Tinashe Sambiri|Chief Marozva of Bikita, real name Philip Mudhe has succumbed to Coronavirus.

Chief Marozva succumbed to the deadly pandemic in Bikita on Sunday.

Below is the MDC Alliance condolence message:

25 January 2021

Chief Philip Mudhe Marozva passed on yesterday in Bikita. He succumbed to the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

We mourn with Chief Marozva’s family and the totality of the people of the Marozva Chieftainship.

We also Mourn with the Zion Church of Christ ( Bishop WIRI)congregation at Beardmore which he led and the whole Zion Church of Christ fraternity in Zimbabwe.

We take comfort in the knowledge that he served the people well both for their earthly as well as spiritual wellbeing as chief, as senator and indeed as a church leader.

As we mourn the passing on of Chief Marozva, we challenge regime to be serious about people’s lives during this time of Covid-19 to educate, equip and capacitate chiefs so that their communities can be safe from the ravages of COVID-19.

Chiefs as custodians of tradition, their homes are hives of activity. Communities flock the chiefs residence for resolution of disputes, to get advice and to get material help. Chiefs are therefore exposed very deeply to the Virus. In fact if poorly managed chiefs’ homes can be Covid-19 super spreaders.

Accordingly all Chiefs must be educated on how to handle community issues during this period of the pandemic. There must be centres for Covid-19 management. Chiefs and their assistants should be treated as frontline workers, get PPEs , including masks as they will unavoidably interact with a lot of people some of whom would be carriers of the deadly virus.

With such proactivity, the Life of Chief Marozva could have been saved to give him another day to serve the people of Marozva. Chief Philip Mudhe Marozva shall be very sadly missed. We cherish the time we had with him and we say Rest In Peace the peoples Chief, Senator and Mufundisi.

Sesel Zvidzai
MDC Alliance
Secretary for Local Government and Rural Development