Opinion / Columnist
Of the Baba Jukwa Saga and the Pretext to Gukurahundi Part II
06 Jul 2014 at 23:38hrs | Views
Fellow Zimbabweans, and most importantly fellow Bakalanga, BaNambya, BaSotho and Vhavenda, I trust that I find you well after a long absence. I have been busy with other pressing work elsewhere. Like most of you, I have been following the Baba Jukwa saga with keen interest, wondering what exactly could be unfolding here. As many of you might be, I have been thinking that the saga is nothing more than Zanu succession politics at play. (Borrowing from Tshepo Mabalane Mabalane, I shall not use the "PF" because there is certainly nothing "patriotic" about the Evil Empire). But since the arrest of one Edmund Kudzayi, who, according to the state, was hired by Professor Jonathan Moyo, and yet known to be a Zanu critic, I have come to change my mind concerning this saga. Two main things really changed my mind. It is the names given to the alleged subversive army that Kudzayi & Co are alleged to have been organizing; and the emotional outburst and attack against the person of Professor Jonathan Moyo as a "weevil" and a "devil incarnate" (which, according to Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa, must be "gamatoxed" (killed, eliminated?)). The questioning of Professor Moyo's handling of his job and why he established IMPI and what he wants to use the information it gathers for has also contributed to my change of mind. I have been looking at all this in the context of the so-called Tjolotjo Declaration (or Dinyane Debacle) in which Professor Moyo is accused of having plotted against now-VP Joyce Mujuru, and, as one can infer, against the not-so-excellent President Mugabe. Looking at all this in that context, I have found myself unable to resist the conclusion that there are certainly parallels between the events that preceded the Gukurahundi Genocide and what we are seeing right now.
I shall in this article point out to some of the happenings and ask questions if the Baba Jukwa saga is just about Zanu succession politics, or it is part of a larger plan to finish off what the Zanu 1979 Grand Plan envisages, that is, turning Zimbabwe into an unquestioned Shona country in which everyone else, Kalanga, Venda, Ndebele, White, Sotho, etc is either driven off the country or subordinated to the Shona. In drawing the parallels, I shall look at the words that have been used to attack Professor Moyo in the context of those that were used in the attacks against Dr Joshua Nkomo before the Gukurahundi Genocide was launched. Secondly, I shall raise questions about the name given to Kudzayi & Co's alleged brigade and army - the Gunda Nleya Brigade and the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Army. Lastly, I shall look at what the Zanu Grand Plan largely envisages and tie it up with the issues herein raised.
Before launching into the remainder of the article, let me state from the beginning that it can be construed to be naïve, far-fetched and ill-informed. To clear the air, I'll admit that I may be wrong. Yet as a citizen of Zimbabwe whose people have been subjected to genocidal atrocities before, I cannot resist raising these questions. With that out of the way, let me now turn attention to the issues at hand.
1. Parallels Between the Attacks Against Professor Jonathan Moyo and the Attacks Against Dr Joshua Nkomo
Over the last two months, beginning in one (we are told) heated Politburo meeting and extending to the funeral of the alleged author of the Zanu Grand Plan and former Information Minister Nathan Shamuyarira, Mugabe attacked current Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo and branded him a "weevil" and a "devil incarnate". That was to be followed by further attacks by Mugabe's Presidential Affairs Minister, Didymus Mutasa, also using the term weevil. In a bizarre turn off events, Justice Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is alleged to lead a Zanu faction to which Professor Moyo belongs, also used the term whilst appearing before a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee when asked what would happen to the "weevils". Media reports him as saying the "president makes no empty statements" and action will certainly be taken against the "weevils". Now, one may interpret Mnangagwa's words and meanings in many ways, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
If one were to rewind their thinking back to 1980-82, they will find shocking parallels between the statements referred to above and the many statements that were made against then Zapu leader, Dr Joshua Nkomo. In rallies and in parliament, Mugabe and his ministers stood up to denounce Dr Nkomo as a "cobra" and a "snake in the house", and pronounced that their solution was the elimination of that "cobra" or "snake". Dr Nkomo was accused of plotting the overthrow of the Zanu government by military means, and as a "solution", a North Korean-trained militia, which did not report to the Army chain of command but directly to Mugabe, christened the 5th Brigade, and the operation Gukurahundi (the rain that washes away the chaff), was to sweep across Bukalanga/Matebeleland leaving unbelievable destruction in its trails. Thousands of people (commonly estimated at 20,000 but could be up to 100,000), were to be murdered in cold blood, supposedly to protect them from 200 "dissidents". Whole villages were wiped out, many left without limbs, parents, children or both, and many thrown into disused mines, alive. As we were to learn in the leaked review of the Zanu Grand Plan which was published by UK-based The Times journalist, Matthew Paris, the Gukurahundi Genocide had nothing to do with any insurgency on the part of Zapu and its defunct army wing, Zipra. The operation was just part of a long-term plan which envisages turning Zimbabwe into an unquestioned Shona country for the Shona by the Shona in about 30 years. Dr Joshua Nkomo, who was termed "Zimundeere of questionable ethnic origins" according to his book, The Story of My Life, and the Grand Plan document, was seen as a stumbling block to this plan owing to his popular support by the masses, hence, he had to at worst be eliminated and at best be neutralized.
Coming back to the attacks against Professor Moyo, who before he joined Zanu was one of its staunchest critics, we are left wondering, are the attacks against him something similar to and as sinister as the attacks against Dr Nkomo? This especially when we have seen the President and his MPs insinuating that Professor Moyo is simply doing what he used to say before he joined Zanu, that the best way to destroy the Evil Empire is to do so from within? Granted, everyone in any organization would ask the same question if faced with similar circumstances, but how about the labels of "weevil" and "devil incarnate"? How about the proposition that the "weevil must be gamatoxed"? What does that mean but murder since the work of gamatox on weevils is to kill? Is this aimed only at Professor Moyo or at his whole people, the people of Bukalanga/Matebeleland? Yes, that's a valid question. Dr Joshua Nkomo was attacked and accused of being the "cobra in the house" and a "snake whose head must be struck". Who can forget what later happened? The callous murder of tens of thousands of our people. And who can forget Mugabe a few years ago jetting into Bulawayo and pronouncing that there are "snakes" in the city that need to be dealt with? And who, after reading the Zanu Grand Plan, can fail to see the unfolding of the script as per the authors' very intentions? I ask: are the attacks against Professor Moyo, who is labeled a "weevil" and a "devil incarnate" merely to do with Zanu succession politics, or are they a pretext to something more sinister like the attacks on Dr Nkomo as a "cobra" and a "snake in the house" were to lead to? The jury is out on the matter.
2. The Gunda Nleya Brigade and the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Army
If there is one thing that changed my thinking concerning the Baba Jukwa saga it is the names given to the "brigade" and "army" that the shadowy Facebook character(s) has/have allegedly organized or is/are organizing. All indicators are that Edmund Kudzayi and his brother Philip Kudzayi are people of Shona stock. And as a matter of fact, the majority of the people who are said to be on the ZRP "Baba Jukwa Wanted List", are of Shona extraction, the exception being the original Baba Jukwa suspects, journalists Mxolisi Ncube and Mkhululi Chimoio.
As if that was not enough, their alleged army goes by the name "Zimbabwe Revolutionary Army". As I indicated in my introduction, this may all sound far-fetched, but is not one lead to ask why Shona fellows would come up with a Kalanga/English name for their alleged brigade, and a name that rings like ZIPRA (Zimbabwe Revolutionary Army, ZIPRA having been Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army)? To use South African poet Mzwakhe Mbuli's words, ngixoleleni ngembuzo bengikade ngingekho. What exactly is obtaining here? Does this not become even more suspicious when it is even being whispered that Professor Jonathan Moyo, who hired Edmund Kudzayi to be editor for the Sunday Mail, is actually the 'top dog' in the Baba Jukwa circle? Will we not in the near future see Kudzayi & Co suddenly absolved of any wrong-doing, and the 'attack dogs' let loose on Professor Moyo and his people, like they were on Dr Nkomo and his people for daring to oppose the Zanu Grand Plan to turn the country into a Shona Kingdom? Again I repeat, it appears all far-fetched, but those that have had time to read about the events surrounding the beginning of the Gukurahundi Genocide and the script upon which it was based, will find nothing here-said far-fetched. It may just be that the people of Bukalanga/Matebeleland are about to bear the brunt of continually voting against Zanu as they did at (the hollow) independence when they rejected the Evil Empire and voted for ZAPU. Read in the context of the Zanu Grand Plan, one cannot help but shake in their boots, or, on the positive side, be proactive before being struck. The question remains: who is Gunda Nleya, why would a Kalanga, as his or her name suggests, lead a rebellion of Shonas against a Shona-led government? Why would "subversive" Shonas choose a name that rings like that of the largely Kalanga-led ZIPRA for their outfit?
3. The Zanu Grand Plan and Elimination of the "Ndebele" and the Whites
Reading through the chilling plans of the Zanu Grand Plan, one is left persuaded that another genocide is certainly in the cards in this country. The document envisages Zimbabwe as a Shona Empire/Kingdom, in which the Shona shall rule in perpetuity, and in which their language shall rule supreme. All land, all jobs that matter, and all kinds of opportunities, shall belong to the Shona. To achieve all this, every kind of opposition has to be viciously eliminated. The targets identified by name in the document are the "Ndebele" (supposedly everyone who lives in the region erroneously named Matebeleland - Bakalanga, BaSotho, BaNambya, Vhabenda, etc), and the Whites. Both are labeled "intruding settlers" in "Shona land", land in which the Shona are supposed to the only "indigenous" people. The "Ndebele" and Whites either have to convert to Shonahood or be driven back to where they came from - KwaZulu-Natal and Britain. 'Reconciliation' was to be used as a magical wand to cool the Whites after 'independence' whilst the "Ndebele" were being dealt with. Attention would later be turned to the Whites, and if the business is unfinished, back to the "Ndebele".
He who has been following events in Zimbabwe since 1980 (or shall I say 1963 when Zanu was formed), cannot fail to see the Grand Plan script at play in this country. At first the Gukurahundi Genocide was used to neutralize and/or eliminate the "Ndebele", whilst the Whites, owing to the "reconciliation policy", nearly worshiped Mugabe as the best leader Africa had ever had. About a decade after the end of the Gukurahundi Genocide (at least the military aspect as it continues today in silent mode), attention was to be turned to the Whites. Some of their number were murdered, others dispossed of property, and the majority hounded out of the country. And as if that was not enough, just in the last week Mugabe declared that no white person should own land in this country, which is consistent with statements made by some in his company that "the Ndebele have no land in this country" (ref: War vets invade Njelele shrines). Such is how the Grand Plan is at play, against anyone who is not Shona and dares to oppose Zanu and its genocidal intentions.
Back to the Baba Jukwa saga, it may just be that now that it seems the Whites have been 'effectively' dealt with, attention is now being turned to the bastion of Zanu opposition, Bukalanga/Matebeleland. Clearly, it seems Gukurahundi, judging by the contents of the Zanu Grand Plan, is unfinished business. And Professor Moyo may be seen as a starting point as he is seen as a more lethal threat than other Bukalanga/Matebeleland politicians, except the gallant Moses Mzila-Ndlovu upon whose head a dagger is always hanging. The whole Baba Jukwa saga may just be a pretex, and we may see Professor Moyo, the "weevil and devil incarnate in the house", and many of his people, presumably in the "Gunda Nleya Brigade" and the "Zimbabwe Revolutionary Army", accused of being the real Baba Jukwa group, 'guilty', like Dr Joshua Nkomo and his fellow comrades and people, of "attempting to overthrow a constitutionally elected government through subversive means". I may be wrong, but I shall exercise my freedom of thought and speech, and like Steve Biko, I write what I like. As the saying goes, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. People of Bukalanga/Matebeleland, be forewarned.
Conclusion
I have argued in this article that the parallels between the attacks against Professor Jonathan Moyo to those against Dr Joshua Nkomo in the early '80s are too numerous to ignore. I have further questioned why, if Baba Jukwa is a Shona, would establish a brigade bearing a Kalanga and English name - the Gunda Nleya Brigade - and an army nearly similarly named to ZIPRA. I have also raised questions as to why is all this so fitting into that which the Zanu Grand Plan envisages. These, I believe, are questions warranting answers, and perhaps, some researcher or investigative journalist somewhere will find the answers for us.
Ndaboka imi N'Kalanga we Bulilima-Mangwe, ndituna nditi BaNgwadi tjose. Ishwani makamu angu mabuya. Ndzimu umupe mmahha-mbuya.
Source - Ndzimu-unami Emmanuel Moyo
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