The Sunday Mail
Lincoln Towindo
The Commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe, Air Marshal Perence Shiri, is set to unveil previously untold critical accounts of the liberation war in a new tell-all book about the Second Chimurenga.The Sunday Mail understands that among the topics the book will look into are the Badza-Nhari Rebellion and previously untold details surrounding the Mgagao Declaration. The book is partly an extension of Air Marshal Shiri’s dissertation for his Master of Science in Development Studies degree, which he attained from the Women’s University in Africa a fortnight ago.
His dissertation entitled, “The Roots of the 1975 Mgagao Declaration and its Influence on the Creation of Zimbabwe and Formulation of Modern Day Policies” examined the 1975 Mgagao Declaration’s role in shaping modern Zimbabwe.
The research was adjudged the best dissertation for the ninth intake of the programme at the university. The book will offer a first hand account of pivotal moments in the liberation struggle, including the Badza-Nhari Rebellion. That uprising was led by senior Zanla commanders Thomas Nhari and Dakarai Badza against the Zanu High Command in Lusaka, Zambia in November 1974.
The rebels were reportedly angered by the alleged extravagant lifestyles led by some members of the High Command while they slogged it out at the war front. Some historical narratives have it that colonial Rhodesians security forces sponsored the uprising.
The Mgagao Declaration, on the other hand, was a communiqué by military officers at the main Zanla training camp in Tanzania in November 1975, which laid the foundation for the removal of Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole as leader of Zanu and the elevation of Cde Robert Mugabe to the helm at a special congress at Chimoio two years later.
It also reaffirmed the fighters’ belief in the armed struggle as the only way to liberate the country, as opposed to the détente negotiations that Sithole, Abel Muzorewa and Dr Joshua Nkomo had been part of.
Air Marshal Shiri said: “I am working on a book that will detail certain segments of the liberation war as an extension of the research work I did for my Master’s degree. It is too early for me to start talking about the exact contents of the book as I am still working on it. As of now, I am working on chapter dealing with details around the Badza-Nhari rebellion, which — as we all know — was a key moment of the liberation struggle. I cannot start talking about it as that would pre-empt my work.”
The story of Zimbabwe’s war for independence has often been told from the perspective of foreign historians with very few participants of the Second Chimurenga penning personal accounts detailing what they observed.
