CHAIRMAN MATONGO'S DEATH: "FOUL PLAY NOT SUSPECTED!"

MDC chairman Matongo dies http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=2218&cat=1

Isaac Matongo.   By Dennis Rekayi HARARE – Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) national chairman, Isaac Matongo, has died. He died in his sleep and his family is not suspecting any foul play. Information so far from the opposition reveals the trade unionist who teamed up with colleagues to form the MDC in 1999 and was instrumental in keeping the Morgan Tsvangirai team together, died in his bed in the early hours of today at his Borrowdale house. Matongo, who was married to colleague Evelyn Masaiti, who was the MP for Mutasa from 2000 to 2005, was one of the key leaders in the MDC. Masaiti said she heard her husband groaning around 3 am today, apparently breathing his last, a family spokesperson said. "His wife was woken up nemagwiriri acho (groans) and he died there and then. That was the end of  the man we all loved and knew as the stabiliser in the MDC. We suspect that it was a heart attack." Mourners have already started gathering at Matongo's house. They were led by the party's founding president and friend, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was in the ZCTU with Matongo before they decided to form the MDC. Tsvangirai has since put on hold plans to visit the United Kingdom early May. He said the party had learnt with shock of Matongo's death and was in mourning for a gallant Zimbabwean son who was fighting for change in his beloved country. Tsvangirai said the party had lost a gallant and princilled man who gave all he had to fight dictatorship in Zimbabwe. The party's chairman in the UK and Ireland said the MDC had been "shaken to the core" by Matongo's death. "Today is a very very sad day for us in the MDC. All who knew what this man did for the party - acting as the president's buffer zone, our stabiliser, man of vision and intergrity - will tell you that we have lost a great man. We are heart-broken," said Tapa. He said he had spoken with Matongo on Sunday when he was coming from the MDC's strategic meeting in South Africa. The two were supposed to speak again yesterday but Tapa forgot to call and was meant to talk to him today over party issues concerning the UK and Ireland. "VaMatongo was a founding member of this party. He was there right from the formative stages when it was just an idea. He went on to create the structures of the party as we know them today, he helped build the party to be what it is today," said Tapa. "Even in the Diaspora we continue to build on his vision. He brought sanity and sense of purpose and direction to the party and we were in touch with him twice every week." "Matongo was a principled, honest man, selfless true liberation hero. The party is going through a very difficult period right now - his death is really shocking and sad. We have suffered an irrepairable loss. It is like an earthquake. We have been shaken to the core. The party is shaking. Our stabiliser is gone." Tapa said Matongo's spirit would remain with those still fighting for change in the MDC and other pro-democracy groups that worked with the opposition in seeking Zimbabwe's return to the democratic path. "We are crying today and we hope to remain inspired by his exemplary work in the party to take the struggle even further as we seek and fight for a new Zimbabwe. It is a sad, sad loss."

 

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