UK – Veteran Zanu PF cadre John Takaendesa Ushe has died.
Ushe passed away on May 6 in London due to ill health.
The party’s UK branch has written to the Zanu PF leadership seeking hero status for him.
He is widely regarded as the longest-serving employee at all of Zimbabwe’s diplomatic missions, having worked at the Embassy in the UK from 1980.
He joined the Zanu PF London Branch in the mid-1970s and served under the then Chief Representative of the party, Ambassador Frederick Shava.
Ushe supported the liberation war against colonialism as a young man through resource mobilisation across the UK and Europe alongside Dr Simba Makoni, who was responsible for representing the party in Western Europe and worked closely with Ambassador Shava.
In 1979, Ushe served the party and the country during the Lancaster House Conference, which led to Zimbabwe attaining independence.
He was later entrusted with the security and caretaking role of the Zimbabwe House Embassy at The Strand in London when it officially opened in November/December 1981 under the first High Commissioner to the UK, Robert Zwinoira.
Ushe served the Zimbabwe Embassy in the UK for 44 years in his official capacity and one year as its custodian prior to the official opening, totalling 45 years of dedicated, patriotic service.
Zanu PF UK District chairman Xavier Zavare confirmed his death, saying Ushe was “arguably the longest-serving employee ever across all Zimbabwean Missions worldwide.”
“Every ambassador and government official who worked in London had their induction to Zimbabwe House and UK life from him,” Zavare said.
Ushe was an active member of Zanu PF UK District, where he served as an advisor and guided members on the values and ideology of the party.
He championed the revival of party structures in the United Kingdom, using his experience from party activities in the 1970s, leading to the resurrection of Zanu PF UK structures in 2012.
Ushe was born on September 17, 1945, in Chivhu, Mashonaland East.
He attended Tegwani School before migrating to Europe in search of further education in the early 1970s.
He briefly settled in the Netherlands, studying at Argo University. It was during this period that he was recruited into Zanu PF structures as the party reached out to Zimbabweans abroad to resume the liberation struggle, which had been paused by Henry Kissinger’s Détente policy.
He later moved to the United Kingdom, joining cadres such as Ambassador Shava, who was the Chief Representative of Zanu PF in the UK and chairperson of the London Branch.
Ushe continued to support and mobilise resources for the revolution while pursuing a Higher National Diploma in Electrical Engineering at Northeast London Polytechnic.