Violet Gonda

Really sad to hear of the passing on of Elliot Pfebve, who has been fighting bowel and liver cancer since 2023. He had also set up a cancer awareness foundation following his diagnosis, to support black and ethnic minority communities in the West Midlands with information about the disease. Elliot and I worked together at Coventry University for about four years, where he was a lecturer. I was in the Press Office. At one point we did get to work directly with each other when I led a campaign promoting the university’s apprenticeships, which included a course that Elliot led. He was an active member of the local Labour Party in the West Midlands, where he championed diversity and inclusion. He actually ran for a council seat in his area. Pfebve’s family suffered a great deal during the early 2000s when he contested the Bindura by-election following the death in a car accident of incumbent MP and Zanu-PF’s political commissar, Border Gezi. The by-election pitted Pfebve against Zanu-PF’s Elliot Manyika. In the media, it was dubbed as “The battle of the two Elliots”. The lead-up to the by-election was marked by a brutal campaign of state-sponsored political violence. The most high-profile atrocity occurred when Matthew Pfebve, Elliot’s elder brother, was assassinated by ZANU-PF supporters. ZANU-PF militants raided the Pfebve home looking for Elliot Pfebve, but the attackers found and abducted his brother Matthew. They refused to believe he was not Elliot and beat him to death. Elliot Pfebve and human rights groups later stated that the assassination was carried out under the direct orders of ZANU-PF candidate Elliot Manyika. The pre-election atmosphere resembled a national crisis rather than a local poll due to widespread intimidation. This was @ZANUPF_Official at the height of its political vulnerability and paranoia, and their response to the MDC challenge was unleashing gratuitous violence. Apart from killing Matthew Pfebve, Zanu-PF activists also abducted and killed Elliot’s campaign manager, Trymore Midzi. In July 2001, a campaign convoy carrying Elliot Pfebve and MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai was ambushed by a mob of over 100 ZANU-PF youths. The vehicles were stoned and torched, though the leadership narrowly escaped unharmed. Elliot lost a lot in that by-election. His brother and his friend and campaign manager killed, and family homes and businesses burned to the ground. Even the homes of opposition supporters were torched during this campaign of terror. It was after all this that Elliot decided to run for his life and relocate to the UK. Rest in peace, Comrade. You fought the good fight! Your legacy lives on in the generations of students from around the world that you trained and mentored; you gave your Mash Central community courage to stand up to tyranny when the cost of doing so was too dear to pay, and in your local West Midlands community, you’ve raised awareness of cancer among ethnic minority communities who often lack support when faced with such life-impacting diagnoses!

It’s interesting to observe the deafening silence by some leaders of the opposition movement on @ProfMadhuku’s violent assault! I thought as champions of democracy and defenders of the basic human rights of Zimbabweans, this prominent violation of a fellow political leader and foremost expert in the very business of the Constitution that we’re all as a nation currently fixated with, you would stand on business and not only express human solidarity, but signal the values and ideals you hold that underpin your cause for a free, democratic Zimbabwe! But alas, expecting basic humanity from people absorbed with their own ambitions seems an expectation too much and too far to attain! Kutokundwawo hunhu naJonso!