Story by Mhlomuli Ncube, Assistant News Editor
A funeral parade for the late Colonel (Retired) Patron Khutshwekhaya was held at Imbizo Barracks in Bulawayo this Wednesday.
Colonel (Retired) Khutshwekhaya has been remembered for serving his nation with distinction before and after independence.
“I met the late in the struggle, we were together for a long time from Francistown to Nampundu, where he was my platoon commander, we were together even at Mgagao, Tanzania, we trained together at Morogoro,” Colleague Cde Njabulo Ngwendethsa said.
The senior officer who died on the first of this month at United Bulawayo Hospitals was honoured for his sterling work in nation building and contribution to national sovereignty.
“He was always there for family, he kept all family records and history, we have lost a very important person,” Family Spokesperson Mrs Virginia Mangena said.
Zimbabwe National Army Chief of Staff Quartermaster Staff, Major General Simo Maseko, chronicled the late army officer’s colourful career on the warfront and his role in independent Zimbabwe’s defence forces.
“During his tenure in the logistics department, he opened Chinyunyu base, which opened bases in Thembisa 1 and 2 back home. At the ceasefire, he went to the base, and on the 1st October 1980, he was arrested by the ZNA. He was nominated to attend the standardisation course at Inkomo Barracks…the late senior officer had a wide range of operational experience, he participated in the Mozambique and DRC campaigns using his knowledge gained in the war,” he said.
Born in Tsholotsho in 1951, Col (Rtd) Khutshwekhaya left Zimbabwe in 1976 to join the armed struggle.
He trained in Tanzania and the then Soviet Union before being deployed to the Zambezi escarpment, where he operated in Kariba, Chirundu and Kanyemba.
After independence, he joined the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and rose through the ranks to become a colonel.
Col (Rtd) Khutshwekhaya, who died at the age of 75, is survived by his wife and five children.
He will be buried at Lady Stanley Cemetery in Bulawayo this Thursday.
