No Tribe is as good as all of the Zimbabwean Tribes

I was very disgusted by the recent comments by this so called Justice Maphosa. Hope he didn't use my name to write that rubbish.

I at one time wrote about eradicating music piracy; it is a pity nothing hasn't been done to curb this. I hope that one day; music piracy will be reduced to an acceptable level. I am sure he copied my good name from that article.

It is unfortunate that we are still witnessing people saying "Shona" this, "Ndebele" that. The past will bury us fellow Zimbabweans if we dig it. It shows we learnt nothing from the "Hutus" and "Tutsis". That period of the "Masvinwa" and "Madzviti" helped to create a Great Zimbabwe we all live in.

The reason why there were land seizures is whites did little if not none about the plight of black people and it came back to haunt them. We were quick to complain about Mugabe; it was one sided. If they have done a lot as rich people to share and help black people with a lot of resources to better their lives, the situation could have been different. One white attacked, it could mean all Zimbabweans wronged and we won't stand for it, but because blacks were divided on this shows how divided we are though we pretend all is well.

The same thing might happen in South Africa because some people pretend that all is well. You do not amass wealth when the poor are starving. The whites thought Zimbabwe is the bread-basket of Southern Africa because of their huge contribution in farming; the disgruntled blacks almost toppled the government because of service delivery issues and the government turned on the whites to please the masses (poor) by redressing inequality issues. That is one of severe repercussion of citizens not uniting.

The Ndebele massacre, it was very unfortunate and should have never happened. I once posted some questions as to what triggered that and unfortunately nobody answered. Probably there is only one answer, and that is Mugabe. My brother, a Shona speaking teacher at Pambe Primary School had his mouth cut during the dissident error led by Dabengwa. I do have a number of relatives who perished during that error at the hands of the dissidents. If the Shona were dominant in Zimbabwe, certainly my village of Nyamhondo (Shona dominated) would not be impoverished (among one of the poorest in our country).  

I was shocked that at one time, Dabengwa (and Jonathan Moyo) also wanted an enquiry about the Ndebele massacre (he had a point), but he kept mum about his involvement in massacring of the Shona speaking people (maybe he is a saint or there is no wrong in it).

My home area, Nyamhondo I remember well that the Shona speaking people gave land to the Ndebeles in Ngungumbane area (under Chief Ngungumbane). That is how people should do when we speak of living and working together. Unfortunately when a few Shona people occupied a small veld area around Bonda area of  Mabhangare, the Ndebele took arms burning their homes and asking them to leave as this land was for the Ndebele only. It was a veld area and the Ndebele quickly forgot about the fact that the Shonas generously gave them the lion's share as compared to what was occupied.

This other brother who shares my name is misinformed and must do proper research. There was a time that some Ndebeles declared their areas a no go area for the Shonas. The Shona was not supposed to marry a Ndebele (I do not know if the Ndebele barred themselves from marrying Shonas). Do you want see another Sudan/South Sudan division, and is it working?

Such mentality by a few disgruntled individuals is the reason why we are still behind.

Though he made some mistakes, but believe it or not Mugabe did more than any leader I know on earth in uniting people; I would say the same for the late Joshua Nkomo. We are the only country in the world that pushed for tribes to intergrate; that's a Shona from Marondera working as a teacher in Tsholotsho, and a Ndebele from Gwanda as a police official in Nyanga, same goes for our Shangaans, Vendas, Ndaus, Tongas, Manyikas etc. It is only people who want to push their own agendas that cry Ndebeles and Shonas leave in worlds apart. I have so many relatives who are Ndebeles and you do not even see this difference because we are united come thunder come rain.

One day I was in a train travelling from Isando to Kempton Park and a fellow Zimbabwean heard me speaking Shona with a colleague and he was proud and told us that he is also from Zimbabwe; a Ndebele from KwaBulawayo. That was big to hear this and we took each other's numbers. South Africa in its 18 years of democracy is still struggling with tribal issues and if not sorted can be disastrous; a white union representative of Transvaal Union (Bennie Van Zyl) unfortunately mislead some of his fellow whites (who choose to follow his statements) on BBC Hard Talk (by Stephen Sackur) when he said whites and blacks live in two worlds apart. That sentiment creates winners and losers (independence in principle and not in essence).

The reason why we fail as a nation is because we see each other as neighbours who live in different worlds apart, in our own country. When whites do not have faith in blacks and when blacks do not have faith in each other because we think inferior of each other's cultures.  Because we are not united, we create a few leaders who succeed in enriching themselves, many wives plenty of girlfriends and no community development. We are lured to think that these leaders will help us address the past massacres and are blind folded as we continue to have faith in them by keeping voting for them while they fail our own communities dismally.

I do not see why I cannot vote for a Ndebele candidate for presidency if he has the Zimbabwean people at heart. I will certainly have a big problem if a person campaigning for presidency or whatever divides Zimbabweans. Irrespective of our colour, our blood is Zimbabwe.

It's a pity that some people like Tsvangirai ran to the West and Europeans for help when we were in a crisis, even called blacks chancers (why give land to chancers as he labelled his fellow country men and women; started well bringing the much needed change but later deviated from what Zimbabweans wants). While I do not want to say a lot about him, I just want to highlight that Zimbabwe is for all who live in it. The chapter when I will highlight political issue is coming. The whites did the same blunder by running to the West and North (Europe) and if they had acted as Zimbabweans, because they are true citizens things could have been different. Unfortunately they wanted protection from outsiders (other governments) when they could have engaged with their own government.

We should be scratching each other's back as Zimbabweans and be worried if one district is affected by hunger etc. We should set an organisation that includes all to tackle the problems we have at district and national level. We must be aware that culture wars may be our next hurdle if not handled well. What happened to the farm invasion should awaken us and though it affected whites mostly, the issue of Ndebeles and Shonas could be worse than the fight we are witnessing of different religions. We are an educated nation and should do better.

Whatever massacres caused by whites to blacks and massacres caused by a black brother against his own black brother (Ndebele and Shona massacres), let us make sure that this won't happen again by uniting (will still bear scars and be guided that what happened was brutal). If we forgave Ian Smith who massacred tens of thousands of black Zimbabweans, why can't we forgive Mugabe and Dabengwa? Why should we run to America and Britain for help when they supplied Ian Smith with arms to massacre our own people, and put Mandela on the terrorist list when he was fighting for freedom of blacks?

The Arab Spring may have brought some much needed change, but he efforts are almost nothing as they allow themselves to be divided because of tribal issues and religion.

Being united means we have one voice, do a lot of cultural exchange as a country; stand tall for our community development, do not watch one greedy person enriching himself at our expense but at least fight for an equitable share.

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools" - Dr Martin King, Jnr

"If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately" - Benjamin Franklin

"Me only have one ambition, y' know. I only have one thing I really like to see happen. I like to see mankind live together â€" black, white, Chinese, everyone â€" that's all" - Bob Marley

"Life is made of ever so tiny partings welded together" - Charles Dickens

"Christian virtues unite men. Racism divides them" - Sarget Shriver

"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much" - Hellen Keller

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not fear to learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children" - Jimmy Carter

"History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has joined together, let no man put asunder" - John. F. Kennedy    

"It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognise their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to desire their own goals and to lead their own organisations" - Stokly Carmichoe

"Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success" - Benjamin Franklin
 
-------------------
Justice Maphosa can be contacted at justicemaphosa@rocketmail.com