Mthwakazi water activist dies

Bulawayo water activists Arnold Payne has died.

He was 75.

Born in Mtshabezi area in Gwanda district in 1938, Payne had been involved in water activism all his life.

Payne, an enduring thorn on the side of government, the local authority and all those that he viewed as being blind to the problem, pushed a wheel burrow all the way from Victoria Falls to Bulawayo to highlight the problem.

In 1992, Payne pushed a wheelbarrow carrying 210l of water from the Zambezi River to Bulawayo and then Gwanda. He emptied the drum and then continued his journey with the wheelbarrow to the House of Parliament in Harare. Payne's plates, cups, clothing and vehicle are inscribed with the words "Zambezi Water for Matabeleland."

It was a symbolic gesture to raise the urgency of the crisis to the authorities to speed up the implementation of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project which seeks to draw water from the mighty Zambezi to Bulawayo.

Payne had a vision for Matabeleland that it would be transformed by the channeling of water from the Zambezi River.

In 1992, Payne claimed that he sourced funds from donors in Holland for the Zambezi Water Project but the donors withheld the funding after the government insisted the funds be channelled through the treasury.
In 1992, Payne formed Operation Desperation Trust with the aim of raising funds for the Zambezi Water Project. Some of the trustees included Pius Ncube, David Coltart and Israel Ndlovu.

Bulawayo continues to face a water crisis, which has seen the Bulawayo City Council embarking on water rationing. The Zambezi water project was first mooted in 1912 but serious efforts to implement the project started in 1998 when the Dumiso Dabengwa-led Matabeleland Zambezi Water Trust was formed.

I am a child of Matebeleland

I am Matabeleland, l am a child of Matabeleland, yes l'm the grandchild of a great warrior uMzilikazi yet l have no home. I belong to Matabeleland the land of my forefathers yet l live in an orphanage. Matabeleland my beloved were u cursed that u can't provide for your citizens to work and live in you? They killed my parents and called it a moment of madness, my question is who was mad? Why was he mad? Lowo owayehlanya kungani wahlanyela eMatebeleland? For a long time l have been refused to express myself, a situation of whenever l raise my concerns l am called a tribalist, who is being tribal when they refuse to speak my language in my hometown? I am a child of Matebeleland, yes where there is the University of Science and Technology but l was refused entry, l was told that l don't have science yet we have no science labs in our schools, they go on to tell me that l am not educated. I am a child of Matabeleland who was refused a scholarship because my father is not a war hero yet my parents used to attended those rallies at Stanley Square, the world watches while l weep for my beloved Matebeleland. Is it a crime to be born Kalanga? is it a crime to be born Ndebele? is it a crime to be born Tonga? Is it a crime to be born Venda? Is it a crime to be born Suthu? I say peace they say sies, l say democracy they say l am a demon l will crazy, l say freedom they say l am doom. The decisions they make for my beloved Matabeleland become diseases, they come with their polluted tricks and call them politics, l continue succumbing to the ravages of tribalism, l am hated for who l am, l am Matabeleland, l want peace not gifts..........
By prophetic poet Mengezi Mpofu

Gukurahundi massacre victims remembered in South Africa

ZIMBABWEANS in South Africa last Saturday remembered the victims of the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland and
the Midlands provinces.The commemoration was organised by a Johannesburg-based civil society group, the Gukurahundi Genocide Survivors for Justice.
The civil group 's founder, Magugu Khumalo, said they will not rest until perpetrators of the killings were brought to justice. Magugu said they will soon approach the United Nations Security Council to seek justice for the victims. She said they first approached the International Criminal Court but were told the
court only dealt with human rights abuses that happened after 2000. They were advised to approach the UN Security Council, she said.
"We will be approaching the Security Council to ensure the Gukurahundi perpetrators are punished. We also want the victims to be compensated.
Remember Gukurahundi was classified as genocide in 2010, " she said. About 20 000 ethnic Ndebeles were killed in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces in the early 1980s when President Robert Mugabe unleashed a crack North Korea- trained military unit to crush a rebellion by former Zipra combatants. A report by the Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice said some of the victims were buried alive while some pregnant women had their wombs slashed open. Speaking at the burial of former Zapu leader Joshua Nkomo, in July 1999, Mugabe described the killings as a "moment of madness".
The killings have remained a major point of grievance for the Ndebeles who have view the massacres as a form of genocide.
Khumalo said they want Mugabe and Perence Shiri who was in charge of the army's Fifth Brigade at the time of the campaign indicted for the Gukurahundi
crimes. She said it was also important that children whose parents were killed be assisted to get proper identification documents.
Khumalo said it was critical to deal with this matter expeditiously before the perpetrators die off the world stage adding that the journey would be long but justice would be delivered at the end . She added that, the fact some Nazi war criminals were still being pursued almost 70 years after the end of the Second World War gave them hope that their efforts will not be in vain.
Mbuso Fuzwayo, the secretary general of Ibhetshu Likazulu civic group , said the government was always frustrating their efforts to hold the commemorations in Zimbabwe. "It's a pity that there are some people who ran away to South Africa during that era and their parents and relatives have passed on without seeing them. Mugabe wants to destroy evidence of Gukurahundi as you can see that some of the witnesses are dying," he said.
He said some of the Gukurahundi victims were orphaned with no one to pay for their education adding there is need to break the cycle of poverty in such families by paying fees for the education of their children. Bonaventure Kageruka from the Community of Rwanda Genocide Survivors in South Africa
encouraged Zimbabweans to pursue the Gukurahundi issue to its logical conclusion.
"Do not be silenced, tell the world what happened and seek justice. As victims you carry a burden in your heart of wanting to know where your relatives are buried. I am with you in this sad moment and one day justice shall prevail," he said.

Mugabe and his thugs may try to intimidate us but justice will prevail one of these days  Mthwakazi.......