Commander Air Force of Zimbabwe, Air Marshal Jacob John Nzvede, has described the death of Brigadier-General (Retired) Elasto Madzingira as a great loss to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the entire nation.
A liberation stalwart and general officer in the ZDF, Brig-Gen Madzingira died at his home on August 8 after a short illness.
He was 65.
"We are deeply saddened by the passing on of the late Brigadier-General Madzingira. He had a distinguished career in the Air Force of Zimbabwe and on behalf of the entire organisation and indeed myself, I wish to express our condolences to his family, relatives and friends," he said.
Brig-General Madzingira served in the AFZ from 1985 to 1995 and on his retirement, he continued to serve the nation in the political sphere.
Prior to joining the AFZ, Brig-Gen Madzingira distinguished himself as a patriotic and dedicated cadre during the liberation struggle.
At the age of 18, he was awarded a Word University Services scholarship after demonstrating academic excellence at Fletcher High School from 1972 to 1977.
The scholarship gave him access to study at any university of his choice within the Commonwealth countries, but he chose to be enrolled for a Pharmacy degree at the then University of Rhodesia, now University of Zimbabwe.
A few months into his studies in 1978, Brig-Gen Madzingira decided to abandon his studies to join the liberation struggle in Mozambique.
He joined Zanla forces in Bikita through the underground network of national hero Dr Simon Mazorodze. He was in a group of five other university students, two of whom were his brothers.
At that time, he demonstrated political awareness and commitment beyond his age that the guerilla commanders singled him out to train at the front, while the other four were taken directly to Chimoio, Mozambique.
Brig-Gen Madzingira took the Chimurenga name Ronald Zvenyika.
He operated for five months under the leadership of Air Marshal (Retired) Henry Muchena and then proceeded to Mozambique where he received further military training at Chibawawa.
Later, he assumed the role of medical training officer where he trained troop medics at the rear. Some of his trainees were later integrated into the Ministry of Health as State-Registered Nurses and radiographers at independence.
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Brig-Gen Madzingira later moved to Inamhinga and during ceasefire in 1979, he was deployed to ZANU PF headquarters in Maputo where he joined the secretariat. He returned to Zimbabwe in August 1980 and was later sent to Yugoslavia in November 1980 where he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Zagreb.
He could not complete his studies due to ill-health and returned to Zimbabwe in March 1982. The same year, he resumed his studies at the University of Zimbabwe under the auspices of the Ministry of Manpower Planning studying for a Bachelor of Accountancy Degree from 1983 to 1985.
After completing his undergraduate studies, he was attested into the AFZ as a flight lieutenant on January 4, 1985 and promoted to squadron leader on July 1, 1987, wing commander on July 17, 1989 and group captain on January 22, 1992.
He sadly sustained serious injuries in 1992, while on duty, which left him wheelchair-bound and resulted in his retirement on medical grounds. He was transferred to the ZNA and promoted one step to the rank of Brigadier-General for retirement purposes.
Brig-Gen Madzingira was decorated with the Independence Medal, Ten Years' Service Medal, Mozambique Campaign Medal, Liberation Medal, Long and Exemplary Medal. He was an accomplished academic who held the following qualifications; Bachelor of Accountancy Honours degree and Master's in Business Administration, among others.
He is survived by wife Mrs Sarudzai Madzingira and six children. Mourners are gathered at Number 11, Iffley Close, Greendale, Harare.
Funeral parade and burial arrangements will be announced in due course.
