Many high ranking members of ZANU: PF, especially those who are were In ZAPU have from time to time called for the History of Zimbabawe to be re written. Among those who have voiced that concern are the Vice President Cde Joseph Msika, John Landa Nkomo, Dumiso Dabengwa and Enos Nkala. The chorus have grown louder as the years goes by. I agree that history needs to be rewritten and further than that I would have us look closely at the day to day living of all Zimbabweans. ( Especially the minorities tribes .) Since the simplest definition of history is, "the study of the past"
The fact that History of Zimbabwe needs re written is long overdue. If truth be told things went wrong during the time of the popular Unity Accord in 1987. I must be clear that I do not by any means despise the efforts of the Unity Accord and such reconciliation but the failure to live up to the promises thereof. I have great respect for the late great Vice President of Zimbabwe Dr Joshua Nkomo who is credited for his humility to amicable bring the situation to such a point. If I had time would I write a lot of praise for the "Man Father Zimbabwe", as a matter of fact I already did on the 2nd of July. (Check this blog) Having said that I must acknowledge that Dr Joshua Nkomo overlooked some important factors here in pursuit of peace and the much needed Unity. The Unity accord was one sided hence the name. It was only good for the top brass, because they got positions and drove executive cars living luxuries in Harare.
Most of us will remember that most people in Matabeleland disowned the man Nkomo for allegedly selling out, some to this day. The illustrious leader and revered father and Cde seems to have lost touch with the people who had chosen him. No doubt the he was a national figure but in Matabeleland he let down a lot of people. This is not to suggest he represented one region. I was young by then but I still remember the voices of the neighbors and relatives. Why were the people not happy with Mdala's decession? Its because at that very crucial moment the people lost voice. I am not the right person to answer the question, Would we not rather had peace? Perhaps that was the only way for peace to come about who knows, but for Unity I am sorry to say that dream never came to reality.
It is the Ndebele who paid dearly and heavily for the much needed peace. We paid with our future and the future of our children. Anybody who come from Zimbabwe knows about the unfair opportunities that exist. Today Cde Dumiso Dabengwa a former ZIPRA commander is said to have echoed sang the history song. This is the same man who used to stop people from talking about the imbalances in Zimbabwe when he was in the cabinet. The likes of him John Nkomo and the rest of the top brass ZANU PF Matabeleland leadership missed a lot of chance to represent the dying region they came from. Even the real ZANU PF old guard needed to honor the Unity accord for the sake of the nation wellbeing.
Its no secret that one time the people of Harare used to say "The only thing good about Bulawayo is the Harare , Bulawayo road". It sad to see that not only Ndebele people and Matabeland Midlands regions sidelined but also that some influential Ndebele people were used. Point here is if we slept while other people were caving animals we should not cry foul, especially now that we do have positions. The same guy misled the people when he became a patron of Matabeleland Zambezi Water project. This was the only hope of bringing survival to Bulawayo and the whole region. To this day this project is still a pipe dream. The ZANU pf won a lot of votes in Mat because of the water slogan. Changing of the history of the struggle alone will not help anybody. Let no one be mistaken I want Zipra history as much as everyone does because its our heritage, but we should not stop there, we must go to the real issue behind. Honoring the fallen ZIPRA Cdes is to further their wishes and sacrifices of freedom, equality and prosperity to all deserving sons of the soil.
As I speak right now millions of people in Bulawayo do not have water. They are using the bush to relieve themselves. I wonder if peace and tranquility that we are said to be enjoying is worth living for. I have said this and I will say it again that people of Mat must wake up and take leadership once and for all because waiting for the deadwood of Zanu pf has not helped anybody. Many people think this is tribalism and for me I wonder If developing one area and sidelining another is not tribalism. Our own beloved Mdala when he died, there was still no tarred road to his grave yard in Matopo. Its a shame that science schools are still a handful in Matabeleland, yet in Mashonaland even in rural areas they have science High schools. I can not talk about scholarships, jobs and so on. In 1996 the then first Vice President of Zimbabwe brought 8 buses full to United College of Education, this he did at the expense of the locals. This is just one of the few examples.
Ndebele people do not have a voice, not even in ZBC. The Shona people must understand that it is they who messed up the country by themselves . We are now all suffering yet in good days they ate all the cake and still do. This is not personal, I have Shona friends and relatives but let the truth be told. If Zimbabwe is going to fixed, tribalism must need be zero tolerated. In the 80s and 90s we saw a lot of companies relocate from Bulawayo to Harare. This meant the lack of jobs for the locals and to make matters worse the few that were left were employing people from Mashonaland to work in our own backyard. This was a timed systematic occustrated plan. We had teachers coming all the way from Buhera to teach at primary school who could not speak a word of Ndebele. We saw the young people form Matabeleland leaving the country for neighboring states to look for jobs. This is why some people do not even consider themselves Zimbabwean in the littlest sense of the word. In some places jobs interviews would be done in Shona, and then tell me if that is Unity.
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