By Tinashe Gumbo

Rev Themba Siwela is no more, that soft spoken, jovial and harding working ZCC Cadre and Local Ecumenical Fellowship (LEF) leader is gone. He passed on last night in Masvingo after a very short illness. I am still shocked. His friends in the ZCC LEF leadership are still shocked too. Yet, this is the new but sad reality that we now have to live with. Below, I try to summarise my very personal (not necessarily that of ZCC) long interaction with Rev Siwela.

I cannot do it perfectly well because the man was complicated but also very simple as far as I am concerned.

The LEFs are a basic organizing and mobilizing unit of ZCC member churches operating at local, sub-national and national levels. They essentially represent the manner in which ZCC member churches are mobilized and organized to execute ecumenical initiatives and programmatic work. This is the most important structure of ZCC which implements the aspirations of the ZCC Advisory Board, The Supervisory Council and the General Assembly. Thus, ZCC authority, credibility and visibility are hinged on the shoulders of the LEFs. The LEFs are made up of the women, the youths, the men and the Ministers of Religion in the Church. These are dotted across the country at very local, district and provincial levels. Indeed, here lies the engine of ZCC.

Rev Siwela was in the driving seat of one of the Provincial LEF structures in Masvingo. He drove the structure with distinction.

What a complicated man? He was the ZCC LEF leader in various capacities: as the Local Peace Council Chairperson, a Researcher and a key ZCC representative in many platforms.

He represented the Church in the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) as the Provincial Vice Chairperson. Rev Siwela was also the ZCC representative in the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) Provincial Taskforce and indeed, the ZCC election technical partner has lost a hard working member.

He was also very active in all Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations (ZHOCD) work and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) National Coordinator, Mukoma Paul Muchena has expressed shock at this loss.

Rev Siwela was well networked such that executing ZCC work in Masvingo was as smooth as eating sadza with derere because of his networking, organizing and mobilizing skills. He could link you up with anyone at any level of society: from politicians, government departments, media, civic organizations, traditional leaders, academia, war veterans, farmers and vendors to Church leaders.

Yet, he remained very simple in his conduct. It was extremely dangerous to judge the capabilities of Rev Siwela based on his physical stature. If you attempted to do so, you would be embarrassed by the outcome. He was not what he manifested physically. He was more, morally, socially, in terms of ability and the results he would produce for you.

I personally enjoyed working with Rev Siwela. I joined the ZCC in 2003, together with my sekuru friend, Owen Murozvi. Owen called last night expressing his disbelief of this sad but new reality. We worked with Rev Siwela until I briefly left the Council in 2010, only to come back in 2017 ( kuita pengaudzoke kumusha chaiko ). From 2017 to date, I worked with Rev Siwela to “rebuild the walls of Jerusalem”, the Council needed our collective effort to ensure that it reoccupies its rightful position in the social, political and economic life of the country.

Rev Siwela was my point man in Masvingo. If it was not Rev Siwela, it would be Rev Edgar Ziramba in Mashonaland Central, Lt Yeukai Mudzamba in Matebeleland North, Pastor Nobert Nyoni in Matebeland South, Rev KT Mpofu in Bulawayo, Rev Clement Matulanga in Mashonaland East, Captain Emmanuel Moyo in Mashonaland West, Rev Canon Abel Waziweyi from the East (Manicaland), Rev Lizvelonke Nyoni and Pastor Tawanda Sibanda from the Midlands and a couple of Ministers of Religion in Harare.

This was the team that I set down with to revive the machine. Together, we reviewed how we conducted business as the Council at local level. Rev Siwela and Captain Moyo decide to give me a special name that I had to run with to this day-they called me “ Commissar or Organising Secreatry ” (of course depending on which house you come from, either of the names applied). The team activated the ZCC local urgency in nation building. Today we advocate for a broad based and comprehensive national dialogue in Zimbabwe out of the sweat of cadres like Rev Siwela. By the way, I called my men and women on the ground, ZCC Cadres -indeed, with or without financial support from the Secretariat, the LEF leaders worked for the country. They were more than just supporters of the Church work but they were Cadres.

Rev Siwela, with his Masvingo team made up of his friend Rev ( Mudhara )Misheck Mastara and my own vibrant brother, Rev Kurauone Mutimwi, raised the name of the Council to greater heights. ZCC work in Gutu, Zaka, Bikita, Chiredzi (where another vibrant Cadre leads-Rev Francis Mariki), Mwenezi and Chivi was hinged on the shoulders of Mukoma Themba, as I sometimes called him kana takafarisa hedu . Annual and ongoing ZCC processes such as the Alternative Mining Indaba, the Household Care Burden Survey, National Budget Consultations and other stakeholder engagements, were all led by Rev Siwela, making him a versatile man. The ZCC’s I Pray I Vote Campaign was a huge success in Masvingo because of a combination of skills of Rev Siwela as the mobiliser and organizer, charismatic Rev (and Mrs) Mutimwi, Rev Mastara as the chief strategist among many more Masvingo Cadres. Rev Siwela and team rocked the Hevoi FM with the peace campaign sermons every day of July 2018. The man is gone, but we continue to pray and encourage the leadership of Rev Kidson Maponga and Rev Kennedy Gora to push forward the work of the Church.

Rev Siwela, a United Methodist Church Pastor, leaves behind a wife, Mrs Dorcas Sewela and two children (boys).

He holds a Masters Degree and as far as I know, he always discussed with me possibilities for enrolling for a PhD process. He was Pastor at various circuits: Kwekwe West, Mutoko West, Kadoma, Highfields, Masvingo Inner City, Runyararo, Chiredzi and Gutu Mpandawanda between 1995 and 2020 after leaving the United Theological College in 1995.

The ZCC has lost a cadre! The ZCC networks have lost a reliable stakeholder! While we cannot question God’s plans, this particular development has forced us to still ask the questions: Why? Why at this trying moment of COVID-19-induced lock down? Multitudes of Rev Siwela’s friends would have loved to be there, to be there when his sacred body is being laid to rest. Anyway, we say, Go Well Commissioner! Go Well my Cadre! Go Well Mukoma Themba! Till we meet again!

Tinashe Gumbo(“The Commissar/Organising Secrvetary”) is ZCC Program Officer responsible for ZCC structures. Contained here are my personal views which are not held by ZCC in its official capacity.