As Zimbabwe enters into a second crisis after the removal of Robert Mugabe, I sit alone, in a faraway country and ask myself, do I have a country and if so, is Zimbabwe my country?
Let us begin with words from the wise ones. Ann Rand was a refugee from Russia and she realised, as I do, that the Russian masquerade of equal opportunity under the communists, was but a charade.
At the same time, it occurred to her that many of her compatriots, from 1917 to 1989 had been burying their heads in the sand.
Like many Zimbabweans, the following truth was revealed very slowly to her. “You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”
I was able to see reality much sooner than most Zimbabweans because I had had a premonition of it in my second life in Jamaica.
My part of my life ended abruptly in September 1984 when I was on the Shu-Shine Bus No 84 somewhere outside Zvishavane on our way to Bulawayo.
All the people with Ndebele names were asked to stay in that bushy area while those with Shona names were allowed to proceed.
I am Zezuru and having represented Zapu in Jamaica, my heart sank.
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Whatever happened to my compatriots who remained makes me have nightmares to this day.
I wrote a paragraph in the Sunday mail in protest and decided that Zimbabwe was doomed. After 10 years of research on the life and times of Robert Mugabe, I cannot find any argument for Gukurahundi except sheer malice.
I am trying to illustrate the fact that Zanu Pf was in complete contempt of the Ndebele and anybody who dared challenge them.
For white settlers and the Zezuru, it was the best of times, in the belief that US$200 million reserves left over from the Smith regime would last forever.
Simba Makoni told Trevor Ncube that six months into independence, Mugabe ordered Mercedes Benzes for his 22 ministers and some super automobiles for deputies and even permanent secretaries.
My article in the Sunday Mail asked the question: What kind of Marxist socialists are these who have fallen in love with Benzes?
Having studied Ann Rand’s works, I noticed the utter contempt these Marxists had for the little people. There was no plan to maintain the tarred roads Smith had bequeathed them. There were no future plans for economic expansion.
People forget that Methodist Bishop Abel Muzorewa and the Reverend N Sithole were accused of treason and were on the run. My church asked me to entertain Muzorewa in South Carolina. White people forget that Ian Smith, General Lookout Masuku and General Peter Walls all these and many others were hounded out, lost their pensions and died in penury. Walls’ wife worked at a bar in Cape Town in order to make ends meet.
We ignored the facts.
But the chickens came home to roost when 5 000 natives were removed from Churu Farm out of malice and made homeless because they were suspected of being Sithole sympathisers.
In 2005, the Tibaijuka Commission reported that as many as 700 000 natives had been made homeless by Murambatsvina.
In the Tibaijuka Report, the treatment of 700 000 Zimbabwean natives is reported as “profoundly distressing” and the action of government itself as constituting a “catastrophic injustice.”
I do not know whether to cry or to laugh at Brother Blessed Geza’s new approach. The system of government and an attitude of utter contempt towards the natives preceded President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
The advantage of a crisis is that issues that appeared to have been buried are washed ashore for everybody to see.
South African transport companies have incorporated US$200 for bribes as their drivers wend their way from Beitbridge to Mutare (2019). I am informed that US$300 is now the accepted fare.
Traffic police are there to cause annoyances, not to facilitate smooth travel. There is nothing new there.
Any observant traveler on Inter-City Bus Lines will tell you that while the busses allow their passengers a break at Chicken Inn in Gweru, the drivers buy a few extra boxes of chicken and coca cola.
I saw police details at Gweru holding their stomachs — nyota (I am thirsty) and expecting the drivers to spare a chicken combo for them.
The contempt for the natives is all too obvious. It was not a secret that Professor George Kahari, after 40 years of academic service, received USD66 per month pension. As we speak, University professors are on strike because their salaries were reduced from an average of US$2 250 per month to US$500.
What I learned from Jamaica was that the ruling class, as in Zimbabwe, was contemptuous of their people. As a result, they maintained residences and savings accounts in Panama and the US.
In Zimbabwe, our rulers maintain residences and savings in South Africa, Mauritius, and Dubai.
I am daily asked to find academic places for Zimbabwe’s political children. When I ask for permission to write them up I am given a stern warning.
“Kenny, this is not something to joke about. I will personally make sure you are dead if you publish my name down.”
The accumulative effect of the negligence of important issues by the ruling class is now too obvious t ignore. Facts are stubborn things.
The state of the roads has catastrophic effects on insurance premiums.
Studies show that daily harassment of Kombi drivers by police is related to high blood pressure pandemic among drivers.
The cause for daily robberies is the corrupt banking system. Savings are “chewed up” by extortionate charges. Whatever remains may be confiscated by treasure statutory instrument limiting ability to withdraw.
It is not just Ann Rand, but Holy Fathers as well say; “You can’t on sinning and hope to leave in peace and prosperity.” Welcome my brothers to the facts of life.
*Ken Mufuka is a Zimbabwean patriot.
