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When in the 90’s the Government embarked on a land reform programme aimed at satisfying a historical mission which stretches back to the First Chimurenga, a vast spectrum of narratives about the land reform were hatched, yet in many cases the narratives were academic and research-based.

A few years ago a local writer, Memory Chirere, once discussed the reasons for this lack of creative works written by Zimbabwean writers about the programme.

However, he pointed out a few books available on land reform.

The major landmark in the history of the now defunct Budding Writers Association of Zimbabwe was the publication of a journal called “Exploding Myths about Zimbabwe’s Land Issue: The Budding Writers’ Perspectives” (2004) edited by Dudziro Nhengu.

The journal came at a time when, for creative writers, to write about the land issue as it was going on was a huge challenge and others feared that they could be viewed or labelled journalistic.

A glaring paucity of land literature of this period exists in the entire local literary movement. Yet the enthusiastic membership of BWAZ, led by its director and gender activist Dudziro Nhengu, took it upon itself to break the silence and started a journal that would creatively address a balanced diet of views especially from the youths of Zimbabwe through their power of the imagination and written word.

Today, the journal is one of the few creative books produced about the political and socio-cultural aspects of the land reform programme and is most sought after by researchers and academics.

The land issue journal was the first volume to come under the BWAZ Topical Series which unfortunately never got to publish any other journal beyond the land journal. In interesting turns of showcasing their creative imagination, the writers featured in the land journal dig deep into the situation that gripped the country years ago and attracted various kinds of international responses.

In the journal, the land debate is at first presented in epistolary form (that is, written in the form of or carried on by letters or correspondence), a technique which is mainly used by featured writers like Tinashe Muchuri, the late Blessing Chihombori and this writer. The letter-form of narration reveals a character’s ideas, strong principles and no wonder George, the main character, is exposed as “superficial” due to his lack of understanding of why black Zimbabweans were claiming back what belongs to them – the land. The same technique is used by D E Mutasa in his novel on the land reform titled “Sekai Minda Tave Nayo” (2005).

Under the topic “We Will Never Turn Back”, Tinashe Muchuri creates a vivid drama of maturity versus immaturity. George, the immature, is angered by his father’s action to occupy a farm belonging to a white farmer named Ndege; George is also worried he may lose his job in the city because the white employers, who are irked by the ongoing land reform, are the main economic decision-makers. After all, George does not believe his father and folks have the skills and capacity to run the farms. His first letter to his father is short and directive, his father Mr Gororo must vacate the farm they have occupied.

George’s father writes back, chiding his son for being like a “dead leaf that is easily and irresistibly blown away by the wind”.

Normally, his responses are long and one can see how touched he is as a father who is suddenly misunderstood by his own son. He reminds his son that “In Ndyangwe, the land is not fertile. We have to dig anthills, collect manure from mountains but not much is produced from all this because the soil is poor. Your colleagues are on the loam soils and this is why you think they are good farmers.”

But George is a notorious character, he refuses to be stopped. He writes to his uncle, seeking his influence to stop his father from taking Ndege’s farm. His persuasive letter is short as usual but provokes a family elders’ meeting called for by Babamunini (his uncle). The elders’ meeting concludes that George’s reason for worrying is “superficial”. The late Blessing Chihombori’s part follows the same flow of correspondence between father and son over the burning land issue. Chihombori portrays George as a learned character and brings in all historical theories to convince his father that the land belongs to no one!

Somewhere along the line, he (George) writes to his mother and the reader is tempted to expect brilliant ideas from George on how women can benefit from the land reform. However, in his “Letter to Amai” he is lambasting his father continuously and only wants his father to stop!

The creative design or structure of the BWAZ land journal is done in such a way as to involve a variety of literary forms such the letter-form technique, the short story and the novella.

There are three short stories, namely, “The Trek” by Lawrence Hoba, “The Eviction” by Caiphason Jingura and a guest feature of renowned writer Shimmer Chinodya’s very short story called “Settlers”.

The journal must have inspired Hoba to think further and publish his short story together with other nine short stories in a collection titled “The Trek and Other Stories” (2009, Weaver Press). While the BWAZ land journal is hardly available, “The Trek and Other Stories” is one of the few books that make up our ‘land reform’ literature and still available in bookstores. According to the late poet and writer Freedom Nyamubaya, Hoba’s anthology offers a “fresh view of life on Zimbabwe’s farms” during the period of the land reform programme.

Chinodya’s short story, “Settlers”, takes a critical view of new farmers.

The story points out that not all the new farmers had the passion to utilise their newly acquired land and problems of absentee farmers, drought and lack of farming skills, threatened to smudge the land reform programme.

Hoba’s short stories make use of the child observer concept or point of view. The level of innocence and openness with which the narrator unravels the story highlights important issues such as the role of women in land politics.

“Weeping”, a novella which closes the journal, is gripping as it brings back to life the experiences of black farm workers before the land reform programme started.

The vicious farm conditions are revealed in a thriller which is told in captivating words and images. That Denenga died before the journal was published is sad indeed but his words remain with us, speaking through his brilliant novella.

Charles Mungoshi, one of the established writers who mentored the budding writers at the New Book House where BWAZ used to operate from, said about “Weeping”: The moment you read (the few sardonic opening words of Denenga’s novella) you realize that, for a strange reason, you are going to take this story. Is it the tone of the voice – that laughter, derision, pity – held back somewhere there?…Is it the simplicity of the language –a simplicity that can only be achieved by someone who has been to the depths, and now can only say honestly, sincerely, without adornments or fabrication, what he has seen?”