Zimpapers Logo

Yoliswa Moyo, [email protected]

It is us, the people of Zimbabwe, who now own this great nation. Full with all its mineral wealth, rivers, valleys and plains — Zimbabwe is now ours. We can now live, work and generate income freely without having to worry about 6PM curfews or whether or not you’re walking on the right pavement.

But not without struggle by our forefathers who fought tooth and nail to deliver our great nation out of the shackles on white minority rule and into the hands of the black majority.

Their heroic sacrifices delivered Zimbabwe to the masses. From the young girls who had to endure hours of training, eventually stopping menstruating because of the intensity of the exercises they did, to the young men who left their homes with just the clothing on their backs to join the country’s protracted liberation struggle —  their sacrifices for a better life should never be forgotten.

Many of our country’s heroes, living and departed, carried the pain of seeing their parents suffer at the hands of Rhodesian armed forces.  

They fought against racial segregation and being disenfranchised in their motherland.

On the frontlines, blood, sweat and tears dripped as they fought racist ideologies such as the civilising mission and the doctrine that blacks were lesser people.

White settlers believed in such theories of superiority which purported that whites were more advanced than blacks, who they believed were of low morality and incapable of controlling themselves.

This racist ideology was the basis for a series of discriminatory legislation such as the Sale of Liquor to Natives and Indians Regulations 1898, which prohibited the sale of alcohol to black people in Southern Rhodesia as well as the Immorality and Indecency Suppression Act 1903, which criminalised sexual acts between white women and black men.

Rhodesia was established under the sponsorship of Cecil John Rhodes and his British South Africa Company and he firmly believed in the White-Man’s Burden idea of the duty of the Anglo-Saxon race to help “civilise” the “darker” corners of the world and regarded British imperialism as a positive force for this purpose.

The settlers that occupied Zimbabwe shared this view of the world and treated the indigenous black people as children that needed guidance, protection and civilisation.

Racial segregation permeated the colonial project at every level, whether it was in sports, hotel facilities, or the use of public conveniences and amenities.

The only way the black majority could rid themselves of these injustices was to rise up and fight in a protracted armed struggle which culminated in the country’s independence on 18 April, 1980.

In A Life of Sacrifice, President Mnangagwa’s biography written by renowned economist and author Eddie Cross, we are told about how young Emmerson was taken into custody and subjected to the full fury of the Rhodesian armed and security forces. He was subjected to the most brutal and inhumane torture tactics which included hanging him on hooks in his cell, upside down.

“They knew his history, his father’s early activities and subsequent expulsion from the country to Zambia. They had penetrated the Zambian structure of both Parties and had a considerable understanding of his training in Egypt and China. But they wanted to know what he had been taught, what structures operated in Rhodesia and more information about the leadership in exile,” writes Cross.

He says the techniques used were not in any textbook on how prisoners should be treated and Emmerson was not regarded as a political prisoner or a prisoner of war.

“He was severely beaten and lost the partial use of one ear as a result. He was hung upside down and doused with water, he was threatened and it was made clear that they regarded him as being responsible for the death of Oberholzer in Chimanimani. He was made to hold a Land Rover seat in the air while standing on one leg for hours. He was made to crouch under a low shelf in a very uncomfortable position from time to time and assaulted. A dynamite was lit and held to his chest till it got down to the end,” writes Cross.

“Drawing pins were stuck into the soles of his feet and he was made to walk on them causing him considerable pain. He endured torture during his interrogation. Held in isolation, eventually he was brought to Court and charged with murder, attempted murder and sabotage. Under Rhodesian law he was provided with a lawyer and since the authorities had no idea how old he was, his lawyers argued that he was not old enough (21) to be sentenced to death.”

Racism in colonial Zimbabwe was informed by a sense of fear, given the fact that whites were grossly outnumbered in the country and they were always afraid of being overwhelmed by the black majority. This contributed to their determination to control black people and “keep them in their place”.

Politically, blacks were excluded at every level and the Public Services Act of 1921 prohibited black people from employment in the civil service. Blacks were also largely disenfranchised through a series of qualifications.

The 1923 Constitution enforced income and property restrictions that were unattainable for the majority of blacks.

In his autobiography, The Story of My Life, the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo says he thirsted for freedom. 

“In middle life, I fought for national independence, and I was 63 years old when, in 1980, Zimbabwe emerged as the last of Britain’s African colonies to win nationhood,” says Dr Nkomo.

He says our war of independence was longer and crueller than any yet fought in Africa because it was unnecessary.

The white people of Southern Rhodesia were outnumbered at least 20 to one by the blacks whom they refused to acknowledge as their fellow citizens.

“They must have known in their hearts that they couldn’t in the long run perpetuate their rule. We had no alternative to taking up arms. By their prolonged resistance, the settlers themselves fostered bitterness not only between themselves and the black majority but also between the various African factions struggling for justice in prison or in exile,” says Dr Nkomo.

Hardly a family in our country was unaffected by the bloody war that was forced upon us, he says.

“Tens of thousands of young people grew up knowing nothing but chaos and disruption — living in danger, in the bush, in exile, in makeshift camps, outside the steadying framework of established communities. The war was necessary and I do not regret my part in it. The price of freedom can never be too high.” –  @Yolisswa