RENOWNED research scientist and mathematician Gibson Mandishona has died.
He was 80.
Born on February 2 in 1943, Mandishona was also an accomplished musician and arts manager.
He is famed for co-writing the song Zimbabwe with Bob Marley while he was still in Ethiopia working as a consultant for the United Nations (UN).
Mandishona who grew up in Mbare played his part in development of jazz in the country, having been a patron of the Zimbabwe National Jazz Festival.
At an early age, Mandishona played the guitar with Andrew Chakanyuka for Bill Saidi’s group, The Star Gazers, in Mbare.
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He also played for the Gay Gaeties, a group which his sister, Grace was part of. The group was made up of nurses from Harare Central Hospital (now Sally Mugabe Hospital) who got together to challenge male domination of the music industry at the time.
In the 1970s, Mandishona worked for the UN as a statistics and demography consultant. Besides being the chair of Harare Institute of Technology, he was also at the helm of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Environmental Technology, which is involved in advancing green energy.
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