Elliot Ziwira Senior Writer
One of the greatest finds in the Shona tradition, Crymio Kutyauripo, whose evocative, informative and resonating book “Museve Usingapotse” (2014) was selected as a ZIMSEC O-Level Shona set-book in 2015, has died.
The prolific writer died on Tuesday at Beitbridge District Hospital after a short illness.
He was 41.
His elder brother March revealed that Kutyauripo, who had been under the weather for the past month, complained of chest pains on Thursday last week, and was rushed to hospital where he was admitted.
“Although he had been ill since around mid-April, he complained of chest pains on Thursday last week, and we took him to Beitbridge District Hospital. He was admitted to the hospital on admission. After x-ray tests, doctors initially diagnosed tuberculosis. Further tests, however, turned negative for TB.
“He was put on medication, but his condition deteriorated, and he died five days later,” he said.
He added: “As a family we have lost a humble and hardworking torchbearer as he has put our name in the limelight through his books.”
Kutyauripo’s contemporaries in the old war novel, which was his forte, are Elias Machemedze, Oscar Gwiriri and Tinashe Muchuri, among others.
His debut novel “Museve Usingapotse” (2014) compellingly captures the African story in an untainted way.
The wordsmith has written two other books “Chinyaride” (2018) and “Nhaka Yeropa” (2016), which go beyond “Museve Usingapotse”, both in setting and storyline to purvey the ignominy of avarice, deceit, hypocrisy and individualism at the core of modern society.
Kutyauripo was born in Guruve on December 2,1978, and did his lower primary schooling at Mushoshoma Primary School in Guruve, before moving on to Dulibadzimu Primary School in Beitbridge.
After primary school, he returned to Guruve for his secondary education at Mushoshoma Secondary School. He read for a degree in Import and Export Management with the University of South Africa; and was working in Beitbridge.
The artiste will be buried at his rural home in Ruzvidzo Village (Bakasa) under Chief Mushoshoma in Guruve yesterday.
He is survived by wife, Veronica Badza and four children, three boys and a girl: Dean (13), Deon (11), Kayla (6) and Dilan (5).
– HERALD
