BY KENNETH NYANGANI
MUTASA South MP Regai Tsunga (MDC Alliance) yesterday described the late Africa University (AU) vice-chancellor (VC) Munashe Furusa, who died on Wednesday, as an international academic who contributed a lot to manpower development in Zimbabwe.
AU is within Tsunga’s constituency and the MP said Furusa passed on at a time they were working together to come up with solutions to the threat of illegal gold mining after some miners encroached onto the university premises.
Tsunga said this was after Furusa had expressed concern that the illegal miners were vandalising the university’s agricultural equipment, including irrigation pipes.
“I am deeply saddened to learn of the untimely passing away of Furusa, the VC of Africa University located in our Mutasa South constituency,” Tsunga told NewsDay Weekender in an interview.
“Before my election to Parliament, I worked with Furusa in charity work under the auspices of the Africa University Charity Golf Committee. He demonstrated unparalleled philanthropic demeanour as several orphanages around Manicaland province benefited from his work,” he said.
Tsunga described Furusa as a visionary who was hard-working and impactful as he managed to make AU an internationally recognised institution of choice for students and academic staff.
“The university has become a leader, not only in teaching, research and community service, but also in innovation and industrialisation as evidenced by several patented products on the market and the high quality of their educational inputs, processes, outputs, outcomes and impacts.
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“Furusa leaves an indelible mark on the international academic landscape through immeasurable contribution to manpower development of Zimbabwe and elsewhere,” he said.
Tsunga said the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development had plans to visit Africa University as a model innovation hub among institutions of higher learning.
“We are poorer without him, my heartfelt condolences to the Furusa family and the AU during their grief and mourning,” he said.
Follow Kenneth on Twitter @KennethNyangan1
