Gukurahundi finally demystified,. Hero to Zero, or the Curse of the Small House! No sane Zimbabwean could have predicted such a great moment of truth, with a momentous revelation of unparalleled magnitude by President Robert Mugabe after his 33 year rule over Zimbabwe. Mugabe has typically always addressed the gukurahundi issue in a dismissive manner with no regard for victims. This time, the president managed to evoke painful memories of his own childhood, in an unguarded moment of utterances depicting himself as a man from a sad and broken family. It has taken an advanced age of 90 years, a close family members death and probably coming to terms with the realisation that all humans are mortal beings, for him to display this vulnerable side of himself. When ones time comes and ones number is is called up, its a roll of honour we all respond to and dutifully report for. There is only one way out of this life and no one can NIKUV it. At some point we all have to account for our actions in life, hence we naturally seek to make peace with our maker in one way or another as we draw closer to the end of our days on this earth. Sometimes this manifests itself in open admissions of guilt over past crimes as we have all deduced from Mugabes revelation. Mugabe has inadvertently created a PR headache for the Zimbabwe government, Zanu PF party and all those who have always vehemently defended his corner over the gukurahundi massacres as they are now faced with a situation where he has openly alluded to the reason behind such a heinous post independance act. Speaking at his late sister Bridgets funeral, Mugabe, stated that he was forced to take charge of the family because his elder brothers, Michael and Raphael, had died. His father abandoned the family, and left for Bulawayo in 1934 when Mugabe was only 10 years of age, following Michaels death from food poisoning as he suspected that there was something wrong at their home. This picture of humble man, reduced to a pity full shadow of his former self , is a human side, the inner child in him, with a tough, sad, childhood, from a broken upbringing. This is all a far cry from the macho man, alpha male, man-dingoe, top dog, man in the saddle with a firm grip on the reigns stance that he has always postured in public. Over the years we have seen all this, well masked in his elocution, whenever he presided over countless funerals. Never, apart from his ranting and raving, have we seen the unguarded side to his true self, or had such a poignant revelation by him. He has finally offered the nation, the missing link as to how, why, and what happened for us to have walked the darkest and goriest chapter of national history, all on his watch. Mugabe told mourners, that he wrote to his father to express his displeasure at his departure, then at the age of 19 years in 1943, Mugabe traced his father to Makokoba in Bulawayo and discovered that his father had settled in Nyamandlovu as a carpenter, married a Ndebele woman and had two more sons, David and Albert. Mugabes father died a few years later, after returning to Zvimba with his sons, leaving Mugabe in charge of the entire extended family at the age of 21 in 1945. In my humble opinion, truth be told, when an African man, abandons his family after the deaths of his children, right or wrong, he is typically fleeing for his own safety and Mugabes bitterness at taking charge of his family after the deaths of two brothers and departure of his father, ultimately, led him to hunt down his father 9 years later at the age of 19. This to me is a sign of a damaged, angry son, hunting his father down, 9 years later on, in defence of his mothers honour, and unfortunately finding that he has moved on in life with a small house , a Ndebele woman from Nyamandlovu, even having two sons, David and Albert, with her. His fathers abandonment, and betrayal of the family with his Nyamandlovu small house, was in Mugabes mind, an unforgivable act which was avenged, at the earliest opportunity when he came to power by unleashing the lethal 5th Brigade upon the Ndebeles in the gukurahundi genocide, massacring 20 000 of them. The nation is now suddenly realising that the tribalism, division and hatred amongst us is not necessarily borne of deep, precolonial, cavemen tribal differences but rather stems from a domestic issue personally affecting Mugabes family household in his childhood later developing into deep seated hatred for the Ndebeles which finally manifested itself in the gukurahundi genocide. This revelation is a massive dent on his macho man stance, damaging for his PR department who work hard day and night to field a picture of a statesman, a patriot, a hero, and a victim of the western world and sanctions. One can safely conclude that if Mugabe has managed to deliver a crushing blow of vengeance upon a whole Ndebele tribe over his own upbringing issues, it is therefore easy to accept that his vindictiveness is brutal and unrelenting, once he has marked an individual or group as a threat. We have seen massacres on tribal lines e.g gukurahundi genocide, racial lines e.g in farm evictions, political e.g opposition leaders, party members and murambatsvina , activists e.g student leaders and human rights activists, and finally economic eg Chiadzwa diamond prospectors. Its also a matter of great national interest after such a revelation to rummage through our archives of history and join the dots to create a clearer picture about the past. Albert, the brother with a Ndebele mother from Nyamandlovu was the elected ZCTU leader after independance, but , inexplicably, on the 3rd of December 1981 he was found floating dead in the deep end of his swimming pool at his house in Ashdown park, Harare. Media reports and common knowledge in Zimbabwe have always pointed fingers at Robert Mugabe having had a hand in his brothers death over a affair with the presidents late ex wife Sally. The late Alberts daughter, Sharon Mugabe, Mugabes niece, took over a company owned by Zimbabwe’s marketing guru Michael Hogg in 2005 after a failed bid by rival Gary Thompson’s agency, Gary Thompson & Associates. The take-over marked one of the biggest empowerment transactions in the sector. Mugabe acquired the controlling stake in the leading advertising, marketing and communications firm. She renamed it Imago Y&R. It was further alleged that Imago Y&R secured the lucrative Zanu PF contract through its chief executive , Sharon’s personal relationship with a then junior information Minister, Bright Matonga, who was responsible for vetting companies that submitted tenders for the Mugabe election campaign. It is also reported that Bright Matonga dumped his wife of 11 years Anne Pout, a white British lady, and moved in with, the super wealthy, Sharon Mugabe. Anne looked after her husband while they lived in Basildon before Matonga’s return home in November 2001 to head the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s, television division. The Matongas grabbed a farm in the rich Banket area, northwest of Harare and Anne was later quoted in the media, defending the land reform programme and Mugabe’s controversial government policies. We have, as a nation spent the best part of the last 33 years, also Mugabes period of leadership so far, heavily divided and fighting amongst ourselves unknowingly, over the presidents personal domestic issues blown out of proportion and carefully masked and imputed by the president as an act of national duty and defence. Alas, in his 11th hour in life, he is emasculating himself and presenting a vulnerable, pitiful shadow of himself, a victim, in a sly effort to regain his self esteem, re-invent himself as a true statesman and recover his hero status. By way of his imprudent statement, he has advanced, what is arguably, the strongest justification for laying the blame over the gukurahundi genocide, fair and square upon his shoulders. He has unwittingly joined the dots for us, offered an explanation which counts as solid evidence of an admission of guilt over crimes against humanity, for submission by Human rights lawyers to the International Crimes Court in the piles of dossiers of evidence against Mugabes government in crimes against humanity, compiled over the years. All his accusers are now vindicated! It is understandably difficult for most Zimbabweans, who have faced and suffered untold strife, lost friends, family and relatives , lost property and livestock, been displaced locally and across the diaspora, children forced to fend for their families, families broken up etc amongst a whole host of unimaginable crimes against humanity under his watch to now have sympathy towards his own demise.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 03:08:41 +0000
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