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LATE Zanu Pf minister Kumbirai Kangai’s family has abandoned a daughter in a rundown rural mental hospital for nearly 40 years now
A woman said to be the daughter of the late liberation war stalwart, Kumbirai Kangai, has been living in a rundown rural mental hospital without any visitors for nearly 40 years now, the Eastern News can report.
Rukariro Rehabilitation Centre, 72 kilometres west of the eastern city, is dilapidated, under-staffed and poorly funded. It has not received any government social services grant for years.
The institution basically survives on the benevolence of its matron and handouts from good Samaritans, who are far and in-between.
A committed group of villagers, who pity the 46 inmates, and 10 children that were born to parents confined at the institution, tends to a gardening project at Rukariro to supplement its income.
The story of Era Kangai, believed to be the daughter of the former Cabinet minister, who died in August 2013 and was declared a national hero, is heartrending.
She was checked into the mental institution way back in 1979. This was the period when her alleged father was fighting to remove the brutal Ian Smith regime from power.
An account that could not be verified with Kangai’s surviving children is that the late national hero had Era with a woman who also took up arms at the later stages of the liberation struggle, but no one knows her whereabouts.
Kangai operated in Mozambique and was a member of Dare Rechimurenga.
Back then, Rukariro Rehabilitation Centre was still located at Sakubva District Hospital.
In years that followed, the centre was moved to its current remote location after its old premises at Sakubva District Hospital were condemned by the ministry of Health and Child Care.
Health minister David Parirenyatwa and the special advisor to the president, Timothy Stamps, led the condemnation in 2013.
“This is a prison,” Parirenyatwa said then, upon entry into a small cubical that was used as a holding cell.
Stamps was more scathing in his condemnation.
He was quoted wondering aloud during the tour of the facility: “There was a lot of money that was provided for psychiatric care after the war . . . this should be a museum of what the Rhodesians did for us.”
The matron, Everjoice Musasa, confirmed Era’s family ties.
“Yes, Era is the late Kumbirai Kangai’s daughter, but I have never heard from his family over the past 37 years that she has been in rehabilitation,” Musasa said.A woman said to be the daughter of the late liberation war stalwart, Kumbirai Kangai, has been living in a rundown rural mental hospital without any visitors for nearly 40 years now, the Eastern News can report.
Rukariro Rehabilitation Centre, 72 kilometres west of the eastern city, is dilapidated, under-staffed and poorly funded. It has not received any government social services grant for years. The institution basically survives on the benevolence of its matron and handouts from good Samaritans, who are far and in-between. A committed group of villagers, who pity the 46 inmates, and 10 children that were born to parents confined at the institution, tends to a gardening project at Rukariro to supplement its income.
The story of Era Kangai, believed to be the daughter of the former Cabinet minister, who died in August 2013 and was declared a national hero, is heartrending. She was checked into the mental institution way back in 1979. This was the period when her alleged father was fighting to remove the brutal Ian Smith regime from power. An account that could not be verified with Kangai’s surviving children is that the late national hero had Era with a woman who also took up arms at the later stages of the liberation struggle, but no one knows her whereabouts. Kangai operated in Mozambique and was a member of Dare Rechimurenga.
Back then, Rukariro Rehabilitation Centre was still located at Sakubva District Hospital. In years that followed, the centre was moved to its current remote location after its old premises at Sakubva District Hospital were condemned by the ministry of Health and Child Care. Health minister David Parirenyatwa and the special advisor to the president, Timothy Stamps, led the condemnation in 2013. “This is a prison,” Parirenyatwa said then, upon entry into a small cubical that was used as a holding cell. Stamps was more scathing in his condemnation.
He was quoted wondering aloud during the tour of the facility: “There was a lot of money that was provided for psychiatric care after the war . . . this should be a museum of what the Rhodesians did for us.” The matron, Everjoice Musasa, confirmed Era’s family ties. “Yes, Era is the late Kumbirai Kangai’s daughter, but I have never heard from his family over the past 37 years that she has been in rehabilitation,” Musasa said.