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Professor Callistus Dingiswayo Ndlovu was gentle, patriotic and blessed with supreme intellect.

He served his dear country and parties, principally Zapu and later Zanu-PF, with distinction for decades.

Politicians are generally known to be boastful about themselves, their personal achievements and political viewpoints, sometimes seeking to drive them home by force but Prof Ndlovu was a rare breed in the cutthroat business that politics is. He was very honest too, a degree of honesty that we have learnt not to associate with politicians. He always preached and practised non-violence and believed that a sound idea must win any argument, not violence.

Zimbabwe and his party, Zanu-PF lost these and more qualities when Prof Ndlovu collapsed and died in South Africa on Wednesday aged 83.

We are deeply saddened to have lost him.

In 1965, he attained a Bachelor’s Degree and taught at some schools in Bulawayo and Matabeleland South. He started to influence his colleagues at the Bulawayo school he taught, Mpopoma High, against the colonial regime while campaigning for independence. For that he was arrested and detained at the notorious Khami Prison for three months.

In 1967, he flew to the US where he passed his Masters and PhD. During the same period, Prof Ndlovu was an active Zapu member and became chairperson of the North America branch in 1971. Like a few of his contemporaries, Prof Ndlovu slipped into Zambia to join the liberation struggle after his time in the US. This is despite the fact that he had already attained his doctorate and could easily have enjoyed a good life lecturing at American universities or doing other well-paying jobs in that country. He left the bright lights, paved roads and his comfortable lodgings in New York for a life at a dusty, unlit forest camp in Zambia. He knew that any comfort in far-away New York was hollow for someone whose country was still in chains.

In Zambia, Prof Ndlovu oversaw the provision of medicines, books and many other necessities that enabled the armed cadres to concentrate on fighting for the motherland. Because of the important tasks he accomplished, he rose to become a member of the Zapu Revolutionary Council in 1971 until 1980.

Prof Ndlovu also attended the Geneva talks as a political advisor in the Zapu delegation in 1976 as well as the Lancaster House Talks on Zimbabwe for the Zapu delegation three years later.

Zanu-PF Central Committee member Cde Angeline Masuku said Prof Ndlovu, her colleague in Zambia and back home, was a consistent and persistent revolutionary before and after Independence.

“Prof Ndlovu worked hard for both the party and the country,” she said.

“I remember when we arrived in Zambia during the liberation struggle he was already a Central Committee member and he would represent us at the United Nations.

“All Zapu programmes at the camps were led by him and he was responsible for facilitating the provision of medication, books and other necessities at the camps, working closely with the African American Institute.”

Prof Ndlovu’s pre-Independence resume is just as illustrious as his post-Independence one.

He served as the Minister of Construction between 1982 and 1983 before he was appointed the Minister of Mines from 1983 to 1984. Between 1984 and 1989 he was the Minister of Industry and Commerce.

Later he was appointed to head the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management, a parastatal in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare that is responsible for designing and implementing training, consultancy and research for the civil service, local authorities and parastatals.

He worked in the private sector as well, occupying senior posts at Union Carbide and the Treger Group of Companies.

In addition to his service in the Government and the private sector, Prof Ndlovu was elected many times to be a Member of Parliament and to chair Zanu-PF in Bulawayo Province. At the time of his death, he was a ruling party provincial chairman for Bulawayo, having been roped in to stabilise the province after the turbulence it experienced during the G40 cabal era. Prof Ndlovu was, at the same time, a Central Committee member, a critical arm of the party that acts as congress in between congresses.

President Mnangagwa expressed sadness at the passing of Prof Ndlovu. He extolled the departed revolutionary’s patriotism, humility and abhorrence of tribalism.

“A veteran politician of our national liberation struggle, the late Prof Ndlovu served his country with distinction and unwavering commitment to its freedom and independence,” said the President.

He said Prof Ndlovu was a humble and approachable person who disliked tribalism and regionalism.

“With his death, both the ruling party and the country at large have lost a principled and disciplined cadre who was always prepared to sacrifice for the greater good of our people,” said President Mnangagwa.

Prof Ndlovu leaves behind a legacy of patriotism and hard work. The unassuming comrade taught us that we must not crow about our academic or political profiles to gain public respect. We, he taught us as well, must not seek to get free rides in our lives, brandishing our histories or respectable social, political and economic statuses. He taught us too that politics is not supposed to be rough and dirty.

Rest in eternal peace Son of the soil.