By Edson Mapani
Today, 28 May, marks exactly three years since we were involved in a near-fatal road traffic accident as members of the Zanu PF Manicaland Province Youth League in Murambinda, Buhera District.
We were 12 comrades travelling in the official party vehicle of the Provincial Youth League Chairman, Cde Stanley Sakupwanya. Other members of the team followed behind us in two vehicles.
At the time, we were on the 2023 harmonised election campaign trail. We were moving across Manicaland Province, canvassing support for President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and the revolutionary party, Zanu PF.
That Sunday remains one of the darkest days of my life.
We had spent Saturday night at lodges in Murambinda after campaigning in Buhera West and Buhera North constituencies. The following day, we planned to cover Buhera Central and Buhera South before proceeding to Chipinge.
Around 8 a.m., after breakfast, we set out as a team. Our vehicle led the convoy.
Barely 10 kilometres from Murambinda town along Birchenough Road, tragedy struck. The tarred road suddenly came to an end, giving way to a dusty detour. The driver tried to control the vehicle and move onto the detour, but the realisation came too late.
What followed still plays in my mind like a broken film.
The double-cab vehicle began to sway violently, as if it had lost its mind. It moved without balance. It danced on the road. Once. Twice. Then a third time.
After that, everything went blank.
That was the day I understood that life and death are separated by a very thin line. Even today, whenever I listen to Dorcas Moyo’s song, Tirikutandara, painful memories of that accident return. The song reminds me of the fragility of life and the vanity of this perishable thing we often take for granted.
The next thing I remember was seeing my right leg badly broken. My foot was facing me. The leg had broken in two places, and my face had suffered serious bruises.
The accident marked the beginning of a long and painful journey.
For one and a half years, my life stood still. The first three months were the hardest. I was bedridden at our rural home in Chief Nyashanu’s area in Buhera. I had to rely on others to lift me from the mattress whenever visitors came to see me outside.
I could not use crutches because even the left leg, which had not broken, was also in pain. It could not support the weight of my injured body.
Those were three months of hell.
You can imagine what it meant when I wanted to answer the call of nature. I had to use a dish covered with newspapers. My dear mother would then carry it away and dispose of it in the toilet.
May God bless her for me.
As I reflect on the accident of 28 May 2023, Cde Norman Mukaro, the Zanu PF Buhera District Youth Affairs official, often reminds me how close I came to death.
He tells me, as he watches me walk with a limp:
“Seka urema wava zveshuwa. Asi tendai Mwari, Cde Mapani, nekuti takakusiyai tikati titange kuendesa vamwe vainge nani kuchipatara. Imi takatoti mafa. Pray. Mwari vanokudai, Cde.”
Those words always touch me deeply.
It is true. I receive that testimony in Jesus’ name.
After the accident, all 12 injured comrades were taken to Murambinda General Hospital. Cde Wellington Muzarawetu and I were later referred to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare after undergoing theatre procedures in Murambinda.
I remain grateful to President Mnangagwa, the First Secretary of Zanu PF, for ensuring that our medical bills were covered through the Zanu PF Manicaland Province Youth League.
Although I now live with a permanent disability — ndaremara — I take pride in knowing that I missed death by a whisker while defending the cause of my party, Zanu PF, and working for victory for President Mnangagwa.
That gives me deep satisfaction.
I was born eight years after Independence. I belong to the generation often called the born-frees. Yet on that campaign trail, together with my fellow Zanu PF Manicaland Province Youth League members, I believe we fought a good fight.
Our labour was not in vain.
Zanu PF and President Mnangagwa won resoundingly in Manicaland Province. Our chairman, Cde Stanley Sakupwanya also became the Youth Quota legislator from our province.
As youths, we remain the vanguard of the mass revolutionary party, Zanu PF. Let us remain patriotic. Let us remain disciplined. Let us defend our party from the heart.
A luta continua!
The author, Edson Mapani, is an accredited freelance journalist and the Zanu PF Manicaland Province Youth League Secretary for Information and Publicity.
