Staff Reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sent a condolence message to the Maketo family on the untimely passing of Air Commodore Pio Pasipamire Maketo, following a road traffic accident on Saturday last week.

President Mnangagwa bemoaned Maketo’s death, not only as a great loss to the Maketo family who lost a loving and devoted father and husband but also a loss to the Nation which has lost a dedicated airman, a trainer as well as a service man.

“On behalf of our Nation, Government, the Zimbabwe Defence Force, my family and on my behalf, I wish to express my deepest, heartfelt condolences to the Maketo family, including and especially to his wife Grater, and to the four children, who have lost a loving husband and a caring father respectively.

“As they grieve over this their saddest loss, may they find solace in that our Nation comforts them, and will forever remember the sterling contributions of the late dear departed Air Commodore,” said President Mnangagwa.

In his condolence message, President Mnangagwa held in high regard Maketo’s sterling service and contributions to the nation and the region, which he said were deserving of a reward and praise.

“Air Commodore Maketo leaves behind meritorious career which includes several peace-making missions in our Region, and countless airmen and women he trained after qualifying as a flying instructor in the late 1980s.

“Before long, the late Air Commodore would be involved in the Mozambican Campaign meant to secure our routes to the sea, and to support the sister Republic of Mozambique, then under attack from apartheid-sponsored bandits.  Later he would be involved in supporting operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  Our Nation will forever remember him and his generation of airmen for their salutary contribution to our Nation and for building peace in the Region,” said the President.

Meanwhile, Maketo qualified as a flying instructor in the late 1980s, after having been drawn from the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) to join the Air Force of Zimbabwe, at a time the warring armies were being integrated in order to Africanise the nascent Airforce of Zimbabwe so it could reflect the multiracial post-independence ethos of a free Zimbabwe.  He leaves behind his wife Grater and four children.