Renaming a Zvimba school after Willie Musarurwa still a pipe dream

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By Ronald Mukono

The brain-child dream by Willie Musarurwa Jnr to have Garoyi Primary School named after his father the late National Hero Willie Dzawanda Musarurwa is slowly sinking into oblivion,thirty years after his demise.

Willie Musarurwa Jnr a medical doctor based in the USA had proposed to honour his father by renaming Garoyi Primary School, one of the oldest learning institutions in Zvimba District after him.The proposal had also been blessed by Chief Zvimba (real name Stan Chitemerere)

In return he had pledged to erect a secondary school, state-of-the-art library and a laboratory.

The proposal also came as sweet music to many Zvimba residents as the struggling school solely survives on donor funds.

The school which derives its name from Karoi river a stream in the same neighborhoods has of late been lagging behind both in infrastructure and technological development.

Built in the late 1920s by the local community the school has neither a secondary school nor a library and only boasts of dilapidated classroom blocks that houses an enrolment slightly above five hundred learners.

“It was our wish that the school be named after our national hero so that his legacy lives for eternity”, said one resident who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Contacted for comment the school Head Mr Desmond Tsuro acknowledged receipt of such proposals but referred all questions to Zvimba Rural District Council.

“The school is a ZRDC baby and as such anything to do with its development be it infrastructure or technological development falls under it’s jurisdiction”, he said without mincing his words.
Zvimba Rural Council CEO could not be reached for comment by the time going to press.

Born Wirayi Dzawanda Musarurwa in Chinhoyi in 1927 Willie attended Nyamangara and Marshal Hartley for his primary education and later enrolled at Howard Institute and Goromonzi High 1946-1949.

After completing his Cambridge School Certificate he then trained as a teacher at St Augustine Mission, Penhalonga and later taught at Epworth Mission.

He left and went to train as a journalist at Trans-African College and then Princeton University

Willie Musarurwa’s political career dates back to the days of the National Democratic Party. He was the founding member of ZAPU and was arrested and detained for ten years by the white minority regime. After his release he attended all major conferences that include the Geneva, the Malta and the Lancaster House where he was co-spokesman for the Patriotic Front Alliance.

He came home and continued as ZAPU Publicity Secretary.

He was appointed the first black editor of the leading weekly tabloid The Sunday Mail in 1982 and was fired after reporting a financial scandal that rocked the National Airline.

The former ZAPU supremo Willie Musarurwa collapsed and died in 1990 whilst having lunch at a hotel in Harare.

—Ronald Mukono is a senior Journalist, ex-cop and a qualified teacher in Mashonaland West