A CHURCH service for the late liberation war hero Dr Edward Munatsireyi Pswarayi was held in the capital yesterday afternoon ahead of his burial slated for this afternoon.
Feluna Nleya
The former Health deputy minister was declared a liberation war hero for his contribution during the liberation war and after independence in 1980.
He will be buried today at his Tondori Farm in Beatrice.
Medical practitioners who worked with Pswarayi said they had lost a mentor who helped most of the doctors to excel.
“He was very supportive. He was our mentor. The one thing that I did not know about very well was his political side,” chairman of the Health Services Board Dr Lovemore Mbengeranwa said.
“But as a colleague in medicine, he mentored us very well and we worked together.”
Zimbabwe Medical Association secretary-general Dr Douglas Gwatidzo said: “We are deeply saddened by the passing-on of a very senior colleague who at the time of independence immediately joined government and paved the way for us to join the medical school and profession.
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“He always advocated for us to develop in the profession and grow in the profession and when he left government, we always remembered him as one of the pioneers in medicine in the country and we will try to emulate him in whatever we do.”
Pswarayi died aged 87 at a private hospital in Harare on Sunday. He worked closely with several nationalists among them President Robert Mugabe, the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo, James Chikerema, Herbert Chitepo and Samuel Parirenyatwa.
Although he did not go to the war front, he contributed immensely to the liberation struggle back home by offering his personal resources for use by nationalist leaders.
Pswarayi is survived by widow Mabel, 19 children, 37 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
