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Richard Muponde

LOSING a husband is a devastating experience that leads many widows into acute despair and failure to adjust to life afterwards.
Some, because they had solely depended on their spouses, quickly re-marry for financial security.

Other widows are left with businesses but because of the grief and panic, they fail to make informed decisions leading to the businesses folding, rendering them destitute with some resorting to prostitution to make ends meet.

However, there are some widows who have realised that grief is not forever, picked up the pieces and continued from where their spouses left.

One such widow is Dr Rangarirai Tatenda Gunda, widow to national hero, the late Brigadier General Paul Armstrong Gunda.

Brig Gen Gunda died in a freak accident after his vehicle was hit by a goods train in Marondera in 2007.

After his death his widow, Dr Gunda, was in grief and despair as her lifetime partner had been untimely snatched away from her life.

The couple, before his death, had co-founded a tourism company in Victoria Falls known as Tatenda Safaris in 1993.

Following the death of her husband, Dr Gunda was subjected to harassment by her in-laws at a time when the business needed her full time. She soon realised that grief was not forever, picked up the pieces and devoted most of her time into the business in honour of her departed husband, the late Brig Gen Gunda.

From that time, Tatenda Safaris and Car Hire grew in leaps and bounds leading to Dr Gunda becoming a successful businesswoman and the company a household name.

Her efforts have not gone unnoticed as she has won a number of awards of excellence with the latest being her sixth Megafest award, which she received at a colourful ceremony held in Bulawayo recently.

She was awarded the Megafest Outstanding Businessperson for 2017 (Southern Region awards) becoming her sixth consecutive award since 2013.
Dr Gunda also holds other accolades bestowed on her because of her business acumen and social responsibility, one of them being an honorary doctorate recently awarded to her by the International Institute of Philanthropy (IIP) (Doctor of humane letters, DHL, Honoris, Causa, with all rights and privileges).

When she received her sixth Megafest award, Dr Gunda dedicated it to her late husband, family and those who supported her over the years.

“I dedicate this award to my late husband, Brigadier General Armstrong Paul Gunda. They say the dead, when gone, they don’t go far away; they move beside us. I hope you are also smiling wherever you are as I receive this beautiful award, special thanks to my late father who instilled in me the value of education and my surviving mother, Lucina Muzvidzwa who instilled in me the values of hunhu/ubuntu. Also my children and grandchildren, the Gunda and Muzvidzwa families, customers in and around Zimbabwe and outside Zimbabwe, comrades and friends and schools who have supported me throughout the year. These are the results. God bless Zimbabwe, God bless Africa, God bless women and widows of the whole universe (hard work pays),” said Dr Gunda.

“Indeed, my mission in business is not yet over. I remain hopeful for the success of the tourism sector. I am an optimist. That’s how I have created the Tatenda Safaris brand that’s now a household name from Victoria Falls to Chimanimani and from Beitbridge to Kariba. Our brand is now also known in the Sadc region and across Africa in general and with determination there’s nothing that can stop it from being recognised globally.”

Speaking in an interview from her base in Victoria Falls, Dr Gunda said she felt honoured to be recognised as it encouraged her to work hard.

“I am very excited to have achieved this much. It’s an encouragement to women in business to aim high. It gives us hope to achieve better knowing that there are people out there who recognise our hard work. This should be emulated by our mother body (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority). We are also happy for Megafest and hope they will continue the good work of recognising our hard work without looking at how small or big the business is,” said Dr Gunda.

She also encouraged other women and widows to take up businesses so that they become independent and successful people in a society dominated by men.

“They should start up businesses. We know that there’s no money and banks were not giving loans, but I encourage fellow women and widows to invest the little they have in businesses and they will definitely grow in leaps and bounds until they prosper.”

Dr Gunda joined the liberation struggle in 1977. She attained a diploma in Business Administration in Germany in 1980 and also holds a diploma in secretarial studies from Nairobi, Kenya.

Her work experience includes a stint with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation as well as working for UTC as a German speaking guide from 1983 to 1991.— @richardmuponde