The Day I Saw A Gukurahundi Cry..

 By Dzikamani Taiwana Hou

It was around March-April in 1984 in Bulilimamangwe when I saw a Gukurahundi cry..

During this time we had all gotten addicted to the sound of Russian and Chinese AK47s.. At a tender age of 12, I was so addicted that I struggled to fall asleep before hearing some gun sound.. The sound of an AK47 can be entertaining sometimes, especially immediately after the rain at night.....from a distance of course... Also the sound from early morning encounters is lovely to listen to.

It was during this time that the government of Ruzhinji had closed down all food stores and declared a 6 to 6 time limit..curfew in Rural Matebeleland.. We were accused of feeding the dissidents.. And so to starve the dissidents to death, all the people in rural Matebeleland had to be starved 'to death.' except for the White Farmers who were allowed access to food... I know of some of them 'White Farmers' who secretly gave food to the starving people of Matebeleland at the time.... That is why today I have so much respect for Matebeleland Rhodesians.. They risked their lives and genuinely gave us a helping hand when our own Black brother was starving us and killing us.. A friend in need is a friend indeed so the saying goes.. Most Africans in Africa know nothing about race, they only remember race the time they are gossiping about White people ....theirs is tribal action against each other...

Sometimes it would be so difficult to get food from the white farmers, especially when there was a 'heavy' presence of red'barets' in the North and we would head for Botswana..in the night , through the curfew.. Sibindi uyabulala, sibindi uyaphilisa.. On the other side in Botswana, the Bakalanga showed symphathy and we shall forever be grateful for that.. It was mostly us children who went to buy mealie meal in Botswana on foot.. All forms of transport were banned.... A man on a scotch cart was shot and killed in the neighbourhood.. The only transport allowed at the time was one's own feet..

The number of red'barets' increased with the difficulty of crossing into Botswana.. Mellie meal containers went 'dry' and we starved.. We starved.. And then turned to chickens, killing three at a time for a single meal (main) that came once a day in the evening..
Eventually the number of our household chickens came close to extinction..then we turned to goats. We started with their 'kids' '-young one of a goat.'

One evening, we were sited in our 'round' kitchen and having our main meal for the day. It is recomended that people eat more in the morning, but we went the opposite.. Matebeleland had gone upside down.... Trouble usually happened at night..so it would find us with energy at least.. Besides, something unusual happened.. "Wild fruits suddenly flourished". During the day we would eat wild fruits that we also took home to supplement the now usual carnivorous diet of the night.. While we were sited and eating.... 'just meat'...we heard Thanda "my dog" bucking. Thanda's bucking intensified with a combination of approaching footsteps, and suddenly a gukurahundi entered the kitchen. He had come from a close by mountain where they had been camped for a couple of days. He greeted us in Shona with his hands held together and his Chinese AK47 at the back.. We offered him a seat and then a piece of meat.. He asked in Shona whether that was all we were eating.. We heard most of what he was saying since Shona is somehow not very far from Kalanga. The person who got lost completely was my mother who even struggled to cope with the friendly Kalanga, still speaking Xhosa like she was in the Transkei..

We answered the gukurahundi in 'Ndebele' and told him that "that's all we were having...life was hard for us..."

And then we started crying...... And he looked down and started crying too..

Then he stood up and remained standing for a while, looking at us with tears running down his chicks and then shook his head and walked away..

Wherever u are good soldier if u r still alive and if u can still remember the day.. I want to thank u for being a good soldier that day.. I hope u remained the same throughout the operation...

I am out...