CONDOLENCE MESSAGE BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT, DR E.D. MNANGAGWA, FOLLOWING THE PASSING ON OF PROFESSOR DAWSON MUNJERI, 1ST MAY, 2024.
I was deeply touched and saddened to learn of the passing on of Professor Dawson Munjeri on Monday evening, 29th April, 2024, after a long illness. An African intellectual of world repute, as well as an expert in heritage conservation and monitoring, Professor Munjeri had a long and illustrious career which started at the National Archives of Zimbabwe in the late 1970s, before he joined the National Museums and Monuments where he rose to become its Executive Director from 1993 to 2002. With that illustrious career, which was also backed by several scholarly publications and peer-reviewed articles, it was not surprising that Professor Munjeri joined UNESCO as a Deputy Permanent Delegate, an assignment which got him posted abroad to work in the French capital, Paris, from 2002 to 2017. The high point of his career came when he became President of the 17th General Assembly of State Parties to UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention which ran from 2009 to 2010 under his able stewardship. Zimbabwe joined the world in celebrating her national and her home-grown scholar and researcher whose demise this last Monday threw those of us who knew his capabilities as a scholar, and had had the privilege of working closely with him, into utter distress. Our Nation has lost one of its choicest sons gifted with rare intellect. Upon retirement from UNESCO, Professor Munjeri came back home to resume his career in the academia and, more broadly, in nation-building. He joined the Great Zimbabwe University as a research professor at that institution’s Center for Cultural Heritage. Alongside that onerous responsibility, he also mentored as a visiting Professor postgraduate students in Heritage Studies at Midlands State University. Government drew on his knowledge and experience in evolving and updating policies related to our National Heritage, and the conservation and curating of Heritage Sites. What makes Professor Munjeri’s passing on most poignant and particularly painful is that he left us at a time when my Government has embarked on many Programmes to raise the Nation’s consciousness of National and African History through Heritage Studies, and on a broad-based rehabilitation of Historical Personages and Heritage Sites, a thrust exemplified by the recent rehabilitation of the iconic site at Pupu, and of course the ongoing construction of a Regional Museum dedicated to the celebration of African Liberation Struggles. But for his untimely demise, Government would have benefited even more from his vast exposure and experience. In his memory and as a tribute, these restorative Programmes will continue, even with added impetus. Indeed our History and our Material Culture are key pillars in the reconstruction of our collective identity as Zimbabweans, and in consolidating our sovereign Statehood. They must become a material force in our Nation-building efforts and transformation towards Vision 2030.
On behalf of the ruling party, ZANU PF, Government, our Community of Scholars and Researchers, my family and indeed on my behalf, I want to express my deepest, heartfelt condolences to the Munjeri Family, to his children and grandchildren especially. May they be consoled by the late departed’s meritorious contribution to our Nation, and to greater Humanity as an international worker. To that end, Government has seen it fit to accord Professor Munjeri a State-assisted funeral.
May our ever-loving God rest him in eternal peace.
Dr E.D. Mnangagwa
PRESIDENT.
01/05/24
