CHARLES Thomas, one of the Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) leaders facing treason charges, has told a High Court judge that he was brutally assaulted by police as they tried to force information from him.“For more than two hours I was severely assaulted by police officers at Entumbane Police Station who interrogated me about MLF. They only stopped when my wife
arrived at the charge office to see me,” Thomas told Justice Nicholas Ndou
on Wednesday. “Detectives from Law and Order section came to pick me and I was tied to a beam on the back of a truck as they drove to Bulawayo Central Police Station where I was subjected to further beating until my face was swollen and I started bleeding from the mouth.
“I told them I was on medication but they denied me access to my tablets for four days despite the fact that my wife had brought them to the police station until a magistrate ordered that I be taken to hospital. ”Thomas also alleged that police forced him to drink volumes of water which they would take turns to bring in five-litre containers as part of the torture.
The prosecution team of Lovack Masuku and Samuel Pedzisayi insist
that Thomas was seen by detectives distributing anti-government fliers but
he denied saying “they were liars.” Thomas’ lawyers Advocate Lucas Nkomo assisted by Robert Ndlovu maintain that he never tried to provoke mutiny or street protests to overthrow the government.
Another MLF leader John Gazi was acquitted in December while their
leader Paul Siwela is in self-imposed exile, believed to be Sweden. It is alleged that between March 1 and 3, 2011, the MLF leaders acted in common purpose and conspired to incite Zimbabweans to rise against the government.
Police alleged that Thomas distributed fliers which contained messages
calling on members of the public and the army to rise against the government.
The trial continues on Thursday.
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi...
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu drunk of Zanu PF bootlicking.
Article by David Magagula
M.L.F is not surprised by the so called
Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu's vitrol speared
on the people of Mthwakazi in general
and the organizers of the gukurahundi
commemoration in particular.
When he says the people of Mthwakazi,
by commemorating or condemning
gukurahundi, are opening wounds, he
must have been dreaming with his eye
wide open because Zanu PF never
apologized and thus they never closed
those wounds. Secondly, what is it that
pains him if the wounded himself rubs
salt on his/her wound?
One wonder how this " doctor"
reasons if he fail to realize that the
human nature refuses to forget a
happening of gukurahundi"s pedigree,
while the remains of the victims still lie
all over the place and in mass grave
and the perpetrators still walking free.
It must only be "doctor" Sikhanyiso
and those who remained behind in
Zanu when Dabengwa and company
realized the colonial Shonas were not
honest, sincere and did not really need
company from Mthwakazi, who
believed the wounds had healed and
need not opening. The "doctor"
further dreams that people should
concerntrate on "nation" building,
unity and development of the country.
First he appears to be so far removed
from the reality that these colonial
Shonas/Zimbabweans are advancing
minute by minute taking every space in
Mthwakazi, looting industrial
machinery and even forcing
indeginous Mthwakazi people to speak
their language. Yet Sikhanyiso speaks
of "nation" building or is it how they
build a nation in Harare. When he
further hallucinate about the revival of
industries, it show how much shallow
minded this "doctor" is, not realizing
that the government that he has
served in the 34years of it rule of the
so called Zimbabwe as a high ranking
official is bent on de-industrializing
Mthwakazi. I wonder if "doctor"
Sikhanyiso can avail himself to
comment on how many youths of
Mthwakazi have benefited from his
Zanu"s youth empowerment program
and how many Zimbabweans or
Mashonalanders have benefited from
the same program. So who does he
want to smear the mud for the lack of
development of Mthwakazi if he
doesn"t provide for the development
he expect to see taking place in
Mthwakazi. That alone leaves one
bewielders as to how does he expect,
Bulawayo, Bietbridge, Gwanda, Gogwe,
Gwelu, Plumtree, Nkayi, Lupane,
Tsholotsho, Wankie,Binga, Victoria Falls
e.t.c when his government is serving
and purporting to represent plans on
daily basis to strangle Mthwakazi of all
her resources, human, minerally and
and financially. Sikhanyiso must
understand that the unity that he refers
to a plaster that he purports to join
forever Zimbabwe and Mthwakazi, by
His Excellency Joshua Nkomo, only
served to stopping the cold blooded
killing of the people of Mthwakazi by
his(Sikhanyiso) party (Zanu) sponsored
gukurahundi and nothing else.
Sikhanyiso like we all know, knows that,
that unity was never and will never be
practical in our lifetime and that of
hundreds of generations to come.
May we tell "Dr" Sikhanyiso in his own
isindebele language that, " inkukhu
ingaze ibenhle kanjani, eKhozini
iyinyama kuphela". "Lawe ke kaNdlovu
loba ungazi sikela e hwahweni kanjani,
emaShoneni ubizwa ngenyoka, into
efanele ukuchobodiswa ikhanda".
"Hamba ukhangele i1979 Grand Plan
eyabhalwa yilowo leqembu lakho
iZanu, osithethisela yona eyiyo
eyabulala abantu bakithi ngaphandle
kwecala". "Hlala wazi ukuthi kubo
ufana lejazi loMkhwenyana nxa bebona
ukuthi sebekusebenzise kwanela
bazokulahla kuphela noma bakubulale
ngoba kuyilokho abazikufanele umuntu
wako Mthwakazi".
Sikhanyiso we would not have done
you any justice if we failed to remind
you that, Sydney Donald Malunga,
again in your isiNdebele language, "
Unganatha umsobho weZanu
awulungi". Ngalokho ngeke ulunge
Sikhanyiso ngaphandle uze ulungiswe.
We would like to remind you
Sikhanyiso that we are fully aware of
your aspirations to be Zanu PF's next
chairperson, yet another day light
dream kaNdlovu. When is it going to
dawn to you and your colleagues to
realize that you are in a foreign
Zimbabwean party on your own
accord and you do not represent the
interests of the people of Mthwakazi.
As a government minister and a
Politiburo member, can you tell the
people to say you represent what has
been your contribution towards the
development of "Matebeleland" from
the day you resumed that office to
date. What have you as an individual
done about the pot holes on the road
of your home town Bulawayo alone?
Can you point us to the development
that has been brought about by your
Zanu in 34years of its colonial rule of
Mthwakazi?
The people of Mthwakazi are tired of
the people like you continued
attachment of them with Zimbabwe for
your personal gains. You should
concerntrate on reminding your
Mugabe that although due to old age,
he is about to go and meet all those
souls he deprived of life on earth. Be
warned Sikhanyiso not to cross lines,
lest you die a sorry man like Enos
Mzombi Nkala.
Finally, May we make it known that as
M.L.F, we are fully behind Pastor Pius
Ncube, Hon Moses Mzila Ndlovu, Mr
Mbuso Fuzwayo and iBhetshu likaZulu
and all those who strive to serve the
interests of the people of Mthwakazi in
whichever case. And may it be known
by the likes of Sikhanyiso Ndlovu,
Robert Mugabe, Emmerson
Munangagwa, Perence Shiri, Chiwenga
and many more that we are not going
to rest until justice for gukurahundi is
done and the victims are given decent
burial . Sour or sweet to you, we are
going to force it happen.
Mthwakazi, from Beitbridge to Binga,
Plumtree to Qweqwe, we fully support
you and call upon you to remain
resolute and steadfast for these
genociders have to face the music even
if it takes longer than expected.
Alikathethwa Lihlezi eCourt
Alikathethwa. Vuka Mthwakazi Vuka.
M.L.F is not surprised by the so called
Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu's vitrol speared
on the people of Mthwakazi in general
and the organizers of the gukurahundi
commemoration in particular.
When he says the people of Mthwakazi,
by commemorating or condemning
gukurahundi, are opening wounds, he
must have been dreaming with his eye
wide open because Zanu PF never
apologized and thus they never closed
those wounds. Secondly, what is it that
pains him if the wounded himself rubs
salt on his/her wound?
One wonder how this " doctor"
reasons if he fail to realize that the
human nature refuses to forget a
happening of gukurahundi"s pedigree,
while the remains of the victims still lie
all over the place and in mass grave
and the perpetrators still walking free.
It must only be "doctor" Sikhanyiso
and those who remained behind in
Zanu when Dabengwa and company
realized the colonial Shonas were not
honest, sincere and did not really need
company from Mthwakazi, who
believed the wounds had healed and
need not opening. The "doctor"
further dreams that people should
concerntrate on "nation" building,
unity and development of the country.
First he appears to be so far removed
from the reality that these colonial
Shonas/Zimbabweans are advancing
minute by minute taking every space in
Mthwakazi, looting industrial
machinery and even forcing
indeginous Mthwakazi people to speak
their language. Yet Sikhanyiso speaks
of "nation" building or is it how they
build a nation in Harare. When he
further hallucinate about the revival of
industries, it show how much shallow
minded this "doctor" is, not realizing
that the government that he has
served in the 34years of it rule of the
so called Zimbabwe as a high ranking
official is bent on de-industrializing
Mthwakazi. I wonder if "doctor"
Sikhanyiso can avail himself to
comment on how many youths of
Mthwakazi have benefited from his
Zanu"s youth empowerment program
and how many Zimbabweans or
Mashonalanders have benefited from
the same program. So who does he
want to smear the mud for the lack of
development of Mthwakazi if he
doesn"t provide for the development
he expect to see taking place in
Mthwakazi. That alone leaves one
bewielders as to how does he expect,
Bulawayo, Bietbridge, Gwanda, Gogwe,
Gwelu, Plumtree, Nkayi, Lupane,
Tsholotsho, Wankie,Binga, Victoria Falls
e.t.c when his government is serving
and purporting to represent plans on
daily basis to strangle Mthwakazi of all
her resources, human, minerally and
and financially. Sikhanyiso must
understand that the unity that he refers
to a plaster that he purports to join
forever Zimbabwe and Mthwakazi, by
His Excellency Joshua Nkomo, only
served to stopping the cold blooded
killing of the people of Mthwakazi by
his(Sikhanyiso) party (Zanu) sponsored
gukurahundi and nothing else.
Sikhanyiso like we all know, knows that,
that unity was never and will never be
practical in our lifetime and that of
hundreds of generations to come.
May we tell "Dr" Sikhanyiso in his own
isindebele language that, " inkukhu
ingaze ibenhle kanjani, eKhozini
iyinyama kuphela". "Lawe ke kaNdlovu
loba ungazi sikela e hwahweni kanjani,
emaShoneni ubizwa ngenyoka, into
efanele ukuchobodiswa ikhanda".
"Hamba ukhangele i1979 Grand Plan
eyabhalwa yilowo leqembu lakho
iZanu, osithethisela yona eyiyo
eyabulala abantu bakithi ngaphandle
kwecala". "Hlala wazi ukuthi kubo
ufana lejazi loMkhwenyana nxa bebona
ukuthi sebekusebenzise kwanela
bazokulahla kuphela noma bakubulale
ngoba kuyilokho abazikufanele umuntu
wako Mthwakazi".
Sikhanyiso we would not have done
you any justice if we failed to remind
you that, Sydney Donald Malunga,
again in your isiNdebele language, "
Unganatha umsobho weZanu
awulungi". Ngalokho ngeke ulunge
Sikhanyiso ngaphandle uze ulungiswe.
We would like to remind you
Sikhanyiso that we are fully aware of
your aspirations to be Zanu PF's next
chairperson, yet another day light
dream kaNdlovu. When is it going to
dawn to you and your colleagues to
realize that you are in a foreign
Zimbabwean party on your own
accord and you do not represent the
interests of the people of Mthwakazi.
As a government minister and a
Politiburo member, can you tell the
people to say you represent what has
been your contribution towards the
development of "Matebeleland" from
the day you resumed that office to
date. What have you as an individual
done about the pot holes on the road
of your home town Bulawayo alone?
Can you point us to the development
that has been brought about by your
Zanu in 34years of its colonial rule of
Mthwakazi?
The people of Mthwakazi are tired of
the people like you continued
attachment of them with Zimbabwe for
your personal gains. You should
concerntrate on reminding your
Mugabe that although due to old age,
he is about to go and meet all those
souls he deprived of life on earth. Be
warned Sikhanyiso not to cross lines,
lest you die a sorry man like Enos
Mzombi Nkala.
Finally, May we make it known that as
M.L.F, we are fully behind Pastor Pius
Ncube, Hon Moses Mzila Ndlovu, Mr
Mbuso Fuzwayo and iBhetshu likaZulu
and all those who strive to serve the
interests of the people of Mthwakazi in
whichever case. And may it be known
by the likes of Sikhanyiso Ndlovu,
Robert Mugabe, Emmerson
Munangagwa, Perence Shiri, Chiwenga
and many more that we are not going
to rest until justice for gukurahundi is
done and the victims are given decent
burial . Sour or sweet to you, we are
going to force it happen.
Mthwakazi, from Beitbridge to Binga,
Plumtree to Qweqwe, we fully support
you and call upon you to remain
resolute and steadfast for these
genociders have to face the music even
if it takes longer than expected.
Alikathethwa Lihlezi eCourt
Alikathethwa. Vuka Mthwakazi Vuka.
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Commemorating Gukurahundi
There are many things that Zimbabweans are still too scared to speak about in public and that the government is very keen to keep buried. But the most sensitive issue by far is Gukurahundi - the codename for a brutal military operation in Matabeleland in the 1980s that left over 20,000 civilians dead.
This is why the call by a pressure group, Ibetshu Likazulu, for President Mugabe to declare a public holiday on the 20th of January - the anniversary of the start of the massacres in 1982 - and for the government to compensate all the victims of Gukurahundi is so brave. And so forlorn.
President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government are not going to suddenly break the silence that they have imposed on Gukurahundi. They are not going to suddenly start talking about how the notorious North Korean-trained 5th Brigade carried out the massacres of thousands of people between 1982 and 1987 - dumping their bodies in mass graves or in abandoned mines.
Mugabe's government has always claimed that the operation was a legitimate means of crushing a rebellion by dissidents, who were mostly supporters of the opposition ZAPU. And Mugabe, himself, has steadfastly refused to apologise for the killings - or even to allow them to be discussed. He did call the operation a "moment of madness" at the burial of the ZAPU leader, Joshua Nkomo, in 1999 - whose decision to merge his party with ZANU in 1987 had brought an end to the massacres - but Mugabe has shown no desire to say anything else.
And there is no hope of any additional official inquiries. The government has already established two inquiries to 'investigate' the disturbances - one led by then chief justice Enoch Dumbutshena and another by lawyer Simplicius Chihambakwe - but their findings were never made public.
Instead, the government has used all its considerable powers to successfully keep a lid on the issue - intimidating and harassing anyone who tries to discuss Gukurahundi. The authorities are clearly hoping that silence will make people forget. But they are just fooling themselves because Zimbabweans still want answers - still want the truth.
"January 20th is the day when the Gukurahundi genocide started and it should be recognised with a public holiday and we also want the government to set up a fund to compensate relatives of people killed and injured during the massacres," said Mbuzo Fuzwayo, coordinator of Ibetshu Likazulu. "We are sending a petition to government with these demands and on 20th January this year we are holding a memorial service for the genocide in Bulawayo and some survivors will attend the event."
And it is critical for Zimbabweans to have open discussions about the Gukurahundi massacres as these would help to bring national healing and start to move the nation forward. Thirty years after Gukurahundi started, almost a quarter of the country's 13 million people are still angry and traumatised by the killings. Gukurahundi left thousands of families poorer and undermined the development of Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, which still lag behind other parts of the country. Thousands of people, who were born during that time, remain stateless as their parents were killed and they have no proof that they were born in Zimbabwe.
These people will not forget. But they are willing to try and move on. But for that, they expect the perpetrators to apologise and for the truth to come out. They also expect compensation from the state as they know very well that the government army was behind the massacres.
And it is very worrying that Mugabe and his allies still seem to believe that if Zimbabweans are allowed to openly discuss Gukurahundi it will merely open old wounds and cause an uprising. This is rubbish because Zimbabweans are peace loving people and only want the truth so that they can put the past behind them.
It is high time that Mugabe swallows his pride and sets up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on Gukurahundi as demanded by opposition MDC. South Africa created a TRC after apartheid and while it has many critics, it certainly shone a spotlight on some of the crimes of the past and helped to move the country forwards. In Zimbabwe, there can be no national healing and reconciliation if the truth about what transpired during Gukurahundi is never told.
It is very difficult for ordinary Zimbabweans to believe that there will ever be justice for the many other crimes against humanity that have taken place in our country, especially in relation to the bloody 2008 presidential election, if Gukurahundi remains clouded in secrecy - and if none of the perpetrators of the massacres are ever brought to book.
But the campaign by Ibetshu Likazulu shows that ordinary Zimbabweans are not going to give up. They might not talk openly about Gukurahundi but they will not forget and will not stop seeking answers to all the many outstanding questions. They will not get those answers any time soon but one day, they believe they will.
However, that might only be after President Mugabe is eventually buried in Hero's Acre. Maybe then we will start to talk about our collective Gukurahundi-inspired trauma. Only time will tell.
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi.....
Analysts urge fragmented secessionist parties to unite
The rise of secessionist political parties in Zimbabwe is a sign that successive governments have failed to address issues affecting the Matebeleland region, political analysts have said.
Numerous secessionist parties such as Patriotic Union of Matebeleland, Matebeleland Liberation Organisation (MLO) and Matebeleland Liberation Front (MLF) have been formed all with the same agenda, calling for the separation of the Mthwakazi State from the rest of the country.
On Saturday, another secessionist party, Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) was launched in Bulawayo, with its leaders promising to deliver on their promises to bring about an independent Mthwakazi State.
Dumisani Nkomo, a Bulawayo based political analyst believes these political parties have a right to call for a secession and it is a reflection of the hurt and the pain that people from the region feel.
"We should not deal with the symptom but the root cause why people are calling for secession. It means there is a serious problem in terms of marginalisation and exclusion. We have to interrogate some of the structural and economic reasons that cause people to call for secession," said Nkomo.
His view was supported by another political analyst, Anglistone Sibanda who opined that secessionist calls were justified as the people of Matebeleland have been disadvantaged for many years.
Sibanda said secessionist parties were important in the development agenda of the region although he was quick to point out that the feasibility of creating a new Mthwakazi state was achievable in the near future.
Another political analyst Methuseli Moyo described the secessionist calls as " dramatisation of the desperate situation of the people of Matebeleland."
"In their view these parties think it is a solution to the problems bedevilling Matebeleland and a way of attracting attention of the central government. Whether this will succeed we will just have to wait and find out," said Moyo.
The analysts said it was high time these parties spoke with one voice in order to realise the desired results.
"These parties are bound to fail if they are fragmented. We need united fronts at various stages and levels in terms of people who agree with each other ideologically. The machinery that is there is too big to be challenged by small parties," said Nkomo.
Mbuso Fuzwayo of Ibhetshu LikaZulu, a pressure group based in Bulawayo said: "There is strength is number. We would have appreciated if these parties join forces and spoke with one voice. We have noticed how most of these political parties are manipulated by powerful people with their own political agendas. Therefore, these parties must speak in unison so that their concerns are heard."
On why they were not joining forces with other like minded parties, MRP President Mqondisi Moyo said their party was unique and did not share any similarities with other political parties calling for secession.
"We are MRP, we are not MLF or any other political party, so we will not concern ourselves with what other political parties are doing," said Moyo.
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi
Numerous secessionist parties such as Patriotic Union of Matebeleland, Matebeleland Liberation Organisation (MLO) and Matebeleland Liberation Front (MLF) have been formed all with the same agenda, calling for the separation of the Mthwakazi State from the rest of the country.
On Saturday, another secessionist party, Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) was launched in Bulawayo, with its leaders promising to deliver on their promises to bring about an independent Mthwakazi State.
Dumisani Nkomo, a Bulawayo based political analyst believes these political parties have a right to call for a secession and it is a reflection of the hurt and the pain that people from the region feel.
"We should not deal with the symptom but the root cause why people are calling for secession. It means there is a serious problem in terms of marginalisation and exclusion. We have to interrogate some of the structural and economic reasons that cause people to call for secession," said Nkomo.
His view was supported by another political analyst, Anglistone Sibanda who opined that secessionist calls were justified as the people of Matebeleland have been disadvantaged for many years.
Sibanda said secessionist parties were important in the development agenda of the region although he was quick to point out that the feasibility of creating a new Mthwakazi state was achievable in the near future.
Another political analyst Methuseli Moyo described the secessionist calls as " dramatisation of the desperate situation of the people of Matebeleland."
"In their view these parties think it is a solution to the problems bedevilling Matebeleland and a way of attracting attention of the central government. Whether this will succeed we will just have to wait and find out," said Moyo.
The analysts said it was high time these parties spoke with one voice in order to realise the desired results.
"These parties are bound to fail if they are fragmented. We need united fronts at various stages and levels in terms of people who agree with each other ideologically. The machinery that is there is too big to be challenged by small parties," said Nkomo.
Mbuso Fuzwayo of Ibhetshu LikaZulu, a pressure group based in Bulawayo said: "There is strength is number. We would have appreciated if these parties join forces and spoke with one voice. We have noticed how most of these political parties are manipulated by powerful people with their own political agendas. Therefore, these parties must speak in unison so that their concerns are heard."
On why they were not joining forces with other like minded parties, MRP President Mqondisi Moyo said their party was unique and did not share any similarities with other political parties calling for secession.
"We are MRP, we are not MLF or any other political party, so we will not concern ourselves with what other political parties are doing," said Moyo.
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi
ZANU and PF ZAPU marriage bound to end post Mugabe
According to a reliable senior source within ZANU PF based in Bulawayo the former PF ZAPU and Matabeleland based ZANU PF members have been told unequivocal by some senior ZANU PF members from former ZANU that as soon as Mugabe is out of the picture the Nkomo and Mugabe "unity" will also be over.
The source indicates that Matabeleland based leaders have been told out rightly that they must not involve themselves at all in the Mugabe succession wars as they have nothing to do with ZANU PF.
"We were told point blank at a meeting in Harare recently that we are visitors in ZANU PF and so a visitor can not make any calls in a house he is visiting, we must just wait to be told what to do and where we are going to be put" said the source.
According to the highly placed source, the Matabeleland members are now regrouping and coming up with a contingency plan. Indications are that the members are seriously considering a mass defection to the Dumiso Dabengwa led new ZAPU PF.
The source says on the ground is also plans to revive what he calls a South - South relation that existed between Matabeleland and Masvingo Provinces.
The source further indicates that, the Matabeleland leadership proposed Dumiso Dabengwa to be appointed as Vice President in place of the late John Landa Nkomo an issue that has become a thorny ultimatum in ZANU PF's flesh.
Dabengwa is no longer a member of ZANU PF after quiting the party to revive ZAPU in 2006. According to the source, Dabengwa is viewed as the next and only powerful person that can manage to stand and defend the people of Matabeleland against the marauding former ZANU members within ZANU PF.
President Mugabe has of late made several public and private invitations to Dabengwa to rejoin ZANU PF.
Mugabe's call for Dabengwa's return to ZANU PF is reportedly angering the former ZANU members who want none of it and yet the former PF ZAPU members are backing the call.
The source was however quick to dismiss any chances of the Matabeleland grouping joining any of the MDC factions already in place particularly the Welshman Ncube faction.
He also however did not dismiss any possible working relations with the Ncube faction as they also favoured the Devolution of Power concept which he says the former ZANU members don't want to hear about.
"The only possibility is join Dabengwa's ZAPU or bring Dabengwa to lead us within ZANU PF except if a new real Matabeleland collective party is formed. We are for Devolution of Power and that's what our people want which our other collegues in ZANU don't want to hear about" the source indicated.
He however also indicated that there were some elements within the Matabeleland leadership who are "sitting pretty" and not keen at all to leave ZANU PF as they are hoping to be seconded to some "pappet positions" within ZANU PF.
"We have a few difficult elements within us who have benefited a lot in ZANU PF and are enjoying being used as porns, we will leave them there if they are comfortable with being used.
Nkomo wathi singene siphume singela daka (former Vice President Joshua Nkomo said we must enter into ZANU PF and come out clean) but some of us appear to be now stuck in the mud." closed the source.
There has been numerous uncalled for calls by some former PF ZAPU leaders in ZANU PF for people of Matabeleland to maintain unity in ZANU PF and forget about the Gukurahundi atrocities calling them unfortunate by gones.
Leading calls have been made by among others National Chairman Simon Khaya Moyo who has Vice Presidency ambitions and recently by former Mines Minister Obert Mpofu who once publicly declared to be President Mugabe's loyal son.
Adding voice to the call is forgotten former Education Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu who is said to be ear marking National Chairman post if Khaya Moyo becomes Vice President.
The source indicates that the former PF ZAPU members do not want any of the three to lead them as they question their liberation war credentials and never held any senior positions within PF ZAPU and the three have never shown any genuine interests in the causes of the people of Matabeleland.
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi.....
The source indicates that Matabeleland based leaders have been told out rightly that they must not involve themselves at all in the Mugabe succession wars as they have nothing to do with ZANU PF.
"We were told point blank at a meeting in Harare recently that we are visitors in ZANU PF and so a visitor can not make any calls in a house he is visiting, we must just wait to be told what to do and where we are going to be put" said the source.
According to the highly placed source, the Matabeleland members are now regrouping and coming up with a contingency plan. Indications are that the members are seriously considering a mass defection to the Dumiso Dabengwa led new ZAPU PF.
The source says on the ground is also plans to revive what he calls a South - South relation that existed between Matabeleland and Masvingo Provinces.
The source further indicates that, the Matabeleland leadership proposed Dumiso Dabengwa to be appointed as Vice President in place of the late John Landa Nkomo an issue that has become a thorny ultimatum in ZANU PF's flesh.
Dabengwa is no longer a member of ZANU PF after quiting the party to revive ZAPU in 2006. According to the source, Dabengwa is viewed as the next and only powerful person that can manage to stand and defend the people of Matabeleland against the marauding former ZANU members within ZANU PF.
President Mugabe has of late made several public and private invitations to Dabengwa to rejoin ZANU PF.
Mugabe's call for Dabengwa's return to ZANU PF is reportedly angering the former ZANU members who want none of it and yet the former PF ZAPU members are backing the call.
The source was however quick to dismiss any chances of the Matabeleland grouping joining any of the MDC factions already in place particularly the Welshman Ncube faction.
He also however did not dismiss any possible working relations with the Ncube faction as they also favoured the Devolution of Power concept which he says the former ZANU members don't want to hear about.
"The only possibility is join Dabengwa's ZAPU or bring Dabengwa to lead us within ZANU PF except if a new real Matabeleland collective party is formed. We are for Devolution of Power and that's what our people want which our other collegues in ZANU don't want to hear about" the source indicated.
He however also indicated that there were some elements within the Matabeleland leadership who are "sitting pretty" and not keen at all to leave ZANU PF as they are hoping to be seconded to some "pappet positions" within ZANU PF.
"We have a few difficult elements within us who have benefited a lot in ZANU PF and are enjoying being used as porns, we will leave them there if they are comfortable with being used.
Nkomo wathi singene siphume singela daka (former Vice President Joshua Nkomo said we must enter into ZANU PF and come out clean) but some of us appear to be now stuck in the mud." closed the source.
There has been numerous uncalled for calls by some former PF ZAPU leaders in ZANU PF for people of Matabeleland to maintain unity in ZANU PF and forget about the Gukurahundi atrocities calling them unfortunate by gones.
Leading calls have been made by among others National Chairman Simon Khaya Moyo who has Vice Presidency ambitions and recently by former Mines Minister Obert Mpofu who once publicly declared to be President Mugabe's loyal son.
Adding voice to the call is forgotten former Education Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu who is said to be ear marking National Chairman post if Khaya Moyo becomes Vice President.
The source indicates that the former PF ZAPU members do not want any of the three to lead them as they question their liberation war credentials and never held any senior positions within PF ZAPU and the three have never shown any genuine interests in the causes of the people of Matabeleland.
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi.....
We will never forget, NEVER NEVER....
We will never forget the treatment we received as from day one of Zimbabwe independence. It will always be in our hearts the killings of Matabeleland people during Gukurahundi, today they stop us from having memorials.
I would like to say to Mthwakazi this is your time to stand up and get your land back, Siwela is right wish i could meet him one day.
People were killed every night and day by Zimbabwean Government yet they claim that there is peace on land.
Mr Innos Nkala who was Home Affairs Minister by then, worked day and night with Mr Emmason Mnangagwa, Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, LG Nhongo Army Commander, Mutambara Brigadier General and many more made sure that they dint rest before their hearts were fully satisfied with blood of Matebeles, and when sun rises they claim to have unity with us.NEVER.
We saw and kept quite when PF Zapu members who were injured at war and Zambian camps were ill treated, it still pains us today to remember those heroes at LIDO in Byo, only Z$600.00 were given to them and that was it and thrown into an old building without proper sanitation, Electricity cut off, water shortage, Sewage blocked, no medicine etc. Our Leaders such as Lookout Masuku, Nyathi, Dabengwa and others fighting for Matabeles people such as these soldiers at LIDO were thrown in prison and detained by CIO and charged with Treason. The only companies that could help our fellow brothers at LIDO were closed down by Zim gov, companies ei, NITRAM, NET EGG, WOOD GLEN etc. A certain Lady Judy was said to be a security risk to the Government when she helped or visited our brothers of PF Zapu in prison.
If Mugabe and his Zanu PF decided to keep man like Masuku, Dabengwa, Nyathi in prison for many years and some died even after the highest court in the country found them innocent, what will stop them today from locking up people like John Gazi, Paul Siwela,and others or even kill them. In his letter Mr Siwela provided at court said he got a tip off that there was a plot of him to be killed, this wont surprise any Matabele people because this happened in the eyes of the world when some other leaders were killed and nothing was done, MINA i say where ever you are Mr Siwela never step your foot back to that land we all know what those people are capable of.
Mugabe in his words after 1985 elections said those who were not Zanu PF members will be rooted out of parliament and it happened sibhekile.
What pains me, the most is that some of our Matabele leaders ran to Mugabe when he threw few bones on his heels even after heavy detestation, killings and torture.
Today most of Matabele leaders were never given heroes status but i would like to say you never give someone status of hero, all what you have to do is recognize it only.
Most of all i would like to say Matebeles this your time when we still have people like Siwela who say to us lets stand up and take our Matabeleland back, ngithi Siwela, Gazi where ever you are we are behind you.
You will never ever run a nation on a slogan that says (PASI NE) / down with other people's views.
Ma ubuye uMthwakazi matabeles this is our time lets get our land back. May' hlome ihlasele madoda.
Article by Sipho Tshabalala
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi
I would like to say to Mthwakazi this is your time to stand up and get your land back, Siwela is right wish i could meet him one day.
People were killed every night and day by Zimbabwean Government yet they claim that there is peace on land.
Mr Innos Nkala who was Home Affairs Minister by then, worked day and night with Mr Emmason Mnangagwa, Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, LG Nhongo Army Commander, Mutambara Brigadier General and many more made sure that they dint rest before their hearts were fully satisfied with blood of Matebeles, and when sun rises they claim to have unity with us.NEVER.
We saw and kept quite when PF Zapu members who were injured at war and Zambian camps were ill treated, it still pains us today to remember those heroes at LIDO in Byo, only Z$600.00 were given to them and that was it and thrown into an old building without proper sanitation, Electricity cut off, water shortage, Sewage blocked, no medicine etc. Our Leaders such as Lookout Masuku, Nyathi, Dabengwa and others fighting for Matabeles people such as these soldiers at LIDO were thrown in prison and detained by CIO and charged with Treason. The only companies that could help our fellow brothers at LIDO were closed down by Zim gov, companies ei, NITRAM, NET EGG, WOOD GLEN etc. A certain Lady Judy was said to be a security risk to the Government when she helped or visited our brothers of PF Zapu in prison.
If Mugabe and his Zanu PF decided to keep man like Masuku, Dabengwa, Nyathi in prison for many years and some died even after the highest court in the country found them innocent, what will stop them today from locking up people like John Gazi, Paul Siwela,and others or even kill them. In his letter Mr Siwela provided at court said he got a tip off that there was a plot of him to be killed, this wont surprise any Matabele people because this happened in the eyes of the world when some other leaders were killed and nothing was done, MINA i say where ever you are Mr Siwela never step your foot back to that land we all know what those people are capable of.
Mugabe in his words after 1985 elections said those who were not Zanu PF members will be rooted out of parliament and it happened sibhekile.
What pains me, the most is that some of our Matabele leaders ran to Mugabe when he threw few bones on his heels even after heavy detestation, killings and torture.
Today most of Matabele leaders were never given heroes status but i would like to say you never give someone status of hero, all what you have to do is recognize it only.
Most of all i would like to say Matebeles this your time when we still have people like Siwela who say to us lets stand up and take our Matabeleland back, ngithi Siwela, Gazi where ever you are we are behind you.
You will never ever run a nation on a slogan that says (PASI NE) / down with other people's views.
Ma ubuye uMthwakazi matabeles this is our time lets get our land back. May' hlome ihlasele madoda.
Article by Sipho Tshabalala
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi
Monday, 20 January 2014
Biti suffering from a Zimbabwelitis induced falsehood celebration and tribal constipation
Yesterday Tendai Biti, Secretary-General of MDC-T, wrote an article in which he purported to pose a question. He asked: What is wrong with Zimbabwe?
For starters, that is no question at all. Thankfully, despite the rather misplaced industry of his article, Biti did not even purport to answer his non-question. How could anyone ever purport to pose a question of that nature about Zimbabwe in the first place? It's a tautological irrelevance! Beyond what it is – a mournful soliloquy – no one needs an article like that.
In the article Biti presents a raft of examples, supposedly false, to show how everything is wrong about Zimbabwe. The problem is that the examples he gives, and many others he doesn't, are all true, rather than false, and indicative of the true nature of Zimbabwe. In a rather ironic, if predictable way, therefore, given Biti's MDC-T pedigree, the article is a parody of itself, simultaneously mocking the truth and celebrating falsehood. As Zanu-PF, MDC-T are fidgety visitors to truth, and right.
Zimbabwe is a lie, and, unsurprisingly, from it such articles can come. Biti doesn't intend to lie, but does. After Gukurahundi, Biti can't pretend not to know the truth. He was on the wrong side of it, or ambivalent to it, when the Ndebele people, unarmed, stood up for it and defended it against Gukurahundi. Selective memory, and re-ordered truths, is the story of Zimbabwe. Biti's article betrays that. And in Zimbabwe, you fit in opposites, and quite comfortably too – a Gukurahundist now and a democrat later, and back again in reverse order.
We only need to peep through MDC-T's door to see this lie. It is the biggest falsehood of the 'democratization' and 'change' agenda, of which Biti is its chief executive, that lies and chest-beating are the sole domain of Zanu-PF. MDC-T, in particular, has miniaturized everybody and everything and relegated everybody and everything to unknowing minnows in the face of this all-knowing combine harvester called MDC-T harvesting 'democracy'. And as MDC-T grew inversely in relation to its electoral chances over the years, it bloated in tribal constipation to this Zanu-PF clone it is today.
And how could MDC-T condemn Mugabe for clinging to power, when its scandal-riddled leader, and a perennial loser at the polls, won't do the decent thing? But there again, it's not just Mugabe and Tsvangirai afflicted with Zimbabwelitis. A few years ago there was a fossil figure at EMCOZ, who if memory is correct, expired in post. Then there is Peter Chingoka, Lovemore Madhuku - now Job Sikala - and various permutations of them. This expanding list of Zimbabwe's self-made dynasties and carved fiefdoms belong to and speak to the bigger lie Zimbabwe is.
Gukurahundi was about mutilating truth, shaming decency, and elevating lies to the status of celebrated truth. We saw MDC-T true character at the 2005 split, in the abuse they heaped on Welshman Ncube, Gibson Sibanda and others, and in 2008, in their treatment of the Ndebele, when they erroneously thought they were now the party of government and distributor of patronage and cronyism. MDC-T has never opposed Gukurahundi on principle, but like Zanu-PF, has always embraced its political instrumentality. Indeed, at the height of their hubris, MDC-T even colluded with Zanu-PF to 'bury' Gukurahundi behind the facia of the so-called Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Act.
So, if Biti needed to pose a question during his tantrum, it should be: What is Zimbabwe? Not his non-question!
Biti would have answered that question by saying that Zimbabwe is a lie.
He would then have acknowledged that it was his party's lie to itself and to the people of today's Zimbabwe, against all advice freely given and against objective truth, which made them sleep-walk itself into a phony referendum and a rehearsed election. And that it was his party's lie to itself and the people of present-day that made them go to bed with Zanu-PF in 2008, again, against all free advice and against objective truth. Having sanitized Zanu-PF for four years and recovered it from sure death, it was their lie to themselves and to the people of present-day Zimbabwe that they pretended not to know the outcome of the elections. After Biti and Morgan Tsvangirai, and many others, including, surprisingly, David Coltart and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, loaded Mugabe variously with fulsome praises, Biti can't turn around and not know what is wrong about today's Zimbabwe.
As a lawyer, and writing truthfully, Biti would know that the only true guarantor for truth is a constitutional order, not a constitutional document such as he and his party colluded to deliver, and that a constitutional order is premised on free public consent, and not privatized 'deals' of public power.
As a lawyer, and writing truthfully, Biti would know that it is Zimbabwe's false constitutional foundation that has always made Zimbabwe this enemy of the truth and decency, and this sand castle built by a holidaying family at a beach.
Biti would both historicize Zimbabwe and place it correctly in contemporary and constitutional and political thought. He would acknowledge Zimbabwe's faulted origins, and its accompanying treachery, and see the death of truth at that source. He would see Zanu-PF's treachery, in its formation and in its behaviour at the conclusion of the Lancaster House Agreement. He would understand Gukurahundi more fully.
Biti would see Zanu-PF as the party, not of liberation, but of stasis and reaction. He would see the instrumentality of Zanu-PF up to and until 1998. And he would understand why with the coming into being of a Conservative government, formally called a Coalition government in the UK, his party's political fortunes have waned and that of Mugabe and Zanu-PF have grown. He would understand Mugabe's invitation today for Zapu to 'rejoin' Zanu-PF.
But Biti would in the same vein understand the instrumentality of his own party, MDC-T, at the precise point of 1999, and why for over 14 years now, hi party's word has been sacrosanct and superior to everyone else despite his party's limited resources? The MDC-T gospel, in fact? He would understand why his own party's behaviour towards Welshman Ncube and others who stood by and defended the original 'ideals' of MDC, has no substantive difference to the behaviour of Mugabe and Zanu-PF to Joshua Nkomo and Zapu in the1980s.
And in seeking to align himself with truth this time, Biti would ask why it is that the drums of Ndebele independence have grown louder and stronger with every assertion of Zimbabwe as a 'unitary' State?
Why in fact calling the Ndebele Zimbabweans is like a hot meat pie chewed straight from the oven?
All these points and questions would make Biti understand why it is that a truth killed by Gukurahundi in Matebeleland and the Midlands in the 1980s can no longer be found elsewhere even in Mashonaland in 2014? Why, if one accepts Biti's sobbing for an exiled truth, he can't even find truth even in the private sphere? In fact, why he and his party have not only not listened to truth but despised it until 31 July 2013?
Lies in the public sphere, once started, can't be segmentalized to enemies only; it takes its own life and consumes everybody like a wild fire. Biti must mourn his part and his party's part in advancing the cause of lies and over-self-importance, and killing truth.
Perhaps until Mr Biti begins asking the truthful questions and begins hungering for the truth, he should confine his mournful reminisces about the recent elections to the private domain.
Written by Stella Msebele
For starters, that is no question at all. Thankfully, despite the rather misplaced industry of his article, Biti did not even purport to answer his non-question. How could anyone ever purport to pose a question of that nature about Zimbabwe in the first place? It's a tautological irrelevance! Beyond what it is – a mournful soliloquy – no one needs an article like that.
In the article Biti presents a raft of examples, supposedly false, to show how everything is wrong about Zimbabwe. The problem is that the examples he gives, and many others he doesn't, are all true, rather than false, and indicative of the true nature of Zimbabwe. In a rather ironic, if predictable way, therefore, given Biti's MDC-T pedigree, the article is a parody of itself, simultaneously mocking the truth and celebrating falsehood. As Zanu-PF, MDC-T are fidgety visitors to truth, and right.
Zimbabwe is a lie, and, unsurprisingly, from it such articles can come. Biti doesn't intend to lie, but does. After Gukurahundi, Biti can't pretend not to know the truth. He was on the wrong side of it, or ambivalent to it, when the Ndebele people, unarmed, stood up for it and defended it against Gukurahundi. Selective memory, and re-ordered truths, is the story of Zimbabwe. Biti's article betrays that. And in Zimbabwe, you fit in opposites, and quite comfortably too – a Gukurahundist now and a democrat later, and back again in reverse order.
We only need to peep through MDC-T's door to see this lie. It is the biggest falsehood of the 'democratization' and 'change' agenda, of which Biti is its chief executive, that lies and chest-beating are the sole domain of Zanu-PF. MDC-T, in particular, has miniaturized everybody and everything and relegated everybody and everything to unknowing minnows in the face of this all-knowing combine harvester called MDC-T harvesting 'democracy'. And as MDC-T grew inversely in relation to its electoral chances over the years, it bloated in tribal constipation to this Zanu-PF clone it is today.
And how could MDC-T condemn Mugabe for clinging to power, when its scandal-riddled leader, and a perennial loser at the polls, won't do the decent thing? But there again, it's not just Mugabe and Tsvangirai afflicted with Zimbabwelitis. A few years ago there was a fossil figure at EMCOZ, who if memory is correct, expired in post. Then there is Peter Chingoka, Lovemore Madhuku - now Job Sikala - and various permutations of them. This expanding list of Zimbabwe's self-made dynasties and carved fiefdoms belong to and speak to the bigger lie Zimbabwe is.
Gukurahundi was about mutilating truth, shaming decency, and elevating lies to the status of celebrated truth. We saw MDC-T true character at the 2005 split, in the abuse they heaped on Welshman Ncube, Gibson Sibanda and others, and in 2008, in their treatment of the Ndebele, when they erroneously thought they were now the party of government and distributor of patronage and cronyism. MDC-T has never opposed Gukurahundi on principle, but like Zanu-PF, has always embraced its political instrumentality. Indeed, at the height of their hubris, MDC-T even colluded with Zanu-PF to 'bury' Gukurahundi behind the facia of the so-called Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Act.
So, if Biti needed to pose a question during his tantrum, it should be: What is Zimbabwe? Not his non-question!
Biti would have answered that question by saying that Zimbabwe is a lie.
He would then have acknowledged that it was his party's lie to itself and to the people of today's Zimbabwe, against all advice freely given and against objective truth, which made them sleep-walk itself into a phony referendum and a rehearsed election. And that it was his party's lie to itself and the people of present-day that made them go to bed with Zanu-PF in 2008, again, against all free advice and against objective truth. Having sanitized Zanu-PF for four years and recovered it from sure death, it was their lie to themselves and to the people of present-day Zimbabwe that they pretended not to know the outcome of the elections. After Biti and Morgan Tsvangirai, and many others, including, surprisingly, David Coltart and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, loaded Mugabe variously with fulsome praises, Biti can't turn around and not know what is wrong about today's Zimbabwe.
As a lawyer, and writing truthfully, Biti would know that the only true guarantor for truth is a constitutional order, not a constitutional document such as he and his party colluded to deliver, and that a constitutional order is premised on free public consent, and not privatized 'deals' of public power.
As a lawyer, and writing truthfully, Biti would know that it is Zimbabwe's false constitutional foundation that has always made Zimbabwe this enemy of the truth and decency, and this sand castle built by a holidaying family at a beach.
Biti would both historicize Zimbabwe and place it correctly in contemporary and constitutional and political thought. He would acknowledge Zimbabwe's faulted origins, and its accompanying treachery, and see the death of truth at that source. He would see Zanu-PF's treachery, in its formation and in its behaviour at the conclusion of the Lancaster House Agreement. He would understand Gukurahundi more fully.
Biti would see Zanu-PF as the party, not of liberation, but of stasis and reaction. He would see the instrumentality of Zanu-PF up to and until 1998. And he would understand why with the coming into being of a Conservative government, formally called a Coalition government in the UK, his party's political fortunes have waned and that of Mugabe and Zanu-PF have grown. He would understand Mugabe's invitation today for Zapu to 'rejoin' Zanu-PF.
But Biti would in the same vein understand the instrumentality of his own party, MDC-T, at the precise point of 1999, and why for over 14 years now, hi party's word has been sacrosanct and superior to everyone else despite his party's limited resources? The MDC-T gospel, in fact? He would understand why his own party's behaviour towards Welshman Ncube and others who stood by and defended the original 'ideals' of MDC, has no substantive difference to the behaviour of Mugabe and Zanu-PF to Joshua Nkomo and Zapu in the1980s.
And in seeking to align himself with truth this time, Biti would ask why it is that the drums of Ndebele independence have grown louder and stronger with every assertion of Zimbabwe as a 'unitary' State?
Why in fact calling the Ndebele Zimbabweans is like a hot meat pie chewed straight from the oven?
All these points and questions would make Biti understand why it is that a truth killed by Gukurahundi in Matebeleland and the Midlands in the 1980s can no longer be found elsewhere even in Mashonaland in 2014? Why, if one accepts Biti's sobbing for an exiled truth, he can't even find truth even in the private sphere? In fact, why he and his party have not only not listened to truth but despised it until 31 July 2013?
Lies in the public sphere, once started, can't be segmentalized to enemies only; it takes its own life and consumes everybody like a wild fire. Biti must mourn his part and his party's part in advancing the cause of lies and over-self-importance, and killing truth.
Perhaps until Mr Biti begins asking the truthful questions and begins hungering for the truth, he should confine his mournful reminisces about the recent elections to the private domain.
Written by Stella Msebele
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