UMGUZA legislator and Transport minister Obert Mpofu yesterday described Mbembesi Chief Neville Mkatshana Ndondo, who died on Monday, as a development-oriented traditional leader that would be greatly missed.
NDUDUZO TSHUMA STAFF REPORTER Chief Ndondo, a former Zimbabwe ambassador to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Angola, India, Nepal and Bangladesh, died at the Roman Catholic-run Mater Dei Hospital from renal failure at the age of 75.
“His death comes a few years after the death of his brother he replaced as chief. It is really shocking and sad,” Mpofu said. “We heard that he was seeking treatment in South Africa and we thought he had managed to contain the ailment.
“We join the Ndondo family and the people of Fingo in mourning.
“As a former ambassador, he was full of knowledge. It is sad that the people of his area have lost their chief,” Mpofu said.
Umguza district administrator Ernetty Sithole yesterday said Chief Ndondo, who also served as Zimbabwe’s permanent representative to the African Union from 1999 to 2004, would be buried on Saturday.
“He will be buried in Mbembesi on Saturday.
“I do not have the finer details of burial arrangements; on that you would need to contact the family,” she said.
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Chief Ndondo’s son Selby said there would be a memorial service for the traditional leader at number 14960 Impala Road, Selborne Park in Bulawayo today at 5pm.
“He will be buried on Saturday at 9am at his rural home in Mbembesi,” he said.
Born in Inyathi on February 2 1939, Chief Ndondo attained a Master of Science in Economics degree from the Prague School of Economics in the then Czechoslovakia in 1968.
In 1976 he attained a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Cologne in West Germany. Chief Ndondo is survived by wife Stella and two children.
