Cont Mhlanga: Putting Zimbabwe First
Commenting on the importance of the youth of China at the time of his rule, Mao once declared, “The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you. The world belongs to you. China's future belongs to you.”
The same challenge that Mao put to the youths of China is being placed on the new generation of Matebeleland due to its top notch relevancy to our situation today. Matebeleland’s future belongs to the new generation of Matebeleland. Matebeleland as a territory is for all the generations existing in it today as well as its future generations. The new generation of Matebeleland has a huge challenge placed on its shoulders to ensure that Matebeleland belongs to its people. The challenge is none other than putting Matebeleland first in everything the new generation does.
It is without doubt that the new generation of Matebeleland has an uphill task to challenge the middle-aged and old generations of Matebeleland not to completely give up on Matebeleland. Thirdly, the new generation of Matebeleland has a holy challenge and holy duty to reclaim and defend Matebeleland from its black imperialists and occupiers. That hope is indeed “placed” on the new generation of Matebeleland to push back the frontiers of black imperialism in Matebeleland. It is not by any means a simple task. It will not be, by any stretch of reasoning, a walk in the park to reclaim Matebeleland. Currently Matebeleland is a lost territory that needs to be recovered and restored.
The 1893 Imbizo generation of Gadade and Tshangani wars had a generation challenge to defend Matebeleland from white settlers and colonialists. This generation of amabutho had to put Matebeleland first in whatever they did. The history narrative of Africa can not be told without mentioning the great heroic deeds of amabutho generation of Matebeleland. This is an indisputable historical fact that is even appreciated and recognized by Matebeleland’s enemies, although some grudgingly.
We know for sure that the amabutho heroes of Matebeleland under the command of his Majesty King Lobengula waved their spears in the air and chanted the battle war cry “Bayethe! Bulala abathakathi!” to commit their lives to their generational challenge of defending Matebeleland from white settlers in order for Matebeleland to be theirs and ours. Matebeleland came first in their brave and heroic battles against colonialists.
We know for a fact that amabutho under the command of his Majesty King Lobengula fought pitched battles with the invaders who were carrying weapons of mass destruction at the time in defense of Matebeleland because amabutho put Matebeleland first in whatever they did.
We know for a fact that amabutho under the command of his Majesty King Lobengula shed blood and lost lives in defense of Matebeleland because they put Matebeleland first for themselves and their future generations. They put a very spirited fight and today, because of them we proudly declare ourselves the Matebele.
One would not be fooled to think that King Lobengula and his indunas did not challenge the amabutho generation at the time to put Matebeleland first and to defend Matebeleland with their warrior might for it was the right thing to do. The nation of Matebeleland under the command and visionary leadership of his Majesty King Lobengula placed its “hopes” on amabutho to safeguard Matebeleland for its future generations. It must be acknowledged that amabutho executed their challenge and defended the Matebele nation with their sweat and blood. Gadade and Tshangani became the rivers of blood in Matebeleland.
In every battle war cry the amabutho generation bellowed in the battle field with their usual war chant, “Bulala abathakathi”, Matebeleland came first. These heroes and heroines of that yesteryear generation are truly etched in the history narrative of our African lives. They must be honored by all of us and may we continue to honor them and their heroic deeds.
And then we have the middle-aged and old generation that is still with us today, who picked up the revolutionary button from the 1893 amabutho generation only to drop the button about putting Matebeleland first at Lancaster House decolonization talks. These two generations are our lost generations for they failed to put Matebeleland first during the liberation war and the decolonization phase. This is a generation that fought hard for the decolonization of Matebeleland from the clashes of colonial and settler rule only to give Matebeleland away on a silver plate to colonial Zimbabwe at the Lancaster House talks. This is a lost generation that put Matebeleland second and Zimbabwe first in every war they prosecuted and every life or comrade they lost and in every negotiation they made with the enemy.
This lost generation, of Joshua Nkomo type put Matebeleland second for every inch of Matebeleland territory they claimed from the settlers during the liberation war and for every bullet they fired at the enemy. Their cause was never about Matebeleland first but it was about Zimbabwe first. One might be tempted to say that this generation is not only the lost generation of Matebeleland but a cursed one too.
It is therefore clear to all and sundry that the new generation from Matebeleland has a challenge to correct the mistakes of our middle-aged and old generations that are still living with us today. It is unfortunate that the middle-aged and old generation of Joshua Nkomo type failed to take over the button of putting Matebeleland first from the 1893 amabutho generation. The relay button was dropped down by this lost generation of Joshua Nkomo type in pursuit of a Zimbabwean cause. Zimbabwe came first to them and that set us back in many ways and many years.
The challenge therefore for the new generation of Matabeleland is to pick up the 1893 button that was dropped by the middle-aged and old generation of today, a button that was all about putting Matebeleland first. The new Matebeleland generation should feel honored to pick up the button from the amabutho of 1893 generation and put Matebeleland first. It is a new generational challenge that must and should be embraced by the young generation from Matebeleland. It is a blessed and holy challenge that our generation must embrace. We can not afford to be another lost or cursed generation.
It must be noted that the middle-aged and old generations in Matebeleland are either folding arms as Matebeleland burns today or they are participating in the complete annihilation of Matebeleland by external forces.
Some of the middle-aged generations, who ideally must know better by now, are urging the new generation to join forces with imperialist Zimbabwe. And some are urging those who are opposing the imperialist Zimbabwe to drop the button and join the system and let Matebeleland burn. One such character is Cont Mhlanga, the middle-aged one, who is singing lyrical and urging Dumiso Dabengwa to join the imperialist camp of Zimbabwe that treats Matebeleland citizens as its second class citizens. Cont Mhlanga must be told that he is wrong, wrong and wrong!
The new generation must begin to seriously disabuse itself of the Cont Mhlanga mantra that Zimbabwe must come first than Matebeleland. But not only has the new generation got a task of disabusing themselves about putting Zimbabwe first but they have a huge responsibility in engaging our middle aged of the Cont Mhlanga type and old generations of the Joshua Nkomo era in a combat psychological battle to disabuse them with their illusionary idea that they belong to a Zimbabwean state.
The fact of the matter is that Matebeleland does not belong to Zimbabwe in any shape or form. Existing within the boundaries of a colonially crafted Zimbabwe does not by any stretch of imagination mean that the new, middle-aged and old generations of Matebeleland belong to Zimbabwe. They clearly do not and they are not about to belong to Zimbabwe. Cont Mhlanga and his diamond seeking lot must come to the realization of this stubborn fact facing all of us today.
The new generation of Matebeleland therefore has a huge challenge to reclaim Matebeleland from its current occupiers. It has a challenge to activate legal international means to get Matebeleland restored as a Kingdom that it once was before colonization. In this respect this new generation, like amabutho generation of King Lobengula era, must commit themselves to the restoration agenda of Matebeleland as a Kingdom. They must, like amabutho, begin to put Matebeleland first and forget about Zimbabwe.
The Restorationist Movement must be strengthened by the new generation for Matebeleland to be free! Matebeleland and its people have to overcome long term!
From The Real Restorationist Revolutionary! Bayethe.
Written by Khumbulani Moyo, umthwakazireview.com
Written by Khumbulani Moyo, umthwakazireview.com
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