President, war vets indaba, April symbolism Comrades-in-Arms . . . War veterans get accredited in Harare yesterday ahead of their crucial meeting with President Mugabe in the capital today. - (Picture by Justin Mutenda)
Comrades-in-Arms . . . War veterans get accredited in Harare yesterday ahead of their crucial meeting with President Mugabe in the capital today. - (Picture by Justin Mutenda)

Comrades-in-Arms . . . War veterans get accredited in Harare yesterday ahead of their crucial meeting with President Mugabe in the capital today. – (Picture by Justin Mutenda)

Hildegarde The Arena

With reference to today’s meeting, this writer and many like-minded people are calling for the voices of reason to prevail, for the sake of Zimbabwe. We are also saying that the letter and spirit of coming together to settle matters must be upheld. If there is a time for everything, today is a time to look back, reflect on the present and the future for the sake of future generations.

President Mugabe’s meeting with the war veterans today is more than the crunch meeting wordsmiths have been writing about in the past few weeks.

Its significance cannot be underestimated since it takes place 11 days before the nations celebrates its 36th Independence anniversary. It is also ironic that it takes place 50 years after the real start of the Second Chimurenga.

Thus today’s indaba is a historical event that has made observers realise that the month of April is that significant, since it is woven with Zimbabwe’s historical symbols and metaphors.

Not only is the month of April very symbolic to the nation, but to President Mugabe in his personal and leadership capacities. Thus it has also been aptly defined as “a month that traces a century of resistance, from Nehanda to Mugabe”.

We hope that the deliberations are anchored on the spirit of unity, forgiveness and love, which are the founding principles of Africa’s liberation movements, not just Zanla and Zipra.

The Word of God also talks about the importance and benefits of unity in Psalms 133: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head . . . For there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forevermore.”

Coming back to the month of April, for some years now, calls have been made that it be declared Zimbabwe’s history month just like February is Black History Month for African-Americans. April is pregnant with meaning.

Earlier this week, volunteer social worker Cde Raymond Mazorodze, who works closely with Zanu-PF in researching and documenting the ruling party’s history, also echoed his sentiments on the importance of the month of April since colonial times, on ZTV’s prime time news bulletin.

On April 4, 2012 Herald Editor Caesar Zvayi wrote an opinion piece headlined: “Declare April Zim history month”.

“I have said it before and I will say it again. If ever there is a month that deserves to be called Zimbabwe history month, it is April, a month littered with numerous milestones stretching from the First, Second to the Third Chimurenga wars,” wrote Zvayi.

He added: “One hundred and fourteen years ago, on April 27 1898, the architects of the First Chimurenga War, Mbuya Charwe, the medium of the Nehanda spirit, and Sekuru Gumboreshumba, the medium of the Kaguvi spirit also known as Murenga, were hanged by the settler regime for daring to challenge colonial dispossession. It is from the Kaguvi spirit that was alternatively known as Murenga, meaning ‘war spirit’, that the name Chimurenga was derived.”

It was before her execution that Mbuya Nehanda made this prophetic declaration: “Mapfupa angu achamuka.“ (My bones shall rise again)

“Sixty-eight years later, Mbuya Nehanda’s prophecy came true when seven of her bones rose up in style on April 28, 1966 to fire the first shots of the Second Chimurenga war.

“Seven Zanla cadres who included Simon Chingosha Nyandoro, Godwin Manyerenyere, Christopher Chatambudza, Arthur Maramba, Chubby Savanhu, Godfrey Dube and David Guzuzu – entered Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) coming from Zambia and struck near Manyame River in Sinoia (now Chinhoyi), in what is now known as the Chinhoyi Battle.”

There is a strong link between President Mugabe and the Battle of Chinhoyi.

His late sister, Cde Bridget Mugabe who passed on in January 2014, was arrested by the Rhodesian security forces in April 1966 for the role she played in the execution of the Battle of Chinhoyi.

According to reports, she was one of the few cadres who assisted the seven gallant fighters during their brief stay in Chinhoyi.

Apart from feeding the seven guerillas, Cde Bridget Mugabe was also tasked to distribute leaflets the seven fighters had brought from Zambia, but she eventually could not because police became suspicious, and she burnt the leaflets.

The report further says, she left Chinhoyi on the day of the battle on April 28, 1966 and went to her home village in Kutama where she was arrested together with her late brother, Donato, who was accused of helping another group of guerillas who had shot and killed a white farmer and his wife at Nevada Farm near Hartley (now Chegutu).

Zvayi says another landmark date is April 4, 1975, “when Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe, who had just been released from an 11-year incarceration by the Smith regime, crossed into Mozambique in the company of Cde Edgar Tekere”.

This was after the assassination of Zanu Chairman Cde Herbert Chitepo in Lusaka, Zambia, and Cde Mugabe went on to “gallantly lead the war effort up to the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference of September 10 to December 15, 1979 that paved way for the first democratic elections in March 1980”.

Then, there is April 18, 1980 when “the new Zimbabwe was born”, extricating itself from settler colonialism, and the war veterans gathered today at City Sports Centre with the President were among the combatants that successfully executed that war.

This new birth and renewal also gives another angle on the President.

According to reports, on September 27, 1963 his son Nhamodzenyika Mugabe with the late wife Cde Sally Mugabe was born, but the three-year-old died in 1966 from malaria in Ghana.

President Mugabe, who was in detention then, was denied permission by the Smith regime to attend his son’s funeral in Accra.

But as the writer went through President Mugabe’s life story, there was another striking aspect about him and the month of April. His only daughter, Mrs Bona Mugabe Chikore, was born on April 18, 1990 – 10 years after the birth of Zimbabwe. So, it seems that what he had lost in his son Nhamodzenyika, the Lord restored in Bona, who was also named after her grandmother, Ambuya Bona.

The people that have seen this metaphor in the month of April on Zimbabwe as a nation are not trying to invent symbols, because the month speaks for itself, in time and space; physically and spiritually. The Second Chimurenga was executed not because those who waged the First Chimurenga were advanced in age, but because it was paramount to do so.

But with reference to today’s meeting, this writer and many like-minded people are calling for the voices of reason to prevail, for the sake of Zimbabwe.

We are also saying that the letter and spirit of coming together to settle matters must be upheld.

If there is a time for everything, today is a time to look back, reflect on the present and the future for the sake of future generations.

The writer of Ecclesiastes (3:1-8) says:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

April 7, 2016 must enter the annals of history as that time when those that sacrificed were once again willing to set aside their differences and embrace their long-held vision for Zimbabwe.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey