By Margaret Kamba
I had the privilege of working with the late National Hero Professor Ngwabi Bhebe (May his soul rest in peace) on two assignments and I got to understand how he wanted things to be perfect.
He had been one of the leaders assigned to work under the ZANU PF Secretary for External Relations Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi. It was like the two men ganged up on the team in order to come up with a perfect or what was closest to being a perfect report for the team. The team also had the former Minister for Agriculture Cde Joseph Made and the former deputy National Political Commissar Cde Zemura.
I had worked with Cde Mumbengegwi before but not with the others. If ever I did corrections in my life that was the time. The choice of words in the report just had to be right or else, corrections would be made. It was foolhardy to print anything before the team would agree because you would simply be printing the whole document again.
With every reading process, the sentences just seemed to need a better choice of word than the one previously picked and used. It was until all felt maybe we had had enough, that they resolved to letting some things go. This was the little I got to know about him and I am quite sure that if had spent more time with him, I would be a out of this world.
It is sad when I think that Professor Bhebe is gone along with his wealth of knowledge. Those who know him and have passed through his hands will attest to his excellence.
In mourning the historian, the ZANU PF National Political Commissar Cde Mike Bimha wrote “Professor Bhebe was an inquisitive and no-nonsense member and Chair of the Elections Directorate/Commission of ZANU PF, an independent watchdog which ensures compliance to set rules, guidelines and processes of our internal elections. The Commissariat has lost a fountain of knowledge and a patient leader who availed himself at all times when duty called. We will forever miss his constructive criticism and it is our prayer that the Bhebe family find solace in the fact that they are not alone during this difficult time but that their loss is deeply shared by the entire nation.”
He was a very well-accomplished and distinguished scholar who obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Geography from the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UBLS) in 1967. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Imperial History from the University of London in 1972.
Apart from this, he is a celebrated historian par excellence, with an academic employment dating back to 1974 when he lectured in history at Faurah Bay College in Sierra Leone, and later at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UBLS) as well as at the University of Zimbabwe from 1982.
He served at the UNESCO Executive Board, was a Council Member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), was a Founding and Executive Member of the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA), was Country Researcher, and Member of the Management Board of the Hashim Mbita SADC Liberation Struggle Project among others.
The late National Hero will be laid to rest at the National Shrine this Saturday.