Mr Casper Sibanda a liberation hero and a hero of our time

On the 2nd June 1957, Mr Casper Sibanda the son of Mr Isaac Diliza Sibanda, was born in Bulawayo at Mpilo Hospital. His roots are in Kezi, where he started his Sub A at Matankeni Pry School. Mr Sibanda did not stay for long at Matankeni, he moved to Helem Primary school in Njube surbub in Bulawayo, then to Nsukamini Primary school. For his secondary education, he went to Luveve High School.

Mr Casper Sibanda is the ZAPU parliamentary candidate for Lobengula-Njube Constituency, in the past week he has been doing door to door campaigning and he says that the reception from the people is encouraging.



In 1975 the call of duty knocked on his door, "I decided to join the liberation struggle, the basis for my joining the struggle was due to the unfair treatment of black people by the White colonial regime. I was sure that the reason why we were being mistreated or treated unfairly was because of the colour of our skin, I wanted a better society whereby people were not judged by the colour of their skin, race or tribe they belonged" Mr Sibanda explained.

Mr Sibanda crossed over to Botswana in 1975, from Botswana he boarded Air Swaziland to Zambia for military training. Due to Mr Sibanda's sharp brains he was drafted into specialising in Military Engineering. In 1976 he went for further specialist training in Angola. "In military engineering I specialised in mines, the job was demanding as it needed one to be always alert and totally focused, but it was the job I became to love and enjoy, I would like to believe that I became good at it" Mr Sibanda said.

Mr Sibanda recalled many operations where they did telling blows to the enemy, he believes that theirs was an integral role in the struggle as it immobilised the Rhodesians to an extent.

"If there is one thing I learned from my parents, then it was respect, my fundamental beliefs are premised on respect, this evidenced by my respect for human rights. All my values are based on respect, I respect my political opponents, I respect the old and the young alike, I believe that without respect one cannot do anything progressive, I am very much aware that our country is what it is today because the current leadership does not respect the people". Mr Sibanda explained his belief system.

When Mr Sibanda was asked about what he sees as the problem in Zimbabwe and the possible solutions, he did not hesitate "Without a shadow of a doubt, it is tribalism, tribalism today is worse that racialism of yesteryears, the systematic marginalisation of other regions is as a result of tribalism, I am not surprised though, because the ruling Party was founded on tribalism. The reason why they do not want to relinquish power is because of the crimes they committed because of tribal hatred, unlike in South Africa where the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was initiated and instituted to right the wrongs of the apartheid era, here the government resisted it and would prefer to burn down the whole country than to do what is right". Mr Sibanda said.

"The way-forward in Zimbabwe is simple, yet it needs political maturity, the silos of divisions should go, the disunity, hurt and anger should be dealt with fairly and squarely, this is where devolution of power comes in to play, just imagine, even here in my constituency, the few resources available such as beer gardens are rented out to people who do not belong here, our youths are not employed and they are not benefitting from the resources in their area" Mr Sibanda explained.

 Mr Sibanda went on to say that devolution of power will equalise everything and thereby bringing fairness and equitable distribution of resources and he believes that this will even liberate the current ruling class which is so afraid of the people and of the law.

Mr Sibanda is a family man and a commercial farmer, he has three children. "I believe in community cohesion, when people work together they always achieve their set goals, I am a member of Njube Residence Association, I am very keen on promotion of community cohesion as the basis for development" Mr Sibanda espoused his vision.
Mr Sibanda said that contesting for a parliamentary position is the greatest privilege that the Party bestowed on him and promised to win the seat for the people of Lonbengula and Njube. He promised  that if the people of Njube and Lobengula elect him; that he will push for devolution in parliament in a manner that the government will be shocked, "our youths need jobs as is their futures are bleak but with a party like ZAPU on the helm the future will be bright" Mr Sibanda said.  

"The People of Zimbabwe deserve better, and ZAPU promises to live up to the people's expectations, we will outlaw tribalism, we will outlaw discrimination and we shall introduce fairness and equality; we aim to bring back happiness and dignity to our citizens, this will be achieved through sound economic policies" Mr Sibanda concluded.