Mbita — The man of influence

03 May, 2015 - 00:05 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Professor Ngwabi Bhebe
I first met Brigadier-General Hashim Mbita while undertaking a study of liberation movements in Southern Africa. This study had been commissioned by Sadc.

Within no time, I had learnt that Brig-Gen Mbita was the engine and guiding star of our liberation movements.

He had an enormous presence despite being humble. He was a man of solid authority both politically and socially.

Above all, his military clout was enormous.

Those who served with him will testify to this massive military authority.

The man was, nevertheless, approachable and extraordinarily warm.

He enjoyed great respect even from ordinary citizens, be it in his capacity as Ambassador in Harare or on the streets of Dar es Salaam.

I remember an instance when the two of us were in Dar es Salaam. We stopped at street market stalls and also got into shops. It was refreshing to see how he would stop to chat with those around.

Down to earth; that’s how I would describe him.

In Harare, he often walked about and those who had served in the liberation movements saluted when they came across him. And he had no difficulty identifying them by name, even in cases where he had not seen them in years.

This is a rare gift and it goes to show the kind of man he was, a military commander who was very close to his troops.

I had the privilege of being very close to him while I was editor of some liberation war history editions we have worked on in the past.

What I learnt from him during our interaction was his unwavering dedication to duty and ability to bring conflicting groups to the round-table.

For instance, in our case, he was aware of the differences that existed between our two liberation movements and played a key role in ironing out these differences.

Though much of these differences were political — and naturally it was the politicians who played the central role — the military side was his assignment.

I learnt of how he worked to bring them together.

Mind you, these were people who had differing ideals once in a while, but they were united at the end of the day.

This required a lot of tact and Brig-Gen Mbita was a master tactician because of his presence and authority.

He brought together groups that would have otherwise remained apart. At one point, he got Zanu’s and Zapu’s military wings to work together.

Above all, his major task was to negotiate — at Organisation of African Unity and international level — the facilitation of logistics and movement of our military hardware.

This kind of work required a man with a military background. Only such a man knows the amount of damage that can be caused by the lack of such hardware during war.

This kind of job required the likes of Brig-Gen Mbita — soldiers who understand the difficulties of operating at the front without proper equipment.

It was important to have such a man who knew all about our bases in countries such as Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.

It was through his meticulous knowledge that military hardware flowed to various designated points.

We have lost a man who understood why our founding fathers always advocated unity within the region.

Today, one sees that Sadc is still an aspiration in terms of becoming a united and solid bloc.

Here was a person who could help engineer this unity.

He knew most of our regional leaders at a personal level. He was the kind of man who could pick up the phone, call a leader such as President Jacob Zuma or even President Mugabe and get an audience immediately.

He could call them together and help rid us of the differences that might still separate us today.

He was able to bring people with divergent views to the round-table.

As we mourn, we have lost a friend, unifying figure and star; a man who stood to be esteemed by both young and old.

Hashim Mbita was a man of influence, a lynchpin when it came to our liberation struggle which has borne the benefits we enjoy today.

From Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa through to Tanzania — his home country — we should all shed tears over the loss of this lynchpin of our liberation.

Interview and transcription by Senior Reporter Lincoln Towindo.

 

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