BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO RENOWNED author and educationist, David Mungoshi, has died. He was 71. Mungoshi died at the Avenues Clinic at around 9pm on Saturday after battling ill-health for over five years. Mungoshi’s eldest son, Tadiwa, told NewsDay Life & Style that although his father had been suffering from multiple conditions, including gout and arthritis, they would be able to confirm the real cause of death after a postmortem. The postmortem was set to be conducted yesterday, after which burial details would be finalised, subject to flight confirmations by Tadiwa’s siblings in the United Kingdom. “Our father passed on last night (Saturday) at 2140 hours at Avenues Clinic. He had been struggling with his health for some years. For the past 10 years, he has been suffering from arthritis and gout. He then developed respiratory and kidney problems and he was hospitalised last Sunday when the situation worsened,” he said. “His death has, however, come as a shock because, in the past few days, doctors had said he was recovering and he was going to be discharged after this weekend. We don’t know what eventually caused his death. We hope that the postmortem will today actually ascertain the cause of the death.” Tadiwa described his father as a towering figure in the extended Mungoshi family. “We have lost a pillar in the family. He has been extremely pivotal to us the children and to almost everyone within the extended family. He inspired us to work hard and always aim high, especially in achieving academic excellence because he himself was an educationist. He gave us direction, he was a provider and made greatest sacrifices. His legacy is the same within the Mungoshi clan and words can’t be enough to explain who he was to us,” he said. “We will start working on burial arrangements after the postmortem results, but most likely he will be buried in Manyene, Chivhu. It’s, however, something we need to discuss as a family and conclude considering many factors.” National Arts Council of Zimbabwe executive director Nicholas Moyo described Mungoshi as “a multi-talented individual who excelled in various arts disciplines”. “The passing on Mungoshi has indeed left a huge void in the arts sector as he contributed to the development of the sector through mentoring and his invaluable insights as a panellist in the Nama adjudication committee for the literary categories,” he said. “He is a 2010 Nama [National Arts Merits Awards] award winner for his novel, The Fading Son, written in 2009 which tackled issues of breast cancer and its effect on the patient, their spouse, family and friends. The book was put on the list of literature set books for schools.” Moyo said Mungoshi would also be remembered as an actor for his role as John Huni in the local groundbreaking soapie Studio 263. “He also starred in other local film productions, The Postman and Ngugi wa Mirii’s Secrets,which he also assisted in editing dialogue in the scripts,” he said. Meanwhile, condolence messages poured in yesterday with fellow renowned author and television script