly during politically turbulent periods.

“He also had excess funds which he used generously to support the war veterans,” he said.

Mutsvangwa also referred to events surrounding internal political tensions in 2017 saying Geza provided assistance to senior liberation figures at the time.

“For your own information they were hiding at Sanyati at Geza’s farm… for us he is a comrade we walked with for that very difficult time,” he said referring to war veterans Ambassador Victor Matemadanda and Douglas Mahiya.

While acknowledging that they later differed politically, Mutsvangwa suggested that Geza’s health had affected him in his final years.

“He became ill and when you are ill, you become vulnerable and of course the detractors saw an opportunity to try and use him and abused him to say some outrageous things about the leadership of the party,” he said.

Despite political disagreements, he said their personal bond endured.

“I want to honor him as a comrade both pre-independence and after independence. I have an emotional attachment, he is a family friend to me,” he said.

Mutsvangwa added that Geza remained in touch with his family shortly before his death.

“Even a few days before his demise he was sending messages to me, my wife as our family’s best friend. Of course, we were differing politically but we were fully cognoscenti of the health condition in which he was,” he said.