To all who knew or just saw him, he was among the calmest lads you were ever going to meet.
So chatty and easy-going, yet Godwin Muzari, a long-serving arts journalist at the state-owned Herald daily newspaper, was a troubled man behind-the-scenes.
On 15 September 2020, the tall and likable entertainment editor took his own life.
Muzari was found hanging in his bedroom in a suspected suicide case three days after he reportedly went missing. He was buried at the Glenforest Cemetary.
During his career that bobbed off in the mid-2000s following graduation with a media degree from the Midlands State University, Muzari covered several suicide cases and penned obituaries but never for once, or at least his readers, imagining he would one day encounter the same fate.
Colleagues say Muzari (40) was suffering from depression in the closing days of his life but had not confided his problems to any workmate.
“What I had gleaned from his telephone conversations as I sat close by in the newsroom is that he had separated with his wife, who had left home with their children,” a Herald staffer revealed to EntersportNews.
Muzari, who specialized in musical reviews and showbiz commentary, stayed in the Retreat part of Waterfalls and is also reported to have battled alcoholism.
On the last weekend, before he died, he visited his childhood neighbourhood of Glen Norah, where he pampered his old friends with beer and, to their enormous surprise, they say, freely partook of the ‘joint’, the only time they had seen him do this.
“He could literally shake if he had not taken a beer or two in the morning,” a neighbour of his advanced to this publication.
Muzari’s penchant for the bottle eventually led to frequent absences from the workplace. He is reported to have been cautioned by Herald editor, Hatred Zenenga on the last day he was seen at the building.
“He waved to me as he glided down the stairs from the third floor to the ground floor. I saw him cross Sam Nujoma Street into the adjacent Africa Unity Square where he sat still and appeared to take a deep reflection but I thought nothing of it,” recalled another workmate.
Zenenga, commenting on the untimely event, said they had decided to consign the journalist to a rehabilitation facility. Still, a team he dispatched to Muzari’s home, which was reportedly led by Deputy News Editor Phyllis Kachere, failed to locate him.
“We are sad at losing such a talented journalist and fine writer,” Zenenga mourned.
The first person to discover Godwin’s lifeless body was his elder brother Bishop Muzari. The latter said they had to force open the door at his house as they were now convinced something could have happened to him after he had broken off communication for three days.
A voluminous stench greeted them on entry and directed them to the bedroom where their worst fears were confirmed.
“He had informed me of his marital problems and we were assisting but never thought it could come to this,” said the distraught brother.
In between his service at The Herald, Muzari also had a stint at NewsDay.
