Hundreds of mourners pay last respects to Matongo

Tichaona Sibanda
3 May 2007

Hundreds of mourners from various parts of the country gathered in Warren Park, Harare on Thursday to pay their final respects to MDC national chairman Isaac Matongo. He died Wednesday of suspected heart failure aged 60.

Matongo’s first-born son Lovemore said sombre, teary-eyed mourners, including MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, shuffled past the open casket at the family home in the capital.

Lovemore added that the family is yet to come to terms with his untimely death, which has left friends, relatives and thousands of party activists shocked. Describing his death as a personal loss, Lovemore said the country had also lost an energetic and promising leader.

Matongo had a history of diabetes and blood pressure problems. He had recently married Evelyn Masaiti, the former MDC MP for Mutasa. An account of how he died emerged Thursday with reports that his wife heard him groan in pain and gasping for breath in the early hours of Wednesday.

His wife, eight children and 13 grandchildren survive him. Burial arrangements released Wednesday said he would be buried on Saturday at his farm near Renko mine in Masvingo. His body will lie in state at his Warren Park home on Thursday. The funeral cortege will then move on to Masvingo on Friday where his body will lie overnight at his farm.

Tributes to Matongo continued to pour in from all over the country and abroad.