Opinion / Columnist
Robert Mugabe's history
24 Mar 2017 at 13:40hrs | Views
Mugabe's father was born Masuzyo Matibili (pronounced Masuzho) but because the white settler Native Commissioner in Mutoko could not spell it, let alone pronounce it properly, renamed him Gabriel Matibili.
Masuzyo, when translated into Shona, means Nhamo and Nhamo was Mugabe's late son's name. He died in Ghana in the Sixties, her mother, the late Sally Mugabe's native country.
Matibili's father was Chatunga. Chatunga is also Mugabe's youngest son's name. It is a common name among the Tumbukas in Malawi.
Matibili worked briefly in Mutoko before moving to Norton where he met Bona and the two got married and had children *NAMELY*:
Amon
Robert
Sabina
Albert
Bridget
That was before he went to Bulawayo in search of work and never returned to see his family.
According to Sekuru Gondo, Bona and her five children left the Norton farm where Matibili had left her for rural Zvimba where one of her uncles, a Karigamombe, was staying. Karigamombe was one of the villagers helping the Jesuits set up a mission at Kutama.
In Bulawayo, Matibili met another woman with whom he had several sons, among them a Stanley Matibili, once a human resources manager with Lever Brothers, now Unilever, who occasionally donated birthday cakes on behalf of his company to Mugabe on his birthdays during the early nineties, and Ntombana, ZESA chairman Sydney Gata's wife.
He died later and was buried in Bulawayo. During this time Mugabe rarely saw his father and they were not on speaking terms for neglecting his family. Robert and his siblings were assisted in their day to day life by a Mugabe, who worked for the Jesuits at Kutama, hence the adoption of the name Mugabe."He was like a father to them. He literally provided them with everything," said Sekuru Gondo during the interview.
Amon, Robert Mugabe's elder brother, maintained the name Matibiri and that is why his son, Innocent, who is one of the police deputy commissioners, and his daughter, Chipo, who is a magistrate in Harare, are known by the surname Matibiri, a bastardised version of the Tumbuka name, Matibili.
The new revelations will leave many in authority with a lot of egg on their faces. The government enacted a law that virtually stripped Zimbabweans of foreign descent their nationality unless they renounced their claim to any foreign citizenship.
That was meant to deny many their right to vote in general elections in 2000 because ZANU PF feared they were going to vote for the opposition MDC. Some Zimbabweans have successfully challenged the law saying they cannot be forced to renounce citizenships they have never had.
Mugabe has on several occasions derogatory described Zimbabweans of foreign descent as "totemless" (vanhu vasina mitupo) as if our anawo. Ironically, he tops the list of "totemless" Zimbabweans, followed by his nephews and niece --- Leo Mugabe, Patrick and Sarudzai Zhuwao ---Sabina's children.
News about Mugabes Malawian connection comes as no surprise since Malawi produced another President in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, in the name of Dr Kenneth David Kaunda...
Masuzyo, when translated into Shona, means Nhamo and Nhamo was Mugabe's late son's name. He died in Ghana in the Sixties, her mother, the late Sally Mugabe's native country.
Matibili's father was Chatunga. Chatunga is also Mugabe's youngest son's name. It is a common name among the Tumbukas in Malawi.
Matibili worked briefly in Mutoko before moving to Norton where he met Bona and the two got married and had children *NAMELY*:
Amon
Robert
Sabina
Albert
Bridget
That was before he went to Bulawayo in search of work and never returned to see his family.
According to Sekuru Gondo, Bona and her five children left the Norton farm where Matibili had left her for rural Zvimba where one of her uncles, a Karigamombe, was staying. Karigamombe was one of the villagers helping the Jesuits set up a mission at Kutama.
He died later and was buried in Bulawayo. During this time Mugabe rarely saw his father and they were not on speaking terms for neglecting his family. Robert and his siblings were assisted in their day to day life by a Mugabe, who worked for the Jesuits at Kutama, hence the adoption of the name Mugabe."He was like a father to them. He literally provided them with everything," said Sekuru Gondo during the interview.
Amon, Robert Mugabe's elder brother, maintained the name Matibiri and that is why his son, Innocent, who is one of the police deputy commissioners, and his daughter, Chipo, who is a magistrate in Harare, are known by the surname Matibiri, a bastardised version of the Tumbuka name, Matibili.
The new revelations will leave many in authority with a lot of egg on their faces. The government enacted a law that virtually stripped Zimbabweans of foreign descent their nationality unless they renounced their claim to any foreign citizenship.
That was meant to deny many their right to vote in general elections in 2000 because ZANU PF feared they were going to vote for the opposition MDC. Some Zimbabweans have successfully challenged the law saying they cannot be forced to renounce citizenships they have never had.
Mugabe has on several occasions derogatory described Zimbabweans of foreign descent as "totemless" (vanhu vasina mitupo) as if our anawo. Ironically, he tops the list of "totemless" Zimbabweans, followed by his nephews and niece --- Leo Mugabe, Patrick and Sarudzai Zhuwao ---Sabina's children.
News about Mugabes Malawian connection comes as no surprise since Malawi produced another President in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, in the name of Dr Kenneth David Kaunda...
Source - Chandangwinyi Chose
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