BY BRENNA MATENDERE
MDC’s firebrand Shurugwi South district chairperson, Norman Pfeveni, who succumbed to hypertension over the weekend, was buried at his rural home in the district yesterday.
He was 62.
Pfeveni, who has been at the helm of the opposition party’s Shurugwi South district for the past 10 years, is credited for laying a solidfoundation for the Nelson Chamisa-led party by creating strong grassroots structures in all branches and wards in the area.
Speaking to Southern Eye at Pfeveni’s burial in Chikato, ward 7, MDC Midlands provincial chairperson Josiah Makombe said the late activist had left a void that will be difficult to fill in the opposition party.
“Our district leader’s death is a big loss to the MDC and Midlands province in particular. He was a hard-working and principled leader. As a party we are going to miss him. We benefited from his wisdom and astute leadership,” he said.
MDC’s 2018 parliamentary candidate for Shurugwi South, Daniel Mabonga, said the late district chairperson had mastered the art of growing the grassroots support base.
“He was a chairman of the people, that is why we are having a bumper crowd of people from all walks of life paying their last respects. It is not common in rural areas. We had already started implementing a strategy to win the rural vote and end Zanu PF’s dominance.
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“He has joined his ancestors at a point where the MDC in Shurugwi, under his leadership, had recharged its batteries and laid down a solid plan to end dominance of Zanu PF in Shurugwi South at the next elections,” he said.
The Shurugwi South parliamentary seat is currently held by Edmund Mukaratigwa of Zanu PF who narrowly beat the MDC candidate in last year’s polls.
MDC Midlands South’s immediate past chairperson, Francisco Masendeke, also reiterated that the late Pfeveni was revered in opposition circles.
