By NQOBANI NDLOVU
Former top envoy Buzwani Donald Mothobi was laid to rest at Lady Stanley Cemetery in Bulawayo yesterday with mourners describing him as a dedicated pioneer civil servant.
Mothobi, who was ambassador to Japan and the Republic of Korea from 1994 to 1998, passed away on Wednesday last week aged 80 after a long illness.
The late ambassador was also High Commissioner to Kenya and Uganda from 1998 to 2001 and held several posts in the public and private sectors.
“He was pioneer civil servant and business leader. He brought his knowledge of business into diplomacy when he joined the Foreign Affairs ministry in what we now call economic diplomacy,” said Vusumuzi Ntonga, a representative of the Foreign Affairs ministry said.
“When we needed resource persons we would always refer to him. We benefitted a lot from his experience. He left a legacy, a legacy of honesty, and a legacy of being methodical in economic diplomacy.”
Mothobi, one of the longest serving members of the State Procurement Board, was selected to lead its transformation into the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) where he resigned in 2018 due to ill health.
He served as the executive chairman of the transitional State Procurement Board from December 2015 to December 2017.
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“We are grateful for his wise counsel; . . . he was responsible, dedicated and committed in seeing developmental activities being carried out so that we archive what we fought for as a country,” said Bulawayo Provincial Affairs minister, Judith Ncube during the burial.
Zanu PF politburo member, Absolom Sikhosana said: “We are saddened at his passing away looking at the contributions he made to the liberation of this country and to the service that he rendered to this nation locally and internationally . . . that to us is something that needs to be emulated.”
The burial was attended by several government and Zanu PF officials among them Industry and Commence deputy minister Raji Modi, central committee member and former Provincial Affairs minister Angeline Masuku.
