Zanu-PF Senator Hove dies
MBERENGWA senator and former Cabinet minister Richard Chemist Hove has died.
Hove (77) died at St Anne’s Hospital in Harare on Friday evening after a long battle with diabetes.
He was the brother of National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration minister, Sekai Holland (nee Hove) from the MDC formation led by PM Morgan Tsvangirai.
Acting President Joice Mujuru yesterday told mourners gathered at the residence of Hove’s brother in Harare’s Milton Park suburb that members of the Zanu PF Politburo had held urgent consultations and unanimously agreed to declare him a national hero.
She said Hove would be buried at the National Heroes Acre on Tuesday.
Announcing the death yesterday, family spokesperson and former Cabinet minister July Moyo said Hove died after a long battle with diabetes.
“His health deteriorated after he was involved in a near-fatal accident over a year ago,” said Moyo
The veteran nationalist, who was also a member of the Zanu PF Politburo, was the country’s first Minister of Public Service at independence in 1980.
Hove also held the positions of Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Mines, Minister of Trade and Commerce, Minister of Defence and Planning Commissioner in the Office of the President.
Mujuru said she had informed the President about Hove’s death adding that he had also sent his condolences.
“This is an official announcement that Cde Hove has been declared a national hero. President Mugabe has also sent a condolence message to the family as he worked with Cde Hove for a long time. He was like a father to me. I met him in 1974 in Zambia and he inducted us very well.
“He was one of the people from whom we copied the skills of the liberation struggle,” said Mujuru.
Zanu PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was among the high ranking officials who visited the family yesterday, described Hove as a hardworking leader who inspired those he went with to the liberation struggle.
He was our head in the struggle for liberation. I have lost someone who has been supportive for so many years. He worked well with others. His history shall be read by a lot of people,” said Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa said some members of the Politburo set in Nyanga while others were telephoned resulting in the unanimous declaration of Hove as a national hero.
“The Politburo, most of whom were in Nyanga, decided to declare him a national hero after briefing the President who is currently out of the country,” said Mnangagwa.
Hove was educated at Dadaya and Tengwani Secondary Schools. He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1966 from the University of Bombay in India. He became a member of Zimbabwe’s first Parliament in 1980.
Additional Reporting: ZimbabweGuardian
Posted by Dave Fish Eagle
on August 24, 2009. Filed under Local News.
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