Tobaiwa Mudede is also an alien

The insistence by Tobaiwa Mudede the Registrar General that people whose origins are countries such as Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique are aliens is very regrettable, unfortunate as well as misplaced. I wonder if Tobaiwa Mudede passed through a history class or he just heard some other people using the word alien and he decided to use it to refer to people whose origins are from the aforementioned countries. I would like to remind Mudede that as much as he regards those people as aliens, it is most likely that he is also one unless he could prove beyond any shadow of doubt that he belongs to the San or Khoisan ethnic group which is regarded as the original group to inhabit this part of Africa.

Chances are high that Mudede and all those who adopted the word alien in our laws belong to the Bantu ethnic groups. The Bantu ethnic groups originated in Nigeria and Cameron in West Africa. 3000 years ago different Bantu groups started migrating to eastern, southern and central Africa. History which Mudede does not know tells us that when the Bantu speaking people left West Africa, some settled in the forest around the Congo river while others went to the east coast as well as southern Africa. Tobaiwa Mudede's ancestors were most likely to have been among those who decided to go further south and settled in the land between the Zambezi and the Limpopo.

History which Mudede does not know or chooses to ignore tells us that the indigenous people of Southern Africa are the Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, Kung, or Khwe. The words San or Khoisan are usually used to refer to this group of people. Their territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe,Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, The bantu ethnic group found the San Khoisan ethnic group in this part of Africa.

If Tobaiwa Mudede does not want me to refer to him as an alien, he has to convince me that he belongs to an indigenous ethnic group of southern Africa. The San or Khoisan people have every right to call all the Bantu ethnic groups in this country as aliens. But the remaining San community has not raised this issue.

One needs to understand that there has been movements of different groups of people to this part of the world during different historical epochs. Saying those people who moved to Zimbabwe during a particular historical period are aliens is very regrettable and unfortunate. Mudede has basically been trying to steer ethnic hatred which could prove to be disastrous in future. Boasting before a Parliamentary Committee that these people are aliens because that is the word used in meetings you attend is arrogant to say the least. One needs to respect fellow countrymen as human beings and not as aliens. Let us recognize each other as Zimbabweans who have a history which tells us that we originated from different parts of Africa. I do not believe that an Africa no matter the color of skin is an alien in Africa.

Given this historical narrative, our Registrar General is an alien who has to thank the new constitution for restoring his citizenship. Otherwise he should have been asked to go to Nigeria and Cameron to renounce that citizenship.

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Mosimani Mudziwepasi can be contacted at mudziwepasim@gmail.com