COMMENT: UN comes to party

08 Nov, 2015 - 00:11 0 Views
COMMENT: UN comes to party

The Sunday Mail

It looks like the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is catching up with The Sunday Mail narrative, perspective and mood. When a whole UN organisation takes a cue from a national paper, then history will never be the same again both locally and internationally.

As we report elsewhere in this publication, after donkey years and for reasons that the body can’t even explain, the UN has finally decided to put the original Rhodesian police documents that saw First Chimurenga heroes Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi executed on its Memory of the World Register, a clear recognition of the important roles that these two played in history.

We will hammer the point home by quoting a citation on UNESCO’s website:

“Documentary heritage submitted by Zimbabwe and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2015;

“Kaguvi and Nehanda dockets comprises the judgment record, Judge Watermeyer’s criminal record book (1898-1899), some manuscripts as well as all the court proceedings.

“Kaguvi and Nehanda were key spirit mediums who inspired Zimbabwean revolution against colonial rule. Under the guidance and leadership, individual chiefdoms were united to resist the colonial wave in what now is remembered as the First Chimurenga (War of Liberation) between 1895-6.”

Hats off to the National Archives of Zimbabwe, which led the push for the recognition of Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi.

The recognition comes at a time when The Sunday Mail has embarked on an extensive and taxing exercise to record and publish interviews from the real owners of the Second Chimurenga.

These real owners of the Second Chimurenga are “mapfupa” akarehwa naMbuya Nehanda when she prophesied that “mapfupa angu achamuka,” just before she was hanged by the British plunderers.

From last week, till the country’s proper history has been recorded, The Sunday Mail will be publishing the history-changing interviews.

The freedom fighters from the Second Chimurenga who were inspired by the wise words from Mbuya Nehanda have finally decided to tell their story in ways that will bring in totally new literature on the history of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe has finally found the glue that has been missing from its social, political and economic fabric.

This story of the victors from the liberation struggle will not only re-define history, but will change people’s mind sets and inspire generations now and in future.

In telling their stories, the victors use Mbuya Nehanda as their reference point, making it clear that without her wise words, they wouldn’t have found enough courage and inspiration to fight the heavily armed colonial regime that thought looting resources from Zimbabwe was its God-given right.

In 1972, after a false start to the liberation struggle following the death of the Famous 7 Chinhoyi battle comrades, leaders of the Second Chimurenga tracked down Mbuya Nehanda’s spirit medium in Mt Darwin to get guidance, direction and protection as they were about to start the war.

Several rituals were conducted and the Spirit medium gave the comrades the go-ahead to start the war.

Against many odds, the war started in earnest and some thought the comrades were wasting their time fighting the ruthless and yet well-oiled colonial regime.

Stories are being told of female freedom fighters who upon crossing the Zambezi river to join the struggle, stopped going for their menstrual periods. Stories are being told of animals of the jungle who gave the freedom fighters warnings of impending attacks from the Rhodesians. Stories are being told of comrades who walked over 30 kilometres carrying heavy ammunition to fight the struggle.

Breath-taking stories that tell the story of the inspiration that the comrades got from Mbuya Nehanda and other spirit mediums.

The war wasn’t a tea party, but 12-year-olds joined and fought in the struggle. The freedom fighters lacked resources but somehow, things just fell into place as the struggle intensified.

The freedom fighters keep reminding us “yaiva hondo yeMudzimu.” This was Mbuya Nehanda’s war and victory was a case of when despite the odds.

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