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Peter Matika, [email protected]

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has expressed his deep sorrow and shock at the passing away of Mr Pathisa Nyathi, a well-known historian and educator, who died on Saturday after a long illness.

In recognition of his contributions to Zimbabwe’s historical discourse, the President has granted the late scholar a State-assisted funeral.

Mr Nyathi was an accomplished writer who dedicated his life to correcting distorted narratives about the country’s past and his commitment to rewriting Zimbabwe’s history has been recognised throughout the country.

President Mnangagwa recalled how earlier in the year, he tasked Mr Nyathi and Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Reverend Paul Damasane, with documenting the heroic Pupu Battle of National Resistance against British colonialism, as well as the final journey of the last Ndebele State King, Lobengula, who fled after the fall of the Ndebele Kingdom in 1893.

President Mnangagwa

“The result of that assignment, which took them to the neighbouring Republic of Zambia, was a detailed written account of events of that tragic, yet heroic episode from our history, which the late Cde Pathisa Nyathi vividly and animatedly recounted at Pupu on the occasion of its National Commemoration,” said President Mnangagwa.

“I personally felt very proud and overwhelmed by the sheer fervency of his commitment to the reconstruction of our National Heritage, which he felt had been assaulted and injured by countless colonial narratives.
“I even urged him to embark on more such projects so the huge lacuna in our sparsely documented and vastly distorted past could be plugged,” said the President.

He said the hope of recounting and documenting many of Zimbabwe’s historic events now stands rudely dashed as its proponent and main actor, the late Mr Nyathi, has bowed out of this life after a long and inexorably debilitating illness.

“We deeply grieve over this very sad and untimely demise, which has robbed our nation so irreparably. A veteran educationist who specialised in teaching Science and Mathematics, Cde Nyathi raised many professionals who today occupy positions of influence in our society,” said President Mnangagwa.

Phathisa Nyathi the late

“He showed intellectual versatility and breadth when he blazed a new trail as a historian, even then so late in his teaching career and, more surprisingly, well into his ever busy and restless retirement from the teaching profession.”
He said the late Mr Nyathi leaves behind numerous path-breaking publications on Zimbabwe’s past, including genealogies of communities, and biographies of several national icons, including Lozikeyi, the last Queen of King Lobengula, who wielded tremendous influence and played a key role both before and after the demise of the Ndebele Kingdom.

“He reconstructed and re-animated vanished social and cultural histories of several of our communities across the country, including his own, which inhabited lands around the Matobo complex, itself immemorially a key site of indigenous spirituality, and a focal point of spirited resistance during the 1896 First Umvukela/Chimurenga,” said the President.

“Never a historian to be frozen in any one epoch or geographical area, the late Pathisa Nyathi delved and made forays into histories of the Munhumutapa and Rozvi empires, including detailing the material cultures of key epochs of our long civilisation, and doing so in ways that challenged false myths, which Eurocentric narratives had carefully cultivated during the colonial era.”

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe, as well as other countries, are all richer because of the late Mr Nyathi’s efforts, even in mourning.
“In between research into our long past, the late Nyathi documented biographical snippets of veterans of the Second Chimurenga, thus enriching narratives on our Liberation Struggle,” he said.

“It is my hope that his fellow historians will pay tribute to this great, committed scholar by carrying on from where he left so our history and heritage are comprehensively documented and interpreted.
“Indeed, such an effort is not only needful and worthy of Government support, but comfortably sits in sync with the Second Republic’s Heritage-based approach to education, research, science and technology.”
President Mnangagwa said apart from being a community leader, the late Mr Nyathi also contributed largely to the arts and entertainment sectors, which transformed Bulawayo into an arts hub.

“Today his fellow actors are all the poorer without him. May their lasting tribute to him come by way of more and greater productions in his memory. That way Pathisa Nyathi’s creative spirit will rest and repose is repaid,” he said.
“On behalf of our Party Zanu-PF, Government, and my family and on my behalf, I wish to express my deepest, heartfelt condolences to the Nyathi family, especially to the late departed’s children who now stand doubly orphaned, having lost umama a few years back.

“As they grieve over this their saddest loss, may they derive ample comfort from the great deeds and accomplishments of the late dear departed, many of which were done in the service of his people and his country. To that end and in his honour, I have directed that the late Pathisa Nyathi be granted a State-assisted funeral,” said President Mnangagwa.

The late Phathisa Nyathi

Meanwhile the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has also conveyed its condolences to the Nyathi family.
Bulawayo mayor, Councillor David Coltart, described Mr Nyathi as an iconic leader, educationist, author, researcher, columnist, culturalist, and historian who had an extensive wealth of knowledge.

“Nyathi will be remembered for his research on the city’s history and his unwavering commitment and passion for the development of Bulawayo and the Matabeleland region and the country as a whole,” said Clr Coltart.

Mayor Councillor David Coltart

“Through the Amagugu Heritage Centre, the My Beautiful Home — Comba Indlu ngobuciko project and numerous other projects, he championed the preservation of culture, arts and the indigenous food systems.”
He said the late Mr Nyathi served as a public relations officer at BCC from October 2005 until he resigned from the local authority in July 2008.

Clr Coltart said during that period, the late Mr Nyathi assisted in sharing timeous and correct information about the city’s civic issues and creating a favourable image between the city and its constituents.
“His Worship, Senator David Coltart, the Mayor of the City of Bulawayo, councillors, town clerk, Mr Christopher Dube, heads of department, staff and residents mourn the untimely death of Mr Pathisa Nyathi and our greatest sympathy goes to the Nyathi family,” he said.