MLF remembers David Magagula

Long live the defiant spirit of Comrade David Magagula long live!
Forward with the struggle for Mthwakazi liberation forward!
Vuka Mthwakazi Vuka!!!

Mthwakazi kaNdaba, today marks a full year since the untimely departure of a mountain in the struggle for Mthwakazi, Comrade David Mhlatshwa Magagula. A tiny bodied man but with the courage of an elephant. Gone though, we are not dejected and we are not lost in the struggle for Mthwakazi Liberation as he is forever with us, his spirit guiding us.

Magagula is the 'prodigal son' that was cast to the cold and banished by the 'liberation movement' he founded but refused to abandon the struggle and vowed to set up a parallel structure which I speak on behalf of today. Today, I speak on his behalf, talking to the dejected masses of Mthwakazi people, the landless people, the unemployed youth and the Gukurahundi generation. I don't have much to say about his death but what he lived until his last breath for. Men like David Magagula do not die but they multiply into millions of foot soldiers for the struggle for the people's freedom.

Today, to seemingly as calves that lost their mothers to a severe drought, we pick up his yoke, and make our vows that we will continue to fight for a mission of restoring the dignity of Mthwakazi people through attainment of Mthwakazi independence in our lifetime. Today, we relive the spirit of the one who put the Mthwakazi even first, above his own personal needs, desires and safety. The man demonstrated it openly to Mthwakazi people, burning down the Zimbabwean flag, that Zimbabwe was not home to them and the attainment of their freedom was in their hands which led to the sprouting of many Mthwakazi organisations. Inspired by such courage, yesterday, Matjinge Primary pupils in Plumtree, took to the streets demanding the respect of their right to education by the occupying regime. When many still wondered what awaited them, Chief Siphoso and Chief Mathema stood up at the unveiling of the defenceless women who died in the hands of the Gukurahundi and spoke boldly about the need for Mthwakazi people to stand up for all that worries them on their land, denouncing the evil plans by the regime to exhume and rebury the victims of Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa perpetrated massacres of the 1980s. David Magagula stood in front of the sworn killer regime on 28 December 2010, when one gave him the chance of ever doing so and cleanly laid the objectives of the movement.
As soft a target as he was, he lived in constant naked contact with danger, prepared to lose his life, even the life of her own children who were put into danger by his political activities but he never tried to dodge. He trusted that his mission of Liberating Mthwakazi was embraced by an organization he loved dearly but little did he know that his organization had been rendered incapable of loving him back. Magagula always fought for what he believed was right, possessed by the love for Mthwakazi people and the restoration of their statehood and dignity. In his fight, he was persecuted and disowned left, right and centre by his own comrades.

Fellow Mthwakazians, today, I am comforted by the fact that comrade Magagula died a clean death; a death of a revolutionary because he never sold out his comrades, and the struggle. We should all be happy because his name will be written in Mthwakazi history books as one who died while pursuing the struggle for the betterment of all Mthwakazi people. The shameless agent of death found him, a few days after he returned from Lesotho where still oppressed states of Africa had established the International Conference of Emerging State of Africa (ICESA).

As the movement, we take this opportunity to thank this selfless fighter for finding us a political home and a perfect platform from where to launch our undented desire for self determination. Today, the entire leadership of the movement is here, proud and unashamedly associated with him and what he stood for while he was still alive as we further look for guidance from him. Today, some of those who disowned him are calling him 'Baba Magagula' crying louder than all who cared for him, hoping to till the land that he cleared. We hope he will show a clear sign of how we should treat them.
Today, we call upon all Mthwakazi people and MLF leadership to commemorate the life of Comrade David Magagula in a dignified manner, bearing in mind what he lived for in his days on earth. Together, let us take the struggle for Mthwakazi liberation to the next level.

Long live the spirit of David Magagula long live!
Vuka Mthwakazi Vuka!