Gukurahundi journalism need to be exposed: Moyo

SAD as it was, the death of heroine and Zapu Council of Elders chairperson, Thenjiwe Lesabe, made a positive impact on Zimbabwe's politics.

First and foremost, Lesabe's case proved beyond any reasonable doubt that there are women who are heroines in their own right. While the likes of Sally Mugabe, Mama MaFuyana, Julia Tukai Zvobgo were declared national heroines by Zanu PF by virtue of being spouses of heroes, Lesabe's husband, the late Reverend Peter Lesabe, has no published involvement in the liberation struggle.

The other three women were generally "rewarded" for being steadfast, resilient, patient, faithful and so-forth to their husbands who spent years in prison or in exile fighting for independence. And there was nothing wrong with their declaration as national heroines.

There was Lesabe, who made a name for herself and her husband and their children, by doing the actual struggling herself. Her case proved that women are not only heroines by association with their husbands, and in some cases in association with their brothers like the late Sabina Mugabe. Sadly, a group of forsaken men and women, who believe they still define what Zimbabwe is, and call themselves the Zanu PF politburo, said all the heroics of Lesabe were obliterated the moment she left their sinking Titanic to rejoin her original party, Zapu.

Lesabe's passing-on also brought into perspective Zanu PF's slide back to Gukurahundi mode, which says there can be no heroes in Zapu, worse if they are Ndebele like Thenjiwe Lesabe and the late Lieutenant General Lookout Masuku, the last commander of Zipra. Zanu PF demonstrated this through denying Lesabe heroine status.

The treatment of Lesabe's case obviously did not go down well with vice president John Nkomo, Zanu PF chairman Simon Khaya Moyo and ex-Zapu politburo members Kembo Mohadi, Naison Ndlovu, Sithembiso Nyoni, Angeline Masuku, Sikhanyios Ndlovu, Joshua Malinga and others, but there was nothing they could do. Their situation is not different from Ndebeles who were in Zanu during Gukurahundi who could not dare open their mouths against the massacre of their kith-and-kin.

Lesabe's passing-on, therefore, put into perspective that Nkomo and other ex-Zapu leaders, and those Zanu leaders from Matabeleland, are just tokens with no access to real power. Otherwise they would have fought, both behind and outside the politburo doors for Lesabe's case.

The passing-on of Lesabe also exposed that a version of journalism I call Gukurahundi journalism, pioneered by former editors, chiefly Geoffrey Nyarota of the Chronicle then, who not only paid a blind eye to genocide, but actually ululated when fellow nationals were being thrown alive into disused, deep dark mine shafts at Bhalagwe in Kezi. I wish the trigger-happy Nyarota would try to deny this.

I am itching to do something about Gukurahundi journalists because the world must know them for what they are: supporters of genocide. Where are you Cde Nyarota? How about a book on how you avoided exposing genocide happening a few kilometers from your newsroom? While Perence Shiri and his evil men and women were busy spraying unarmed civilians with bullets and bayoneting pregnant women, Nyarota and crew were busy killing us with their poison pens and printing presses.

As if taking a cue from the legendary Nyarota and other exponents of Gukurahundi journalism, The Chronicle "buried" the news of the death of Lesabe on page two of its issue. I am told the Harare-based and official Zanu PF mouthpieceThe Herald of the same date did not even have a story of Lesabe's death. Maybe the poor editor of the paper was afraid, just like Nyarota was, to put his livelihood on the line by writing about the death of a heroic "Zapu dissident". The ZBC, our one and only broadcaster that none of us wants to watch, only started running the story in the afternoon bulletins of the following morning.

For The Chronicle, the news of Lesabe's death was an obvious page one lead with a reverse bold headline. Lesabe was an icon. She lived and died in Bulawayo. She was a national character. She was a likeable woman. Lesabe was probably the first black female journalist in the county. She was a former cabinet minister. Last but not least, she was the chairperson of the council of elders for Zapu, Zimbabwe's founding and authentic liberation movement and party of the moment, depending on where you stay.

Whichever way one looks at it, the basics of journalism tell you that Lesabe's story deserved all of The Chronicle's pages one and two, if not all its pages. But not when you have a party that scares even its own editors to a point of not knowing what to do with something as simple as this. It is sad that my colleagues Innocent Gore and Paul Mambo, editors of Chronicle and Sunday News respectively, find themselves in a situation similar to Nyarota's, where one is forced to ignore real news and write about a "scandal" (Willowvale, aka Willowgate), or some obscure national hero (Cde Nhloko), at the expence of genocide (Gukurahundi) and a bigger hero (Lesabe), so as to divert people's attention from the real issues (Gukurahundi and Lesabe).

It is funny that state newspapers continued to refer to Lesabe either as former Zanu PF politburo member or former Cabinet Minister. While this is true, what was current and relevant was that Lesabe was the chairperson of the Zapu council of elders when she died. The rest is background and must naturally be written but later in the story.

How come they do not refer to President Mugabe as former Zapu deputy secretary for information and publicity? Or to Morgan Tsvangiria as a former ZCTU secretary general? It is as if the poor editors have been frog-marched to the Zanu PF headquarters and sworn never to write the name Zapu, unless if it is unavoidable.

The other positive aspect f Lesabe's death was that it shot through all the gate-keepers at the state media empire at ZBC and Zimpapers and proved that Zapu is not only strong, but that Zanu PF has been virtually decimated in Bulawayo and Matabeleland. People from all walks of life came out in their numbers to mourn with Lesabe's family and her party Zapu. They generously donated money, food, vehicles and materials to cater for the massive programme. Traditional leaders came out in their numbers, and appeared to be very much at home to be with Zapu.

On our part, we warmly welcomed all including our political rivals and sworn enemies, including those who denied Lesabe her heroine status, to be with us and even address us. Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC-with-his-surname came and spoke at the memorial service at the Large City Hall, as did Oppah Muchinguri of Zanu PF. Sadly, someone at Zesa switched-off electricity before she could deliver her speech.

I was anxious to hear her speak, and had this feeling that she looked determined to be unpopular with the powers-that-be at Zanu PF by declaring that Lesabe was her hero. After all, Lesabe led the Zanu PF women's league for almost a decade after the death of Sally Mugabe. Sensing danger, someone in dark glasses must have ordered someone at Zesa to load shed the grid that brings power to the city hall. As a result, Muchinguri left without delivering her speech.

Determined to be heard no matter what, Tsvangirai chose to shout his speech without the aid of a public address system. All he could do was to echo what Zapu president, Dr Dumiso Dabengwa had said about the nonsensical Zanu PF monopoly and biased system of declaring heroes. Once more, the desperation of Tsvangirai's party came to the fore when they mobilised a bunch of their supporters and sat them at a corner of the hall to yell whenever his name was mentioned. Their behavior was annoying and cheap. It appears the MDC-T is under pressure to prove its popularity, even at funerals.

Saturday, February 19, 2011, the day Lesabe's remains were laid to rest at her farm in Fort Rixon, will forever remain fresh in the minds of most of us who attended. The volume of human traffic, the bold and colorful Zapu supporters, relatives and friends of the Lesabe's and the Khumalo's made the event hard to forget. Far from being sad, the mood was that of the celebration of the life a heroine. From that day on, it is going to be extremely difficult for Zanu PF to convince anyone else from Matabeleland to bury their loved one at the heroes' acre in Harare.

By any means, the major positive outcome of Lesabe's death was the attendance and address of the mourners by the chairperson of South Africa's ruling ANC party, Baleka Mbete. When a whole chairperson of the ruling party of Africa's giant attends the burial of the leader of an opposition party there must be something strong between the ANC and Zapu. As they say, blood is thicker than water. ANC and Zapu lost and shed blood together during the war of our liberation, the plan being to liberate Zimbabwe first so as to create an access route for ANC guerillas to penetrate apartheid South Africa. The plan suffered a major set back when Zanu got into power at the expense of Zapu in Zimbabwe. Zanu took the initiative to endear itself to the ANC, when we all know that ANC was Zapu's sister liberation movement, and Zanu's sister was PAC.

With the revival of Zapu, and the death of Lesabe, it became impossible for the ANC not to commit itself, even if this meant ruffling the feathers of one of the three co-ruling parties in Zimbabwe. Mbete's speech was to the mark: Lesabe and Zapu and ANC struggled together, and fell short of confirming that they were and will always be together. All this happened in the eyes of Zanu PF chairman, Simon Khaya Moyo, fellow politburo members Angeline Masuku, Kembo Mohadi, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and Matabeleland South Zanu PF chairman and local MP Andrew Langa. It was refreshing to see Zanu PF zealots like Khaya Moyo being cut to size.

Sad as it was, the death of Thenjiwe Virginia Lesabe, like that of the legendary Father Zimbabwe, Joshua Nkomo, opened an irreparable hole in Zanu PF's propaganda about the struggle, the 'unity accord', about who and what is a hero. For us, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The momentum it gave Zapu is immeasurable, thanks to old men and women in the politburo who fail to realise that current generations, unlike those of yesterday, are immune to propaganda.

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Methuseli Moyo is the communications and marketing director for Zapu. This story first appeared on New Zimbabwe.com