Opinion / Columnist
30 Years on... where are they, the Ndebeles?
05 Oct 2013 at 14:57hrs | Views
Where are they, thirty years on … the Ndebeles?
Where is an Ndebele President …30 years on? Where is an Ndebele President of the main opposition, of whom the Ndebele are its 'power base' … 30 years on?
And 30 years on, when Mugabe is virtually walking into a grave, politically and mortally, where are Ndebele succession candidates?
Why is the local press not mentioning any Ndebele succession candidates? Why … 30 years on?
And 30 years on, when Mugabe is already handing over the ship of State to other Gukurahundists like him, why is there no public outcry of outrage? Why is the local press not leading a uniform chorus of disapproval? Why, why when we now know from the past that scribes like Geoff Nyarota, Tommy Sithole and others at ZBC fuelled the massacre of Ndebeles by this very same State is the 'new' press about to commit the same crime, this time by active omission and collusion? Why is no one speaking out to stop the perpetuation of this Gukurahundi State … 30 years on?
30 years on, why are newspaper editors and their staff engaged in needless, and often woolly, analyses of the so-called succession issue when that issue is no longer the game in town? Why has the narrative not changed for the local press and moved outside Zanu-PF into a wider debate about the re-crafting the State following the theft of an election? Why is it that 30 years on, even with the experience of Gukurahundi, the local press still has no principled positions to take and defend? Why, 30 years on, is the press still feeding from Zanu-PF's blood-infested trough? Why, why, why … 30 years on?
30 years on, here are Gukurahundists and Gukurahundaires again, this time draped in designer suits and strutting rented political credibility and respectability undoing whatever little progress had been made during the so-called Inclusive Government and taking all of us back to the abyss of 2008. And to imagine the local press is 'commentary-ing' this Zimbabwe State all the way down to the bottom -again!
And 15 years on after Morgan Tsvangirai's six-time failed shot at the presidency of Zimbabwe from atop the shoulders of the Ndebele, and amid calls for his ouster, how come there are no Ndebele candidates being mentioned or touted as Mr Tsvangirai's possible successors? How is this normal for a 'party of excellence', a party of CHANGE and DEMOCRACY, 30 years on after independence?
30 years on, how come it is still the right thing for Zanu-PF and MDC to have Shona presidents and Ndebele trophy vice presidents? And 30 years on how come this is ALL right for both the State press and the so-called independent press? 30 years on ….
And 30 years on, where are Gukurahundi - the actual Gukurahundaires? We know where one of them, their leader, Perence Shiri, is? 30 years on, where are the rest of them?
Gukurahundi were people, living people. They did not evaporate as people once Gukurahundi was withdrawn from Matebeleland and the Midlands. 30 years on, are they not people in suits and ties, now taking over the stewardship of the now re-Shonalized Zimbabwe while we watch in silence and with folded hands?
30 years on, where is the FIRST Ndebele Minister of Finance?
Of Foreign Affairs?
Of Justice?
Of Health?
Of Local Government?
Of course, there is an Ndebele Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo - udlawu - but a grateful one (after he lost his parliamentary seat). Good luck to him for the honour of being the public face of evil and the repository and purveyor of the written and spoken lie!
And 30 years on - and now - let's hear what you are going to be saying Professor Moyo about Gukurahundi and the Ndebele's right to Statehood. Let us hear you speak in defence of this Zimbabwe State in respect of these two matters …30 years on. Maybe bakhona ababamba oluphuphumayo!
And 30 years on, where is the FIRST Ndebele Director-General of the CIO?
The Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces?
The Commander of the ZNA?
The Commander of the Air Force?
The Commissioner of Police?
The Director of Prisons?
30 years on where is the FIRST Ndebele Chief Justice?
The FIRST Ndebele Judge President?
The FIRST Ndebele Master of the High Court?
The FIRST Ndebele Prosecutor-General?
Ok, Martin Gula-Ndebele was once Attorney-General but you have to understand that the fact that he was ex-Zanla (and where he originates from) may have played a dominant role in his appointment in the first place. That said, the tone of the Attorney-General's office did change noticeably positively during Gula-Ndebele's tenure at the AG's Office. For the first time, the AG's office felt like a professional service not an active extension of Zanu-PF. Well done to him Gula-Ndebele!
30 years on, where is the FIRST Ndebele Clerk of Parliament?
Where is the FIRST Ndebele Speaker of Parliament?
Alright, no one has forgotten about Lovemore Moyo and the recently 'elected' Jacob Mudenda.
No disrespect, but no one outside MDC-T ever took the Speakership of Lovemore Moyo as anything remotely serious, as it is also doubtful anyone thinks any differently of the Speakership of Jacob Mudenda today. Perhaps the question here should be reframed as follows:
30 years on, where is the FIRST real SERIOUS Ndebele Speaker of Parliament?
And how about with ambassadors, High commissioners and Representatives in international and inter-governmental organizations?
30 years on where are 'genuine' Ndebele Ambassadors, High commissioners and Representatives in international and inter-governmental organizations?
One does not fail to notice that Simon Khaya Moyo is now called Ambassador Moyo but it took South Africa to create one out of him after South Africa refused anyone who was not from the former PF-Zapu, and after Zanu-PF had initially tried (as they usually do), and failed, to deceive South Africa by appointing a Mtetwa as High Commissioner to South Africa. South Africa saw through the 'Mtetwa' ruse and turned down Zimbabwe's initial offer. It was only then that Simon Moyo became Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to South Africa.
Then there was Zenzo Nsimbi in Botswana, perhaps a window-dressing of the so-called 'Unity Accord'. This observation has nothing to do with Nsimbi's abilities and qualifications elsewhere.
An observant commenter in the last article pointed out that Ambassador Mphelekezeli Mphoko is Ndebele. Indeed, Ambassador Mphoko is Ndebele. The correction is greatly appreciated. The 'misleading' sentence in that article is therefore corrected to the extent of the initial error. Ambassador Mphoko is ex-Zipra, and Zimbabwe ambassador to Russia.
So far, then, there are three Ndebele Ambassadors, of whom only one remains ambassador. The one, Simon Khaya Moyo, is now a full-time party apparatchik and something of a make-believe vice president-in-waiting-cum-factotum-general in government. The other one, Zenzo Nsimbi is totally out of the political picture at the moment.
So, hey halala halala … there have been three Ndebele Ambassadors in 30 years! And thanks to the Commenter for pointing out Ambassador Mphoko otherwise it could have been only two in 30 years! This article stands corrected again should there be any Ndebele ambassador missed.
And with ambassadors it is actually more than a posting. Wherever they have been posted, Ndebele ambassadors sit as trophy figures on mission staff who are exclusively Shona, principally CIO operatives of one description or another. Virtually exported captives of the Zimbabwe tribal system!
Talking of 'genuine' ambassadors above is no disrespect. Ambassadorships don't rank the same. An Ambassador to Senegal or a High Commissioner to Malawi, or, indeed, an Ambassador to Russia, doesn't rank the same as a High Commissioner to Britain or an Ambassador to the US, Germany or France etc. No Ndebele has held such senior and seriously 'genuine' ambassadorships. Those are exclusive domains of the Shona. 30 years on, why is this still so? Why, 30 years on?
And no Ndebele has been Permanent Representative of an International Organization, UN Ambassador or Permanent Representative to the UN or EU, for example. 30 years on …
And 30 years on where is the FIRST Ndebele Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe?
Or the FIRST Ndebele Registrar-General?
If they are not careful Tobaiwa Mudede could even expire one day at work without anybody noticing because he has virtually become a pillar of concrete in that Office.
And where is the FIRST Ndebele Head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission … 30 years on?
Moving on to parastatals. For what it is worth, readers may wish to go to the following site to see 'existing' parastatals. There is no need to go through 'all' the parastatals here but a few examples will help.
30 years on where is the FIRST Ndebele Commissioner-General of ZIMRA?
Look at ZIMRA's executive management here. Gershem Pasi is probably no longer sure himself whether he lives or works there.
Where is the FIRST Ndebele Director-General (or whatever) of ZINWA … 30 years on? Where is ZINWA's website so the Ndebele can see the bare facts for themselves?
Where is the FIRST Ndebele Director-General (or whatever) of ZINARA … 30 years on?
30 years on, where is the FIRST Ndebele Post Master-General (or whatever) of ZIMPOST?
Ok, at NRZ the insular Alvord Mabhena was once put in charge. Accolades from Matebeleland about his tenure there are not easy to find. His whole post-NRZ situation was not helped by a biography written for him by the now painfully insufferable Phathisa Nyathi. The biography distorted Ndebele history and the history of the Mabhena's. In the midst of howls of disapproval and derision from the Ndebele the biography died an expected natural death.
This contribution by a Forumite called felicia 1 - a chance encounter - if not a good source of some detail now lost to memory provides a moment of light humour here.
We could go on … 30 years on. 30 years of shameless atrocity on the Ndebele.
So, whether you are Ndebele or not but can't find the Ndebele anywhere, then you are not alone. You are not going to find them anywhere within the Zimbabwe State because they are not there. So don't waste your time looking.
What this means is that 30 years on, there are two States within a State, the State of have-it-alls (Shona) and the State of have-nothings (Ndebele). Anyone who disputes this perfectly valid general classification stands challenged. No State can be this demonstrably tribally divided in its constitutive and intrinsic structure without being abnormal or subverted. Only a fool or day-dreamer sees perpetuity in such a State.
So, where are the Ndebele, then?
Nowhere … 30 years on!
A floating absence in the State institutions of today's Zimbabwe and South Africa the Ndebele are, as a consequence, also absent in the international arena. States are key enabling agencies of life, and it is where opportunities for life are created, allocated and taken. It is where skills of Statecraft are cultivated, experience accumulated and knowledge applied. 30 years on the Ndebele have none …
Pockets of 'successful' Ndebeles are often touted here and there, a handful in the corporate world, but usually the escapism offered the Ndebele by the performing arts is touted as 'success'. Both these fields remain subservient to the State. 30 years on, it is a State that the Ndebele need and need now. 30 years on ….
30 years on, in 2013, the Ndebele are back exactly where they started off in 1980. The Ndebele will have to be complete and utter fools not to regard the Zimbabwe State as Gukurahundi, particularly when the facts speak it.
Political negligence, even recklessness, afforded Gukurahundi undue 'success'. 'Victims' and consumers of tribalized State power.
Unless the Ndebele stood up today - and spoke out - this second-generation Gukurahundi State will succeed as the first, and another generation of the Ndebele, on top of the two already lost, will be lost again to Zimbabwe subjugation. Another 30 years of 'ethnicide' … 30 years on …
Is it not time to speak, whichever side of the tribal divide one sits?
If 30 years ago it was wrong for the Black people to be subjugated to White rule why is it right 30 years on for the Ndebele to be subjugated to Shona tribal rule?
And any State based on some form of hatred is, and will remain, a beleaguered State. This one is.
In the 1980s when Mugabe and Zanu-PF killed the Ndebele many Shona people cheered. It was tribe against tribe, allegedly. Today those in MDC, whether Ndebele or Shona, have the same story to tell about this Zimbabwe State. Shonas too have now fallen victims to this Shona tribal State, but they could have stopped all of this in 1980 when Mugabe and his friends massacred the Ndebele, but didn't. Those Shonas that have now fallen have paid the ultimate price for the 1980s failures.
Why, should an Ndebele or Shona fall to a Black government? Why, a day later? And why 30 years on? Why?
And 30 years on, that originally tribal Zimbabwe State has shrunk and shrunk into a narrower, more shadowy, and brazenly unaccountable private possession of a small group of evil clan men and clan women imprisoning the rest of society. But already we have begun to hear of the 'House of Gushungo'. It's a fashion, some say…
But 30 years on when all this jostling breaks into open clan war and familicide it may well not be the Ndebele crying: "Where are the Ndebele?"
For everything that Zimbabwe was built to be, and is - 30 years on - it's time to say: shame, shame, shame … shame on you!!
Where is an Ndebele President …30 years on? Where is an Ndebele President of the main opposition, of whom the Ndebele are its 'power base' … 30 years on?
And 30 years on, when Mugabe is virtually walking into a grave, politically and mortally, where are Ndebele succession candidates?
Why is the local press not mentioning any Ndebele succession candidates? Why … 30 years on?
And 30 years on, when Mugabe is already handing over the ship of State to other Gukurahundists like him, why is there no public outcry of outrage? Why is the local press not leading a uniform chorus of disapproval? Why, why when we now know from the past that scribes like Geoff Nyarota, Tommy Sithole and others at ZBC fuelled the massacre of Ndebeles by this very same State is the 'new' press about to commit the same crime, this time by active omission and collusion? Why is no one speaking out to stop the perpetuation of this Gukurahundi State … 30 years on?
30 years on, why are newspaper editors and their staff engaged in needless, and often woolly, analyses of the so-called succession issue when that issue is no longer the game in town? Why has the narrative not changed for the local press and moved outside Zanu-PF into a wider debate about the re-crafting the State following the theft of an election? Why is it that 30 years on, even with the experience of Gukurahundi, the local press still has no principled positions to take and defend? Why, 30 years on, is the press still feeding from Zanu-PF's blood-infested trough? Why, why, why … 30 years on?
30 years on, here are Gukurahundists and Gukurahundaires again, this time draped in designer suits and strutting rented political credibility and respectability undoing whatever little progress had been made during the so-called Inclusive Government and taking all of us back to the abyss of 2008. And to imagine the local press is 'commentary-ing' this Zimbabwe State all the way down to the bottom -again!
And 15 years on after Morgan Tsvangirai's six-time failed shot at the presidency of Zimbabwe from atop the shoulders of the Ndebele, and amid calls for his ouster, how come there are no Ndebele candidates being mentioned or touted as Mr Tsvangirai's possible successors? How is this normal for a 'party of excellence', a party of CHANGE and DEMOCRACY, 30 years on after independence?
30 years on, how come it is still the right thing for Zanu-PF and MDC to have Shona presidents and Ndebele trophy vice presidents? And 30 years on how come this is ALL right for both the State press and the so-called independent press? 30 years on ….
And 30 years on, where are Gukurahundi - the actual Gukurahundaires? We know where one of them, their leader, Perence Shiri, is? 30 years on, where are the rest of them?
Gukurahundi were people, living people. They did not evaporate as people once Gukurahundi was withdrawn from Matebeleland and the Midlands. 30 years on, are they not people in suits and ties, now taking over the stewardship of the now re-Shonalized Zimbabwe while we watch in silence and with folded hands?
30 years on, where is the FIRST Ndebele Minister of Finance?
Of Foreign Affairs?
Of Justice?
Of Health?
Of Local Government?
Of course, there is an Ndebele Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo - udlawu - but a grateful one (after he lost his parliamentary seat). Good luck to him for the honour of being the public face of evil and the repository and purveyor of the written and spoken lie!
And 30 years on - and now - let's hear what you are going to be saying Professor Moyo about Gukurahundi and the Ndebele's right to Statehood. Let us hear you speak in defence of this Zimbabwe State in respect of these two matters …30 years on. Maybe bakhona ababamba oluphuphumayo!
And 30 years on, where is the FIRST Ndebele Director-General of the CIO?
The Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces?
The Commander of the ZNA?
The Commander of the Air Force?
The Commissioner of Police?
The Director of Prisons?
30 years on where is the FIRST Ndebele Chief Justice?
The FIRST Ndebele Judge President?
The FIRST Ndebele Master of the High Court?
The FIRST Ndebele Prosecutor-General?
Ok, Martin Gula-Ndebele was once Attorney-General but you have to understand that the fact that he was ex-Zanla (and where he originates from) may have played a dominant role in his appointment in the first place. That said, the tone of the Attorney-General's office did change noticeably positively during Gula-Ndebele's tenure at the AG's Office. For the first time, the AG's office felt like a professional service not an active extension of Zanu-PF. Well done to him Gula-Ndebele!
30 years on, where is the FIRST Ndebele Clerk of Parliament?
Where is the FIRST Ndebele Speaker of Parliament?
Alright, no one has forgotten about Lovemore Moyo and the recently 'elected' Jacob Mudenda.
No disrespect, but no one outside MDC-T ever took the Speakership of Lovemore Moyo as anything remotely serious, as it is also doubtful anyone thinks any differently of the Speakership of Jacob Mudenda today. Perhaps the question here should be reframed as follows:
30 years on, where is the FIRST real SERIOUS Ndebele Speaker of Parliament?
And how about with ambassadors, High commissioners and Representatives in international and inter-governmental organizations?
30 years on where are 'genuine' Ndebele Ambassadors, High commissioners and Representatives in international and inter-governmental organizations?
One does not fail to notice that Simon Khaya Moyo is now called Ambassador Moyo but it took South Africa to create one out of him after South Africa refused anyone who was not from the former PF-Zapu, and after Zanu-PF had initially tried (as they usually do), and failed, to deceive South Africa by appointing a Mtetwa as High Commissioner to South Africa. South Africa saw through the 'Mtetwa' ruse and turned down Zimbabwe's initial offer. It was only then that Simon Moyo became Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to South Africa.
Then there was Zenzo Nsimbi in Botswana, perhaps a window-dressing of the so-called 'Unity Accord'. This observation has nothing to do with Nsimbi's abilities and qualifications elsewhere.
An observant commenter in the last article pointed out that Ambassador Mphelekezeli Mphoko is Ndebele. Indeed, Ambassador Mphoko is Ndebele. The correction is greatly appreciated. The 'misleading' sentence in that article is therefore corrected to the extent of the initial error. Ambassador Mphoko is ex-Zipra, and Zimbabwe ambassador to Russia.
So far, then, there are three Ndebele Ambassadors, of whom only one remains ambassador. The one, Simon Khaya Moyo, is now a full-time party apparatchik and something of a make-believe vice president-in-waiting-cum-factotum-general in government. The other one, Zenzo Nsimbi is totally out of the political picture at the moment.
So, hey halala halala … there have been three Ndebele Ambassadors in 30 years! And thanks to the Commenter for pointing out Ambassador Mphoko otherwise it could have been only two in 30 years! This article stands corrected again should there be any Ndebele ambassador missed.
And with ambassadors it is actually more than a posting. Wherever they have been posted, Ndebele ambassadors sit as trophy figures on mission staff who are exclusively Shona, principally CIO operatives of one description or another. Virtually exported captives of the Zimbabwe tribal system!
Talking of 'genuine' ambassadors above is no disrespect. Ambassadorships don't rank the same. An Ambassador to Senegal or a High Commissioner to Malawi, or, indeed, an Ambassador to Russia, doesn't rank the same as a High Commissioner to Britain or an Ambassador to the US, Germany or France etc. No Ndebele has held such senior and seriously 'genuine' ambassadorships. Those are exclusive domains of the Shona. 30 years on, why is this still so? Why, 30 years on?
And no Ndebele has been Permanent Representative of an International Organization, UN Ambassador or Permanent Representative to the UN or EU, for example. 30 years on …
And 30 years on where is the FIRST Ndebele Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe?
Or the FIRST Ndebele Registrar-General?
If they are not careful Tobaiwa Mudede could even expire one day at work without anybody noticing because he has virtually become a pillar of concrete in that Office.
And where is the FIRST Ndebele Head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission … 30 years on?
Moving on to parastatals. For what it is worth, readers may wish to go to the following site to see 'existing' parastatals. There is no need to go through 'all' the parastatals here but a few examples will help.
30 years on where is the FIRST Ndebele Commissioner-General of ZIMRA?
Look at ZIMRA's executive management here. Gershem Pasi is probably no longer sure himself whether he lives or works there.
Where is the FIRST Ndebele Director-General (or whatever) of ZINWA … 30 years on? Where is ZINWA's website so the Ndebele can see the bare facts for themselves?
Where is the FIRST Ndebele Director-General (or whatever) of ZINARA … 30 years on?
30 years on, where is the FIRST Ndebele Post Master-General (or whatever) of ZIMPOST?
Ok, at NRZ the insular Alvord Mabhena was once put in charge. Accolades from Matebeleland about his tenure there are not easy to find. His whole post-NRZ situation was not helped by a biography written for him by the now painfully insufferable Phathisa Nyathi. The biography distorted Ndebele history and the history of the Mabhena's. In the midst of howls of disapproval and derision from the Ndebele the biography died an expected natural death.
This contribution by a Forumite called felicia 1 - a chance encounter - if not a good source of some detail now lost to memory provides a moment of light humour here.
We could go on … 30 years on. 30 years of shameless atrocity on the Ndebele.
So, whether you are Ndebele or not but can't find the Ndebele anywhere, then you are not alone. You are not going to find them anywhere within the Zimbabwe State because they are not there. So don't waste your time looking.
What this means is that 30 years on, there are two States within a State, the State of have-it-alls (Shona) and the State of have-nothings (Ndebele). Anyone who disputes this perfectly valid general classification stands challenged. No State can be this demonstrably tribally divided in its constitutive and intrinsic structure without being abnormal or subverted. Only a fool or day-dreamer sees perpetuity in such a State.
So, where are the Ndebele, then?
Nowhere … 30 years on!
A floating absence in the State institutions of today's Zimbabwe and South Africa the Ndebele are, as a consequence, also absent in the international arena. States are key enabling agencies of life, and it is where opportunities for life are created, allocated and taken. It is where skills of Statecraft are cultivated, experience accumulated and knowledge applied. 30 years on the Ndebele have none …
Pockets of 'successful' Ndebeles are often touted here and there, a handful in the corporate world, but usually the escapism offered the Ndebele by the performing arts is touted as 'success'. Both these fields remain subservient to the State. 30 years on, it is a State that the Ndebele need and need now. 30 years on ….
30 years on, in 2013, the Ndebele are back exactly where they started off in 1980. The Ndebele will have to be complete and utter fools not to regard the Zimbabwe State as Gukurahundi, particularly when the facts speak it.
Political negligence, even recklessness, afforded Gukurahundi undue 'success'. 'Victims' and consumers of tribalized State power.
Unless the Ndebele stood up today - and spoke out - this second-generation Gukurahundi State will succeed as the first, and another generation of the Ndebele, on top of the two already lost, will be lost again to Zimbabwe subjugation. Another 30 years of 'ethnicide' … 30 years on …
Is it not time to speak, whichever side of the tribal divide one sits?
If 30 years ago it was wrong for the Black people to be subjugated to White rule why is it right 30 years on for the Ndebele to be subjugated to Shona tribal rule?
And any State based on some form of hatred is, and will remain, a beleaguered State. This one is.
In the 1980s when Mugabe and Zanu-PF killed the Ndebele many Shona people cheered. It was tribe against tribe, allegedly. Today those in MDC, whether Ndebele or Shona, have the same story to tell about this Zimbabwe State. Shonas too have now fallen victims to this Shona tribal State, but they could have stopped all of this in 1980 when Mugabe and his friends massacred the Ndebele, but didn't. Those Shonas that have now fallen have paid the ultimate price for the 1980s failures.
Why, should an Ndebele or Shona fall to a Black government? Why, a day later? And why 30 years on? Why?
And 30 years on, that originally tribal Zimbabwe State has shrunk and shrunk into a narrower, more shadowy, and brazenly unaccountable private possession of a small group of evil clan men and clan women imprisoning the rest of society. But already we have begun to hear of the 'House of Gushungo'. It's a fashion, some say…
But 30 years on when all this jostling breaks into open clan war and familicide it may well not be the Ndebele crying: "Where are the Ndebele?"
For everything that Zimbabwe was built to be, and is - 30 years on - it's time to say: shame, shame, shame … shame on you!!
Source - Stellar Msebele
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