Opinion / Columnist
Dumiso Dabengwa
10 Jun 2019 at 17:42hrs | Views
Dabengwa: Please tell us how your mother died? This was a question Dumiso had to answer in a Zanu court when he was incarcerated by Mugabe regime in the early independent of 80s. He was holed up in prison together with General Lookout Masuku. They were imprisoned because they were regarded as security threats by Mugabe regime. They were called dissidents; they are the leaders of dissident activities in Mathebeleland and Midlands. The Zanu PF regime was hell-bent to decimate the peoples of Mathebeleland and Midlands- all those who were of Ndebele origin were hacked to death, shaved in mine halls to die and rot forever by Fifth Brigade. The Shona peoples who were Zapu PF card carriers were not spared of murders committed during those dark days of genocide in Zimbabwe. It was genocide for the Ndebele people and crimes against humanity for the Shona speaking who were Zapu members.
Asking General Dumiso Dabengwa a question about the nature of death of his mother, it was meant to humiliate him, break him down psychologically: or he will even begin to cry. This question was asked not for any other reason but to have fun of it. At last they got him, a man they feared and it was their time to finish him once and for all. General Lookout Masuku died of torture in the hands of Zanu PF. Dumiso Dabengwa never for once recovered from the torture in the hands of his Zanu PF tormentors. When he left Chikurubi Prison, General Dabengwa was traumatized forever. All his political actions then-on displayed a trauma in a man, a gallant freedom fighter who fought so hard for the independence of this country: Zimbabwe. We can also say that Dumiso died long back in those torturous activities meted on him in Chikurubi Prison. It is not the nature of torture that killed Dabengwa inside, but how they tortured General Masuku to death.
We were told that Mnangagwa would visit Dabengwa at Chikurubi dangling keys of his prison cell, told him to join Zanu and get his freedom. Is this not the similar biblical story n the bible: When Jesus was at the mountain top praying and fasting; Satan approached Jesus and told him to bow down and pray him instead of his God and was going to give him the Kingdom he wanted here on earth? We all know the rest of the story.
General Dumiso Dabengwa died physically on the 23rd of May 2019: we hear very loud voices crying, weeping, and mourning the gallant freedom fighter Dabengwa coming from Zanu PF side. They tell us they are mourning their own. Since when has Dabengwa become their own, is it because he is now dead? Why are Zanu PF cries and sorrows and the gnashing of teeth louder than Mrs. Ntombizodwa Khumalo-Dabengwa his wife and his daughter Nombulelo Dabengwa put together? Indeed President Mnangagwa is nicknamed crocodile. He and the rest of them are crying those crocodile tears that are deafening the nation. We are not fooled by those crock teas at all if we know how Zanu PF shenanigans work.
Was President Joshua Nkomo not mourned in style when he died in 1999, the man, the leader of Zapu PF that gave his all to liberate this country but was chased from a new Zimbabwe dispensation via Botswana to the United Kingdom like a cobra in the house? Again Zanu wants to mourn General Dabengwa in style to fool the nation by sending him to the heroes' acre. Was Comrade Thenjiwe Lesabe not openly denied the same heroine status?
When General Dabengwa was called by the people to revive Zapu party once more in 2008, the former President Robert Mugabe said verbatim: I warn you tribalist Dabengwa? Dabengwa did not react, was not moved by those threats. Dabengwa had seen the limit of Zanu PF callousness and deceit all the time. He has seen it how Zanu would talk reconciliation of 1987 Unity Accord; a reconciliation that was systematically ignored and put to rest forever; he had seen the marginalization of Mathebeleland and Midlands perpetuated after the unity accord before his eyes. His hands were tied and were frustrated to ever do anything tangible for the benefit of the Mathebeleland region.
Systematically they removed any possible means for Dabengwa to put projects to uplift the region by providing water for the region to prosper. He had seen it how Zanu would pick and cherry some Zapu stalwarts give them some piece meal positions just to divide Zapu and control the region as a whole. We the people of this region fell into the Zanu PF trap; we began to accuse Dabengwa loudly; Dabengwa is the cause of the failed Mathebeleland Water Project. This is exactly the reaction Zanu PF invoking in us: that's what they wanted to see: to see the people of this region turn against Dabengwa, condemned him citing irregularities in the finances of the Mathebeleland Water Project. Today we are told General Dabengwa is their own!
Not very long ago in 2015 the very Zanu Pf questioned the hero status of Dabengwa. They wanted to diminish and belittle the work and commitment he contributed in the struggle for independence. Much as he had his shortcomings, but to say that he never played a meaningful role in the struggle is insulting to say the least. It is in this loaded context that Dabengwa made it clear to all that his remains will go to Ntabayezinduna, emanxeleni a place where all the Dabengwa family are resting. His death should never be politicised by his passing on because they denied him all meaningful contribution while he lived. I can say with equal truth that Dabengwa is a tried and tested gallant fighter of Zimbabwe.
When Zapu PF decided to reconcile with Zanu PF in 1987, it is because they thought the word reconciliation and a coalition of ideas are not dirty words. The Zapu leadership realized that the people were being murdered in cold blood and somehow it did not move Zanu PF that women are raped and bayoneted to death because they were carrying dissident children. Zapu leaders under Comrade Joshua Nkomo's were not cowards by any stretch of Zanu PFs imagination when they dialogued with them on many social, economic and political situation situations back then.
Dabengwa please tell us how your mother died. This cruelty and rudeness of Zanu PF, its hallmark, lives on. Today Zanu PF is now devouring its own children: the peoples of Shona ethnic group. People are shot dead cold blooded by Zanu PF just for demonstrating in the streets of Harare and are gunned down indiscriminately. We saw it how farm workers were murdered, how callous, crude and barbaric the operation Murambatsvina was executed, how, after losing elections in 2008, Zanu harvested dead bodies and got away with murder as usual. The irony of it all is that Dabengwa died without seeing meaningful solutions to the Gugurahundi atrocities
General Dabengwa was my cousin; I was together with him in the liberation movement in Zambia. When Rhodesians started bombing refugee camps in Zambia indiscriminately, I ran for dear life and took cover at his wife's home until I left for East Germany. I will miss Du profoundly. I will miss his voice that always told me how naughty and truant I was when I was in Roma Secondary School in Zambia. My brother Dumiso facilitated my boarding school needs to the extent of giving me pocket money to assist in those basic needs girl-child boarders needed.
When Methuseli Moyo wrote an obituary about Dabengwa, he reminded me of something that was typically Du. In my feat of rage, the formal naming of "Bhudi Du" would escape me and I would just call him: Du! He would turn around and say to me: Ma. I would shrink back and retract: I will call him once more: Bhud Du! He never felt disrespect by my calling him simply Du. Again as Methuseli Moyo correctly said, he was just Du to the old and young: he would empty his wallet if you told him you have no money. He did that to me on several occasions in Zambia. This is what fathers and social fathers do to their daughters. At home he was the unifier of the family. He was the one who knitted all of us together. I was accepted at Dumiso's home 24/7. The last time I was in Zimbabwe in 2012, I went to stay at his home in Strathaven.
I thank you for all the contributions to my education in Zambia. I thank you for being brotherly and fatherly to me. You were a pillar to many families around you. You are a hero not only to me, but too to many people especially in this region. Mathebeleland will miss you dearly. Your death is a wakeup call to all of us around you to grow up. Nobody will take away your heroism by honouring your wish to be buried at Manxeleni where the Dabengwa's that have passed on are sleeping. It was your uttermost wish that has to be respected and indeed was respected.
Sleep well mtaka Mama
Sleep well hero of the nation
Your sister
Nomazulu Thata
Asking General Dumiso Dabengwa a question about the nature of death of his mother, it was meant to humiliate him, break him down psychologically: or he will even begin to cry. This question was asked not for any other reason but to have fun of it. At last they got him, a man they feared and it was their time to finish him once and for all. General Lookout Masuku died of torture in the hands of Zanu PF. Dumiso Dabengwa never for once recovered from the torture in the hands of his Zanu PF tormentors. When he left Chikurubi Prison, General Dabengwa was traumatized forever. All his political actions then-on displayed a trauma in a man, a gallant freedom fighter who fought so hard for the independence of this country: Zimbabwe. We can also say that Dumiso died long back in those torturous activities meted on him in Chikurubi Prison. It is not the nature of torture that killed Dabengwa inside, but how they tortured General Masuku to death.
We were told that Mnangagwa would visit Dabengwa at Chikurubi dangling keys of his prison cell, told him to join Zanu and get his freedom. Is this not the similar biblical story n the bible: When Jesus was at the mountain top praying and fasting; Satan approached Jesus and told him to bow down and pray him instead of his God and was going to give him the Kingdom he wanted here on earth? We all know the rest of the story.
General Dumiso Dabengwa died physically on the 23rd of May 2019: we hear very loud voices crying, weeping, and mourning the gallant freedom fighter Dabengwa coming from Zanu PF side. They tell us they are mourning their own. Since when has Dabengwa become their own, is it because he is now dead? Why are Zanu PF cries and sorrows and the gnashing of teeth louder than Mrs. Ntombizodwa Khumalo-Dabengwa his wife and his daughter Nombulelo Dabengwa put together? Indeed President Mnangagwa is nicknamed crocodile. He and the rest of them are crying those crocodile tears that are deafening the nation. We are not fooled by those crock teas at all if we know how Zanu PF shenanigans work.
Was President Joshua Nkomo not mourned in style when he died in 1999, the man, the leader of Zapu PF that gave his all to liberate this country but was chased from a new Zimbabwe dispensation via Botswana to the United Kingdom like a cobra in the house? Again Zanu wants to mourn General Dabengwa in style to fool the nation by sending him to the heroes' acre. Was Comrade Thenjiwe Lesabe not openly denied the same heroine status?
When General Dabengwa was called by the people to revive Zapu party once more in 2008, the former President Robert Mugabe said verbatim: I warn you tribalist Dabengwa? Dabengwa did not react, was not moved by those threats. Dabengwa had seen the limit of Zanu PF callousness and deceit all the time. He has seen it how Zanu would talk reconciliation of 1987 Unity Accord; a reconciliation that was systematically ignored and put to rest forever; he had seen the marginalization of Mathebeleland and Midlands perpetuated after the unity accord before his eyes. His hands were tied and were frustrated to ever do anything tangible for the benefit of the Mathebeleland region.
Systematically they removed any possible means for Dabengwa to put projects to uplift the region by providing water for the region to prosper. He had seen it how Zanu would pick and cherry some Zapu stalwarts give them some piece meal positions just to divide Zapu and control the region as a whole. We the people of this region fell into the Zanu PF trap; we began to accuse Dabengwa loudly; Dabengwa is the cause of the failed Mathebeleland Water Project. This is exactly the reaction Zanu PF invoking in us: that's what they wanted to see: to see the people of this region turn against Dabengwa, condemned him citing irregularities in the finances of the Mathebeleland Water Project. Today we are told General Dabengwa is their own!
Not very long ago in 2015 the very Zanu Pf questioned the hero status of Dabengwa. They wanted to diminish and belittle the work and commitment he contributed in the struggle for independence. Much as he had his shortcomings, but to say that he never played a meaningful role in the struggle is insulting to say the least. It is in this loaded context that Dabengwa made it clear to all that his remains will go to Ntabayezinduna, emanxeleni a place where all the Dabengwa family are resting. His death should never be politicised by his passing on because they denied him all meaningful contribution while he lived. I can say with equal truth that Dabengwa is a tried and tested gallant fighter of Zimbabwe.
When Zapu PF decided to reconcile with Zanu PF in 1987, it is because they thought the word reconciliation and a coalition of ideas are not dirty words. The Zapu leadership realized that the people were being murdered in cold blood and somehow it did not move Zanu PF that women are raped and bayoneted to death because they were carrying dissident children. Zapu leaders under Comrade Joshua Nkomo's were not cowards by any stretch of Zanu PFs imagination when they dialogued with them on many social, economic and political situation situations back then.
Dabengwa please tell us how your mother died. This cruelty and rudeness of Zanu PF, its hallmark, lives on. Today Zanu PF is now devouring its own children: the peoples of Shona ethnic group. People are shot dead cold blooded by Zanu PF just for demonstrating in the streets of Harare and are gunned down indiscriminately. We saw it how farm workers were murdered, how callous, crude and barbaric the operation Murambatsvina was executed, how, after losing elections in 2008, Zanu harvested dead bodies and got away with murder as usual. The irony of it all is that Dabengwa died without seeing meaningful solutions to the Gugurahundi atrocities
General Dabengwa was my cousin; I was together with him in the liberation movement in Zambia. When Rhodesians started bombing refugee camps in Zambia indiscriminately, I ran for dear life and took cover at his wife's home until I left for East Germany. I will miss Du profoundly. I will miss his voice that always told me how naughty and truant I was when I was in Roma Secondary School in Zambia. My brother Dumiso facilitated my boarding school needs to the extent of giving me pocket money to assist in those basic needs girl-child boarders needed.
When Methuseli Moyo wrote an obituary about Dabengwa, he reminded me of something that was typically Du. In my feat of rage, the formal naming of "Bhudi Du" would escape me and I would just call him: Du! He would turn around and say to me: Ma. I would shrink back and retract: I will call him once more: Bhud Du! He never felt disrespect by my calling him simply Du. Again as Methuseli Moyo correctly said, he was just Du to the old and young: he would empty his wallet if you told him you have no money. He did that to me on several occasions in Zambia. This is what fathers and social fathers do to their daughters. At home he was the unifier of the family. He was the one who knitted all of us together. I was accepted at Dumiso's home 24/7. The last time I was in Zimbabwe in 2012, I went to stay at his home in Strathaven.
I thank you for all the contributions to my education in Zambia. I thank you for being brotherly and fatherly to me. You were a pillar to many families around you. You are a hero not only to me, but too to many people especially in this region. Mathebeleland will miss you dearly. Your death is a wakeup call to all of us around you to grow up. Nobody will take away your heroism by honouring your wish to be buried at Manxeleni where the Dabengwa's that have passed on are sleeping. It was your uttermost wish that has to be respected and indeed was respected.
Sleep well mtaka Mama
Sleep well hero of the nation
Your sister
Nomazulu Thata
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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