Mkhwananzi’s curious mix of sense and non-sense

Mkhwananzi’s curious mix of sense and non-sense

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• Lance Guma: Lessons drenched in blood

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• Dumisani Zifa Ndlovu: 'Mnangagwa has Matabele blood on his hands'

• Mnangagwa, Dabengwa clash over Mat massacres

• Mugabe faces class lawsuit over massacres

• Honour of journalist who first exposed Mat killings

Writing here last week, Imbovane Yamahlabezulu president George Mkhwananzi objected to utterances by Prof Welhsman Ncube and Paul Themba Nyathi suggesting a Ndebele speaker cannot be president of Zimbabwe. Lance Guma says Mkhwananzi's article was a mixture of sense and nonsense

By Lance Guma

THE article by George Mkhwananzi, entitled ‘Ndebele’s and Zimbabwe national leadership’ was at best a curious mix of sense and non-sense. He is by the way President of Matabeleland pressure group Imbovane Yamahlabezulu. One website describes him as:

‘the self-anointed keeper of Ndebele memory. Wearing thick spectacles that keep sliding down his nose, he doesn't fit the image of a would-be rebel leader. But that is what he says he and others will become if Mugabe is not punished for the murder of the Ndebele.’

I dont think in all fairness anyone expects him to love Shona people. While he raised some brilliant points, he let his own tribalist feelings spill out from the container of hatred towards Shona’s. I dare say Robert Mugabe is not the Shona people. Mkhwananzi seems to have his mind made up on what he thinks is the Shona mindset towards Ndebele leaders. It needs to be pointed out here and now that the greater majority of people who seek to ride on tribalism are politicians. If Mugabe marginalised Joshua Nkomo by branding him a Ndebele warlord, does it not follow therefore people are exploited by politicians just as other carrots are used ie the land reform (or was it deform) exercise?

While I did not have the chance to verify the statements alluded to Welshman Ncube and Paul Themba Nyathi, I do not see how Mkhwananzi can blame Shona people for the utterings of these two? Will the honourable gentleman tell us which Shona people said Ndebele’s cannot be national leaders? By writing such an inflammatory statement he is actually raising doubts in the minds of Shona people as to what his intentions are. Mkhwananzi has in a sense made a self-fulfilling prophecy. His statements are meant to cause the state of affairs he says currently exist.

The non-sense did not end there. He goes on to say ‘the people of Matabeleland know very well that it is their resources which fuel the economy of the country. In spite of their fewer numbers, their region contributes 40% of the country’s GDP. It is their coal which makes Zimbabwe’s tobacco competitive. It is their electricity which illuminates the whole country and powers the industries. It is their tourism and beef which bring the limited foreign currency. It is their timber which decorates homes and anchors railway lines throughout the country. It is their gold, chrome, cement, nickel, iron ore and other minerals which are the mainstay of the country’s economy.’ Such divisive rantings. What does he mean by the people of Matabeleland? I am a Shona from Mutare and yet grew up in Bulawayo. Which resources belong to me?

I ask the question sarcastically for I know anyway the gentleman believes in Matabeleland becoming an autonomous state governed by Ndebele’s for Ndebele’s. That’s precisely his politics and when I saw his article I was not surprised at how he is willing to divide Shonas and Ndebele’s to achieve previously declared goals. A considerable number of Ndebele people have moved to work in Harare and other places while Shona’s have also been going in the opposite direction. The areas are no longer just for one tribe as the above mixing will show. Instead of arguing along the lines of harmonizing the different tribes all Mkwananzi succeeds in is offending the Shona people by his display of clear hatred.

The political process is not as mechanical as some might think. Charismatic leaders can always rise above tribal lines and become national leaders. I sincerely believe if Mugabe was not the dictator he is, Joshua Nkomo could have easily become President. His appeal was national far from what some may want us to believe.

The problem comes when you have people like Jonathan Moyo who are overly-aggressive and try to impose themselves on people. He is offended by the views of those who despise him and wishes others to embrace him irrespective. A simple letter from Daniel Molokela containing genuine questions most of us would ask was met with an extremely arrogant and abusive response from Moyo. That’s not the mark of a great leader. Here is an over-rated academic who excelled within an organized system and does not seem to realize he is absolutely nobody outside it and can never be anybody alone. (We will compare notes on him as time progresses).

Mkhwananzi and Moyo fall into the same bracket: too ambitious and easily frustrated. Tribalism becomes a way to explain their own failures.
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