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Obi Egbuna Jnr Simunye
Because Mother Africa and her scattered yet ever so resilient children are only a few days celebrating Mozambique’s independence, our experiences as a people along with our historical reality forces us to make a clear distinction between precise scientific reflection and bogus revisionism that does nothing to strengthen and preserve the African personality.

The great pan-Africanist revolutionary, Kwame Ture, would always remind our former colonial and slavemasters that African people are not racist simply because we do not possess the power to be racist. Following that same logic we can make a rock solid argument that we cannot be revisionist especially since reclaiming our lost history and culture is an obligation we do not have the luxury of ignoring.

Since the millennium our sisters and brothers in the southern region of Africa have been subjected to an unrelenting barrage of propaganda, encouraging at both the governmental and people-to-people levels, an all- out isolation of Zimbabwe that would make them ever so vulnerable to the illegal and immoral regime change agenda being spearheaded by US-EU imperialism.

On the one hand, due to the fact that when it comes to political developments in Mother Africa, US-EU imperialism has always benefited from divide and conquer tactics, it comes as no surprise that regardless of their obvious failures to turn the SADC region against President Mugabe and zanu-pf they remain committed to the long-term goal which is regime change at all costs.

The imperialists pay close attention to zanu-pf, Frelimo, Swapo and the MPLA hoping to find a neo-colonialist reactionary the likes of Hourari Boumdeine in Algeria, Blaise Compaore in Burkina Faso, Lasana Conte in Guinee and Mobutu Sese Seko in the Congo, who earned the trust of the revolutionary icons they helped our enemies oust from power.

When we think of the two revolutionary giants that the Mozambican revolution produced Comrades Eduardo Mondlane, the founding president of Frelimo; and Samora Machel, Mozambique’s first president; it is without question that their revolutionary fervour jumps off the pages written about them. However, the manner both of these warriors approached solidarity validates the pan-African sentiment that in the final analysis we are truly one people with one history and purpose.

Whether we focus on the decision that Frelimo made to provide ZANU a guerilla station at the height of their protracted armed struggle against the Portuguese, speaks volumes about the fire that burned in the belly of not only Frelimo’s revolutionary leadership but the everyday Mozambican people as well.

Africans at home and abroad must pay close attention to the propaganda slant of both the Bush and Obama administrations, who both stated publically that while Zimbabwe was a small nation it provided a rather unique problem pertaining to US interests in the region.

What this dynamic created by circumstance was desperation on the part of US-EU imperialism to magnify any language by SADC leaders or visible figures, that suggested it was time for President Mugabe and zanu-pf to step aside and let MDC assume the mantle of power.

We remember former Mozambican president Comrade Joaquim Chissano stated he would not seek a third term and voiced his concerns about SADC leaders who had stayed on longer than he had,which ironically was the same year that US-EU imperialism imposed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) of 2001.

This feeble attempt to paint a picture that Frelimo was ready to embrace the US-EU regime agenda as it pertained to Zimbabwe was not only laughable, but a rather presumptious disposition that illustrated that they thought the youth of Mozambique had not been taught that after Zimbabwe’s independence, President Mugabe and zanu-pf deployed 50 000 guerrilla fighters to help Frelimo defeat the CIA- supported Renamo on the battlefield. What President Mugabe and zanu-pf showed the African world was not only how true revolutionaries show gratitude not only in word but by deed.

The people of Mozambique are grateful that President Mugabe and zanu-pf were extremely vocal concerning the reopening of the investigation concerning the mysterious death of Comrade Samora Machel, whose plane crashed between Mozambique and South Africa on October 19 1986.

While Zimbabweans were deeply hurt when Botswana’s Ian Khama stated that if US-EU imperialism considered a military invasion of Zimbabwe, he would make Botswana’s territory available for our sworn enemies to carry out this cowardly and terrorist act.

Whatever frame of mind President Khama was in when he entertained assisting Mother Africa’s former colonisers and enslavers, we are sure someone reminded him about the meaning of his father’s first name, Seretse, that means the clay that binds us together. It is disappointing that President Khama appears to have forgotten that the former Zimbabwean ambassador to the US, Dr Simbi Mubako, helped Botswana draft its constitution.

This ungrateful posture exhibited by President Khama was matched by the former First Lady of Mozambique and South Africa, Graca Machel Mandela, who decided to be part of the Elders Group financed by the founder and CEO of Virgin Airlines, Sir Richard Branson, when they attempted to force their way into Zimbabwe under the guise of a fact-finding mission.

We wonder if Sister Machel-Mandela ever told this high-profile delegation consisting of Madiba Nelson Mandela, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former US president Jimmy Carter, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that President Mugabe and zanu-pf saved her life when the Portugese and Renamo had plans to place her six feet under next to her late husband.

During the GPA/inclusive Government the people of Zimbabwe will never forget how the government of Namibia took it upon itself, to travel to Washington and walk the halls of the US Senate and Congress, demanding that US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe be lifted once and for all.

This showed that our comrades in Namibia have never forgotten that during the final phase of their Independence struggle, Zimbabwe was the Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement and played a crucial role in ensuring on the diplomatic front nothing would stand in the way of the Namibian people gaining their well-deserved sovereignty.

A valuable resource for the youth of Zimbabwe and Namibia in particular and Africans in general is Namibia’s independence struggle written by the Zimbabwean diplomat, Cleophas Johannes Tsokodayi, who was Deputy Head of Mission at Zimbabwe’s UN Mission during this period.

The people of Zimbabwe were pleased to see former Namibia president Comrade Sam Nujoma for standing shoulder to shoulder with President Mugabe when the epic Third Chimurenga was initially launched.

What Africans must recognise was Operation Sovereign Legitimacy spearheaded by the militaries of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia that derailed the plans of former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright and former US Assistant Secretary of State Ambassador Susan Rice to re-invade the Congo.

The manner former South African president Thabo Mbeki stood by Zimbabwe during the GPA/inclusive Government negotiations, overshadowed the reckless comments by former South African president Madiba Nelson Mandela when he stated that there was a tragic lack of leadership in Zimbabwe, or when Archbishop Tutu, who echoed President Khama’s view that he welcomed an invasion of Zimbabwe.

We salute President Mugabe and ZANU-PF for their contributions towards ensuring that SADC remains Africa’s most stable region, many years have come and gone since Ahmed Seku Ture stated imperialism will find its grave in Africa. With own own eyes we can see who is getting ready for the burial ceremony.

 Obi Egbuna Jnr is the US correspondent to The Herald and the Extrenal Relations of the Zimbabwe Cuba Friendship Association (ZICUFA). His email is [email protected]