Knowing that which I didn't know

Knowing that which I didn't know

By Ndaba Mabhena

AS A youngster on June 16,1976, I did not know a lot of things. Firstly I did not know what was going on in Soweto in South Africa. I did not know that my uncles and cousins were being recruited to travel to neighboring Zambia to train as Zipra forces. I did not know that some of my uncles and cousins that I had not seen for a long time had now completed their training and were secretly in the country fighting the oppressive Ian Smith regime.

I did not know that young people in South Africa organized themselves, on this day, in a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid regime for introducing Bantu Education and forcing Africaans as medium of instruction in schools right across South Africa. It was fundamentally those two issues that caused the children in Soweto to rise peacefully against the apartheid regime. It was not poverty neither was it that their families were forcibly removed from their place of occupation to no alternative accommodation. I am sure if it was the latter, the demonstration would have been far widespread and more violent.

On June 16,1976, I did not know that Zipra forces were fighting the same oppressive government that used to feed and cloth black children in blacks only schools. I did not understand what else my uncles wanted this government to do. Then, I could not imagine a government, especially a black one, that would condemn its children to a bleak future. A future where schooling, clothing, shelter, opportunies to employ one's gift were not guaranteed.

On April 18,1980, I did not understand a lot of things as I was still young. It was beginning to make a bit of sense but not quite. All of a sudden I became aware that blacks were an overwhelming majority in Zimbabwe and they deserved to have a big say in how the country was governed. My uncles that had brought the country from Zambia did a lot to explain to my young mind what the whole euphoria was all about. As a school going child then, I made a visionary declaration; that in ten years all house maids and garden boys would be from foreign lands as every child would be sent to school and thereafter get a very good job. I was certain of that as the promise of independence took root in my young mind.

The turn of events in the early 80s began to confuse my young mind. The independence was there but not there. All of a sudden it was said in hush voices that there soldiers in Bulawayo and its sister provinces. The soldiers were everywhere and adults were beaten up and I was told, in soft voices, that some were murdered in cold blood. The tension that prevailed was very moving. At this stage I could read a newspaper. I did read the Chronicle and Sunday News. At this stage it looked like the men in charge at these papers were names like Geoff Nyarota, Davison Maruziva, Bill Saidi and Leo Hatugari, just to mention a few.

"The turn of events in the early 80s began to confuse my young mind. The independence was there but not there"

TENDEUKAI BONGOZOZO

Reading with a young mind it seemed to me these big guns wanted the tension to continue. But I was not sure, even as I read Bill Saidi's Muchandida Madoda column every Sunday. To me the whole atmosphere seemed like a state of emergency that we learnt in our history class. I wondered at this stage where the independent country that my uncles had brought from Zambia had gone to. My relatives and uncles that had gone to war had this unhappiness that as a child I did not comprehend.

What I understood clearly was that the way the situation had turned out, these people did not expect to be treated this way by the leadership they fought side by side during the liberation struggle. They strongly felt that the manner they were being treated impacted negatively on their value system as a people of a certain cultural disposition. They were clear that in their culture it was demeaning for an adult not participate in shaping his or his offspring's future. It was further demeaning for them as a people not to be allowed to voice a different proposition for their country's leadership. After all it was their country they brought from Zambia.

From where they confidently stood, the current government had violated the very core values of who they were and what they stood for as a people of a particular culture in this diverse country.

These thoughts resoneted so loud in my conscience during the weeks when 'Operation Restore Order' swept this 'independent country' Zimbabwe. I wondered aloud what the consequences of this operation meant to all the different people that live in Zimbabwe. The clear consequences were loss of income and shelter thereby rendering the future of vulnerable children and women seriously bleak.

However, what did the consequences mean to Mr Mupande in Binga ,Cde Zuze in Makoni, Mr.Gumbo in Mberengwa, Mr.Gatsheni in Nkayi, Cde. Musa in Mhondoro, Mr.Hlongwane in Lupane, Cde Gambiza in Masvingo and Cde. Sixpence in Dzivarasekwa? Did these consequences have the same damage on different value systems of different people right across the country? Is it possible that these consequences had over shot the pain threshold in certain people and were still within the pain threshold of certain people? Do people in Uzumba Maramba-Pfugwe view the consequences as better that the pain white settlers took Zimbabwe through? Are there any social groupings in Zimbabwe whose self actualization is far lower than certain parts of the country?

While I battled with these questions I was in no doubt about one thing. Any government that seeks to serve me must recognize my view in everything that affects my life. This government must realize that it is my God given right to say no to poverty and it should be in my on hands to be able to determine my future, and that of my children, by employing my God-given gifts. It therefore is the role of that government to make all this possible by making available opportunities to everyone that lives in Zimbabwe.

All that is my underlying value system as I was socialized that way.
Ndaba Mabhena writes from Harare and is a regular contributor to our guest column
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