The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Municipal Reporter
THE burial of the first black town clerk of Bulawayo, Dr Michael Nkanyiso Ndubiwa has been set for Saturday, with a memorial service being planned to take place at the Bulawayo Amphitheatre.
Dr Ndubiwa (86) died on Tuesday at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo where he had gone for his routine dialysis session.
He was Bulawayo’s first black town clerk who worked for council for 32 years, 15 of them as a top municipal official.
In an interview with Sunday News on Thursday morning, Dr Ndubiwa’s son, Horace said the family had decided on Saturday for the burial.
“Yes, Dr Ndubiwa will be buried on Saturday, we are now working with the Bulawayo City Council so that we hold a memorial service at the Amphitheatre, we will however be releasing the final programme as the day progresses,” said Horace.
In a statement, Bulawayo mayor Councillor Solomon Mguni, on Wednesday, said during his role as the Town Clerk, Dr Ndubiwa, was responsible for the administration of the City of Bulawayo where he sought to revamp the then administrative structures and processes to achieve an integrated administrative machine in line with the changing social structures when the country attained independence in 1980.
Dr Ndubiwa was also credited for the city’s survival through shrewd management particularly during the trying times before the 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu- PF and PF-Zapu when the local authority was then the only one being run by an opposition party.
Born in 1934 in Inyathi, Bubi district in Matabeleland North, Dr Ndubiwa did his primary education in Lower Gweru and came to Mzilikazi High School in Bulawayo for his secondary education between 1945-1952.
Between 1953-1957, he attended school at Tegwani Training Institute in Plumtree. He proceeded to do a BA degree in administration at the then University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland which was based in Maseru, graduating in 1967.
In 1972, Dr Ndubiwa attained a Master of Arts in Local Government and Administration from the University of Birmingham (UK). He also held a PhD in social sciences.
Before joining Bulawayo City Council, Dr Ndubiwa worked as an assistant teacher under the African Education Department between January 1958 and December 1958.
From 1959-1961, he worked for the Barclays Bank and later joined the Civil Service between 1961-1962.
Dr Ndubiwa joined Bulawayo City Council (BCC) in 1963 as an administrative assistant (finance) in the City’s Housing and Amenities department.
He left council in 1964 and returned to the Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland university to study for a Bachelor of Arts in Administration Degree which he completed in 1967. During his vacations he worked as a temporary administrative assistant before re-joining the council on January 22, 1968 as an administrative assistant in the council’s Housing and Amenities department.
Between 1975 and 1978, Dr Ndubiwa became the senior administrative officer in the Department of Housing and Community Services.
He rose through the ranks to Deputy Town Clerk in 1979 and subsequently took over as the city’s first black Town Clerk in September 1984, taking over from Mr Ian Edmeades. He was the first black person to qualify for a diploma in the Institute of Town Clerks of Southern Africa.
Dr Ndubiwa retired on August 31, 1999.
Mourners are gathered at Number 25 Glenwood, Woodlands in Bulawayo.
