Staff Reporter

President Mnangagwa yesterday expressed grief following the passing on of Ambassador Andrew Hama Mtetwa on 3 July 2022.

The President further extended a State assisted funeral to the late Ambassador Mtetwa.

The President described the late Ambassador as an eminent scholar, historian and a patriotic Zimbabwean who joined the civil service in the early years of Independence. He also said the late Ambassador Mtetwa was a game changer in whom the nation of Zimbabwe relied upon to transform a predominantly white minority-dominated civil service in the early days of the First Republic.

“I learnt with deep grief and a sense of loss the passing on yesterday morning of one of our veteran ambassadors in the Foreign Service, Ambassador Andrew Hama Mtetwa. An eminent scholar and historian, the late Ambassador Mtetwa belonged to the pioneering crop of black Zimbabweans who joined the civil service in the early years of our Independence in the 80s. They were our change agents upon whom we relied to transform  a predominantly  white minority-dominated civil service in order to give it a new look reflecting the majority dispensation under the First Republic,” said the President.

The President added that Ambassador Mtetwa would be remembered for his diligence and hard work as one of the country’s longest-serving career diplomats who advanced and defended the national interests at the various stations he served as ambassador.

President Mnangagwa further said that when Ambassador Mtetwa retired from the diplomatic service, he continued to share the knowledge he had acquired in the foreign service as a lecturer in diplomacy at the then Zimbabwe Defence College, now National Defence University.

The late Ambassador once served as the Ambassador to Belgium, South Africa and Zambia. At the time of his demise, he has just been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Zimbabwe Foreign Service Institute.