BY ARNOLD FANDISO
AUTHOR, academic, nationalist and diplomat, professor George Payne Kahari has succumbed to COVID-19 complications. He was 91.
His daughter, Patricia Kambarami, confirmed the death.
“He died today at a private COVID-19 clinic in Harare,” Kambarami said.
Ibbo Mandaza, one the late’s uncles, said: “This is the end of an era. He had just turned 91 on July 8. He contracted COVID-19 about two weeks ago and he is gone. Very devastating! He was a regular here (Sapes Trust) for debates.”
Kahari, a former Zimbabwe Electoral Commission commissioner, was the former director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and an emeritus professor at the University of Zimbabwe.
He profiled and appraised a list of local authors, including Herbert Chitepo, Mordecai Hamutyinei, Patrick Chakaipa, Joseph Kumbirayi, Paul Chidyausiku, Wilson Chivaura and Janfeck Chekure.
He represented Zimbabwe as a diplomat in Germany, Italy and Czechoslovakia in the 1990s.
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Kahari was a central committee member and deputy publicity secretary in the wartime Zapu and a member of Zanu PF’s consultative assembly after Zimbabwe gained independence.
He was elected as a member of the central committee of the African National Congress at the special congress held in September 1975 and was appointed deputy publicity secretary the following year.
In October 1976, Kahari was appointed as a member of the Joshua Nkomo delegation to the Geneva conference.
He is survived by wife, six children and 11 grandchildren.
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