Ashamed that we are prepared to watch as our national heritage is taken hostage by a small group of renegade citizens who like all of us played a part in the collective effort of liberating our country. It is time that we all claim back the liberation struggle from Zanu (PF). It was a national struggle in which the people played a greater part than those who actually carried guns.
It is, therefore, wrong to allow a small minority of citizens to force their ideas on us just because they claim to have fought in the war. The war was a collective effort in which the guerrillas were supported and protected by the very citizens that they are now terrorising.
Zanu (PF) has also monopolised the 1896/97 uprisings. They would like to create an impression that they own Nehanda, Kaguvi and others who rose up to oppose colonialism. It is time that we reclaim this national non partisan spirit of resistance and own it collectively.
Recently I read the Professor George Kahari’s English version of Solomon Mutswairo’s ‘Nehanda Nyakasikana’ and I realised how strongly it portrays the powerful emotions of a torn nation. I had always associated it with the antics of Simon Muzenda but reading it again made me realise how this is a rallying call for all regardless of political affiliation.
The pertinent questions that the persona in the poem raises should not just help us to reflect on our current problems but should goad us into action. Each one of us doing whatever he/she can to liberate our nation. Let the spirit of resistance that made the nation come together to fight a supremely armed enemy in 1896/97 fan the flames of resistance in all of us as we also seek to rise against a supremely armed machinery of Zanu (PF).Â
NYENGETERAI GIDI, UK