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country, and flocked across the borders to join the fight for our liberation.
As Alexander Kanengoni, one of the finest writers of our time, will always put it, thousands of these gallant fighters didn’t make it to see Rhodesia disappear from geography and be consigned, forever, into history.
Today their remains lie in mass graves, and many unmarked graves, scattered across the country and also outside our borders, the final resting places of a people who stood up to be counted and put the cause of their motherland above everything else.
“The survivors’ torn clothes, their lacerated bodies, the terror in their eyes and the ghosts that their faces had become told the grim story,” Kanengoni wrote in his powerful account of the Nyadzonia massacre.
“We abandoned the vehicles and searched for a place to cross the angry and roaring river. It took us over an hour to cross and unfortunately during the arduous process, Nyika was swept away down the leaping treacherous river.
“We watched helplessly as his desperate and muted cry finally drowned and suffocated in the cascading fury. No one among us knew his home name or the part of the country where he came from.
“He could be anyone’s son or brother.
“And then, at last, we were confronted with an endless sea of dead bodies stretching in all directions and I shook my head in disbelief.
“There were corpses here, corpses there, and corpses everywhere. There were corpses of babies strapped on their mothers’ backs, there were corpses of small boys and girls.
“There were corpses of young men and women, there were corpses of old men and women.
“And the corpses had all sorts of mutilations; decapitated heads, shattered jaws, crushed or missing limbs, disemboweled entrails, scattered brains, gouged eyes, everything.”
Now, if that doesn’t define the heights of sacrifice, when service for one’s country overrules anything else, then nothing ever will.
And, in those corpses of old men and women, corpses with all sorts of mutilations, decapitated heads and shattered jaws, our definition of heroism was written.
Our nation is everything — it’s our exclusive identity, what makes us different from others in the world.
We are all born to serve our nation, in one way or the other, and Samuel Parirenyatwa chose medicine, and the liberation struggle, while Moses Chunga chose football, both as a genius on the pitch and a decent coach on the bench, as service to their motherland.
Marcus Garvey blazed the trail for Jamaicans, in the struggle for the black people of that country to earn their respect and right place in society, and he is a hero for the islanders the same way Bob Marley, with his music, and Usain Bolt, with his sprinting, are also heroes.
In their different ways, they all did something special for Jamaica.
In the heat of World War II, British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, made a landmark speech in the House of Commons on June 18, 1940, rallying his people by telling them that Hitler knew he would have to break their island or lose the war.
“If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands,” charged Churchill.
“But, if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted silence.
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour!’”
About 60 million people perished in that war, the deadliest military conflict in human history, wiping out 2,5 percent of the world’s population then.
Different countries find their finest hour in different ways.
We got ours on April 18, 1980, and Marley was there to toast the occasion with us.
Zambia found a way to bury the ghost of the airplane disaster, which wiped out a generation of its finest football sons, by winning the Nations Cup in the same Gabonese city, Libreville, where their ill-fated military plane took off, for the last time, before exploding, moments later, and plunging into the Atlantic.
In both cases, in Zimbabwe and in Zambia, it needed the heroic contribution of gallant men and women to make that possible, for the finest hour to come true, and noone will ever forget the delirium that followed.
These are people who heard that call, to serve their country and realised that it was something that overrode everything else, including making the ultimate sacrifice and losing one’s life for such a cause, and answered it.

Musona, Warriors and National Cause
Knowledge Musona has the potential to be the best football player this country has produced since a genius called Peter Ndlovu emerged on the scene, as a mere 17-year-old schoolboy, and was crowned Soccer Star of the Year in 1990.
Since making his debut for the Warriors, in an international friendly against South Africa, Musona has consistently shone in the colours of his country and brilliantly led the line with a goal return unmatched since Agent Sawu spearheaded the Dream Team attack.
Six goals in seven competitive matches for the Warriors is the stuff that makes legends and, for good measure, this boy just turned 22 two months ago, which, in all fairness, means he is still yet to reach his peak.
Nine goals in 10 matches, if you include the international friendlies, then that is as good a goal-return as any in world football and, if we look closely in the Guinness Book of Records, we will probably see that his feat deserves a place there because, at this level of the game, I doubt if anyone else has done that before.
Knowledge is very popular with the fans because he delivers for the national team, especially in the big games, and doesn’t shy away from responsibility he even had the heart to take a last-gasp penalty twice, having missed on the first attempt, with the emotions of 14 million Zimbabweans, and an entire Nations Cup campaign, hanging on his kick.
As expected, he converted.
I like Knowledge because he represents both the present, and crucially the future, of our football and I have always generated a lot of pride that this boy was born on this side of the Zambezi and Limpopo.
Two months have passed since Knowledge announced that he was taking a sabbatical from international football after his relationship with Zifa was strained by Jonathan Mashingaidze’s announcement, to the nation and to Fifa, that the Smiling Assassin was part of an obscure match-fixing web.
In those two months Knowledge hasn’t been brought before a hearing, neither has he been charged, and Benedict Moyo revealed in the newspapers yesterday that the Zifa board endorsed a decision that he should be considered for national duty again at their meeting on August 4.
Rahman Gumbo, who has always maintained that his team is significantly weaker, to the extent of being crippled, without Knowledge in the line-up, wants his main striker in the team ahead of the Nations Cup qualifier against Angola.
On Wednesday, Rahman named Knowledge in his squad for the Angola tie, even though the striker’s availability remains questionable, with Zifa yet to offer the public apology that he and his legal advisors demanded.
I believe the time has now come for Knowledge to hear that special call, to serve his country, and realise that it’s something that overrides everything else.
That Knowledge was severely wounded by Mashingaidze’s reckless pronunciation, and to a large extent Zifa’s amateurish handling of a sensitive issue that involved their best player, is beyond question.
That he has a right to cry out for an apology and for Zifa to clear his name, especially in the Fifa corridors where they stained it with their recklessness, is not even questionable.
But the time has now come for Knowledge to see the bigger picture, to see the domestic football world beyond the spin-doctoring wizardry of Mashingaidze, to see the national interests, which are bigger than Zifa’s myopic world, to see that beyond the people at                   53 Livingstone Avenue, there is a huge Zimbabwean constituency that needs to be served.
When Knowledge stood in that penalty area at Rufaro in June last year, preparing to take that last-minute penalty against Mali to win the game, he wasn’t representing the men and women at Zifa House.
He was representing his country and every step he took, on his way to take that decisive spot-kick, he knew he wasn’t walking alone but we were all walking with him, praying for him, hoping that he would find the strength needed to score and we all exploded when he converted.
He was representing that young boy, who was a ball boy on the day, who jumped into his arms, in that moment of triumph, and millions of other similar boys scattered across the country who didn’t have the privilege to be in that stadium that day.
He was representing all the sick Zimbabweans in hospital that day, some of whom felt so much better, after seeing that penalty being converted on television, as they found something to cheer their spirits.
Knowledge has a responsibility to play for the fans, who are innocent victims in this boardroom battle for ego, who have supported him from day one and have taken him as their idol.
The majority of those fans, who pay their hard-earned cash to support the Warriors, probably don’t care a damn about this Zifa board and, if you ask them, they will tell you they have never seen anything as bad as this, but, crucially, that hasn’t forced them to abandon their Warriors.
Such people deserve respect and the time has come for Knowledge to show them the respect they deserve by looking far beyond the Mickey Mouse world of those we have entrusted to lead our national game, some of whom were trying to push him away.
Peter Ndlovu used to land at Harare International Airport at 1pm on a Sunday and, two hours later, he was leading the Warriors at the National Sports Stadium — that’s dedication and service to one’s country that should always be used as an example.
Benjani Mwaruwari footed part of the bill for the Warriors during their training camp in France ahead of their participation at the 2006 Nations Cup — that’s dedication and service to one’s nation that should always be an example.
Bruce Grobbelaar flew home, at the height of his match-fixing circus in England, followed by an army of British journalists, to play for his country and did a good job of it — that’s dedication and service to one’s nation that should always be used as an example.
King Peter had serious problems with successive Zifa leaders but he played for his country because he knew the nation was bigger than Trevor Carelse-Juul and his useless crew at 53 Livingstone Avenue.
The time has come for Knowledge to do that too, to look beyond those guys, and come back to play for his country, help us clear this Angola hurdle because he is the best that we have when it comes to scoring and, if you doubt that, check who has scored all our last three goals away from home.
Of course, Knowledge Musona!

Rahman Gumbo and His Warriors
Rahman deserves to be supported for refusing to be swallowed by those people, among the guys who employ him at 53 Livingstone Avenue, who want to keep Knowledge out of the team.
Rush has his weaknesses and his decision to dump Ovidy Karuru out of a team that is terribly short on creative players in the middle is as reckless, if not foolish, as his decision to keep ignoring Bradley Pritchard from the team despite his starring role at Charlton Athletic.
Last weekend, Bradley was inspirational in that midfield and powered Charlton into third place, which is like 23rd best place in the English football league, and, with all due respect, you can’t simply continue ignoring such talent.
For a player to play consistently, for a team that is doing as well as Charlton, you can only be good and, in my little book, far, far better than those old warhorses that Rahman is still relying on from Super Diski.
But, for all his weaknesses, Rahman also has his strengths and his wisdom, to keep knocking on Knowledge’s door, is something that needs everyone’s support because the coach is having the courage to look beyond the petty boardroom politics.
As a professional coach he knows he will be judged by results and that is why he wants his best man for the biggest job of his challenge, in his current tenure as Warriors’ gaffer, and we need to give him all the support.
Knowledge, too, has to consider Rahman, for standing by him, and deciding to play him in that match against Burundi, when just about everyone at 53 Livingstone Avenue didn’t want him to do so.
While Rahman is making a lot of sense, when it comes to Knowledge, Benedict was again misfiring saying that, as Zifa, they won’t respond to what Knowledge’s lawyer, Misheck Hogwe, is saying because he is a person outside the football structures.
Akomana!
This, coming from a member of the same board that has passed the match-fixing cases to a plethora of lawyers, to find a resolution, doesn’t in any way make sense.
So, in his ideal world, Zifa only deals with “anyone outside football structures” when it suits their interests and closes the door from such people, including Hogwe, when it doesn’t suit their interests.
And, this is the same Zifa whose lawyer, Ralph Maganga, wrote to Hogwe, acknowledging receipt of the letter he wrote on Musona’s behalf and advised him that the player’s case would be tabled at the board meeting on August 4.
If Hogwe was someone “outside football structures”, as Benedict claims, why then was their lawyer corresponding with him?
It’s such little senselessness that destroys all the good work that Rahman is trying to do, in his efforts to assemble a very strong and competitive team, for the tie against Angola.

Oh Boy, the Derby Is Here Again
When Sir Alex Ferguson was asked if he now considered Manchester City, who had spent £120 million on new players, snatched away Carlos Tevez and run that irritating poster of “Welcome to Manchester”, was now United’s main rivals with the derby now the biggest match, his answer was interesting:
“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” said Ferguson. “To me Liverpool will always be the derby game.
“It is just because of the history. When I came down here they were the king-pins of England. They had won four European Cups and quite a few league titles.
“My aim was to do well against them and to try and turn that round. It is hard for me to go against that history.”
CAPS United haven’t won in eight league games, have lost six on the trot for the first time in the era of the modern Premiership, and haven’t beaten Dynamos in a league match in three years.
While Liverpool haven’t won the league title in 22 years, CAPS United haven’t won in seven years and won’t certainly win it again this year.
But the Green Machine, even in a year where it’s misfiring, remains the biggest rival of the Glamour Boys and their showdown still evokes emotions and attracts a big crowd to the ground.
Tomorrow the two sides clash again and everything points to a Dynamos victory but only a fool will stake his house for that result because, as is always the case in derby matches, anything can happen.
DeMbare probably know that if they can win this one, the path should clear for a successful defence of their Premiership crown and the good thing is that they will have the advantage of knowing how Highlanders would have played against Harare City today.
CAPS United have their issues to sort out, and moving clear of the relegation zone is the main one, and if they can arrest their slide by beating Dynamos and, at the end of the season know they played a huge part in foiling the Glamour Boys’ championship bid, it will bring their fans a lot of satisfaction.
Someone told me that whenever Shakespeare Chinogwenya, a guy who has been in and out of the CAPS United backroom crew, is part of the team, good times roll and he was in the trenches when they won the back-to-back league titles.
I don’t know what Chinogwenya does, his official role is player welfare manager, but those who know him, say he makes things tick at CAPS United.
He hasn’t been part of the team for sometime, for one reason or another, but this week they brought him back and he was part of the CAPS United delegation that had a luncheon at Meikles Hotel on Thursday.
Maybe, just maybe!

Complaint of the Week
When we wrote a story about the confusion surrounding Nyasha Mushekwi’s proposed move to Germany, as reported by Kick-Off and Laduma, this week, a reader of this newspaper, Brighton Chiwola, rightly was offended.
“I personally think it is embarrassing for The Herald to be ‘confused’ here,” he posted on his Facebook wall.
“They are the main daily in Zimbabwe and here is an issue concerning a Zimbabwean footballer. Instead, The Herald should lead in averting the confusion created by two SA media websites instead of peeping over those websites in search of news just like the rest of us.”
Well, said Brighton, we have to show leadership, in cases involving Zimbabwean sportspersons, rather than rely on copy and pasting material from these websites.
Well, to clear the air Brighton, Kick-Off got it wrong badly because Mushekwi was never at Nuremburg and we shouldn’t have swallowed their story, the same way we resisted when they said Zvenyika Makonese had died.
Point taken, we will try to do better!
To God Be The Glory!

Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

The only people mad at you for saying the truth are those living a lie. Keep saying it!

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