I was surprised at his ignorance of events and people I remember, but he pointed out that what seems like yesterday to an old-timer like me is ancient history to him.
The trouble is, as he admitted, that they arent even in the approved Zimsec O-level history text book. This man, old enough to have children of his own, didnt know who Bishop Muzorewa was. He didnt even know which church Muzorewa was bishop of.
We all tend to view that man from where we stand now. We could hardly do anything else, but I ask any reader over the age of 50 Who was our national hero in 1972? However we see events since then, he was chosen to lead opposition to the deal Alec Douglas-Home, on behalf of the British government, made with Ian Smith. The few nationalist leaders who were not then in detention or exile saw Muzorewa as the only man for the job. He was the only one with a following across the whole country, through his church, and with the stature to lead a national campaign.
When the job was done, he did stay beyond his sell-by date, but his subsequent mistakes dont wipe away his achievement in 1972. And hes not the only one who got the airbrush treatment. What about Ndabaningi Sithole, the founder of ZANU? Even Joshua Nkomo, the Father of the Nation seems to be fading from the official picture. And what about the people whose shoulders Nkomo stood on? He would give them due credit. Some of them have streets named after them in Mbare, but youngsters who live there are never told about them.
Mind you, those youngsters couldnt name the last three people buried at Heroes Acre either. But it seems that nobody at the top worries about that. It is only Numero Uno who must be remembered.
This is not a new trick that is being played on us. It didnt even start with Qin Shi Huang, known as the First Emperor of China, overshadowing the memory of the Shan and other imperial dynasties lost in legend now because they lived and reigned many centuries before him. He tried to have every book from before his time burnt so that history would begin with him. He didnt quite succeed: some copies of the works of Confucius and Lao Tse survived and the evidence of archaeology could not be wiped out entirely. But he certainly tried.
As indeed our First Emperor is trying to produce a racially pure history beginning with his overcoming vague nameless oppressive British and savage Ndebele.
But, talking of names, how many of the heroes named in Mbare streets were Shona? Mzingeli, Rakgajani, Ayema, Mhlanga, Mlambo, and others whose memory should not be allowed to die seem to originate far from the banks of the Mukuvisi.
Post published in: Opinions