Remember: ‘Mugabe terrorised Nkomo’

The late father Zimbabwe Joshua Nkomo

Zimbabwe, this Friday, marks exactly 17 years since the passing of ‘Father Zimbabwe’ and a musical gala has been planned for Bulawayo in honour of the once charismatic politician.

During his time as opposition PF Zapu leader, Nkomo survived numerous assassination attempts under then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe’s rule while a number of properties belonging to his party were also seized by the state.

Nkomo was in 1987 forced to pen the so-called unity accord with Zanu to end nearly five years of intense hostilities in his stronghold Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in which the government deployed a North Korean-trained army unit to massacre nearly 20,000 innocent civilians who were accused of harbouring dissidents sympathetic to Nkomo.

In his book, “The story of my life”, Nkomo bares his soul and lifts the lid on the numerous troubles he and his party went through under Mugabe’s regime.

Even when he had allowed his party to disband and join Zanu under the accord, Nkomo continued to be humiliated by more junior Zanu politicians among them, then minister Joice Mujuru, and, years after his death, by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa who said he was once a “sell-out” who was colluding with former colonial masters.

But 17 years since he died, the Zanu PF led government has painted a different picture of the revered politician, portraying him in good light.

Nkomo terrorised by Mugabe

Among those who read through the Zanu PF machinations is Mzila Ndlovu, who said in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com that the government was not sincere in trying to honour Nkomo.

“This is somebody who vilified Joshua Nkomo at the time when Nkomo’s name could have been used to build the nation of Zimbabwe; they hounded him out of the country and the same people who hounded him turn around and pretend they honour him for what he did,” Ndlovu said.

He added: “Nkomo did a lot for this country in terms of his contribution towards liberation but his ideals were trashed by Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party.

“So what we seeing here is a contradiction between what Nkomo stood for and what the Zanu PF government went to do in this country.

“There is a sea of difference between the ideas of Joshua Nkomo in terms of nation building, in terms of ethnic integration, in terms of the oneness of the people of this country and what Zanu PF went to do was in fact divide the people the same way the white man divided the black people, made certain tribes feel superior to Ndebeles.

Mzila Ndlovu said Zanu PF should not be taken seriously after allegedly and continuously showing disdain for Nkomo’s Ndebele tribe.

“If you see what is happening today in terms of abusing the people who belong to Joshua Nkomo’s ethnic grouping, they are really treated in a way that they feel they don’t belong to this country, they are stateless,” he said.

Nkomo did not die bitter

Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo could not be reached for comment.

But War Veterans Minister and Mugabe ally Tshinga Dube denied Zanu PF was insincere in honouring the late Vice President.

“Nkomo was the Vice President of this country and he is the founder of our politics. For as long as you are a Zimbabwean, Nkomo’s name means a lot to you,” Dube said, adding that those who do not remember him were unpatriotic.

Dube denied Nkomo died a bitter man, insisting the former VP had forgiven all those who wronged him.

“If he had any grievance against the government, he would not have accepted the vice presidency of this country; he died of ill health and I don’t see anyone using what happened in the past.

“Nkomo himself said once when he was addressing that a lot of unpleasant things have happened but we forget about what happened. We can’t leave on what is unpleasant but we live on what we think will take us to the future.”

Minister Dube added: “The 1987 unity accord meant that we should forget.

“We as former liberation war fighters had our own issues as well. We don’t want to bring those issues on board its finished but we formed the ZNA and Zimbabwe DF and forgot all what has taken place in the past.”