Mission to enlighten turned to brutal plunder

Melody Dube, Features Reporter
IN four days’ time, Zimbabwe will mark 41 years of independence from white colonial rule.

The country came under colonial rule in 1890 when Englishmen permanently settled in what then became Rhodesia.

The Pioneer Column, which was assembled by Cecil John Rhodes and his British South Africa Company (BSAC) marked the beginning of much suffering among the black majority. Cecil John Rhodes believed that the black race was in need of “enlightenment” by the Englishmen.

He claimed that black people in Africa were under some form of “darkness” where they could only be brought to “light” by the white race.
Rhodes was a firm believer in the White-Man’s Burden idea of the duty of the Anglo-Saxon race to help “civilise” the “darker” corners of the world. White settlers who occupied Zimbabwe in 1890 shared this view of the world and treated the indigenous African population as children who needed their guidance, protection, and civilisation.

The policies they implemented, whether in politics, constitution making and governance, education, economy, land and labour policies, social relations, or residential policies, were based on this sense of racial superiority and the determination to promote white interests at the expense of the non-white population. White dominance came with racism, discrimination and exploitation of the black majority. The white settlers did not at all stick to their mission of “enlightening” the local black people.

Rather, they became brutal opportunists who would take everything from the natives in the name of promoting Western civilisation. The settlers seized all fertile lands from the natives and drove them to arid areas.

This caused a stir between the two as land was an important part of the black society. Locals felt robbed of their heritage. They took the act as a violation of their dignity, hence the first uprising in 1896 from Matabeleland known as Umvukela I. Black folks were defeated however, leading them to many more years of suppression.

Their grievances escalated through to the years 1966-1979 where the second uprising known as Umvukela II took place. The concerns were mainly on the inequalities in the education sector between the two races. The seized land was still an issue as well. Poor working conditions which never seemed to be addressed were also another cause for a revolt.

In the Matabeleland region, Bulawayo was the protagonist in this experienced inhumane nature. The few black people found in the city during the pre-independence period experienced inhumane treatment from the white settlers. The division between the two races was widely visible. Renowned historian Mr Pathisa Nyathi said the situation in pre-independence Zimbabwe was far much worse than history has revealed.

Mr Nyathi said there was extreme racism and discrimination in the city perpetuated by the whites, highlighting issues such as the restriction to own property in the city as a black person. One reason was that black people were not economically empowered, their labour was exploited. Another reason was that settling in the city was never a permanent thing.

“For Africans, the city was a temporary settlement because no one was allowed to own a house there. During those years, men were the only ones allowed in the city and only for work. When you came to Bulawayo, you would have been coming to work for a white man and during that time you would be residing in the company property somewhere around Mabuthweni, Njube and other high-density areas,” said Mr Nyathi.

In the colonial years, women were not allowed into the city. They were to remain in the rural areas when their husbands moved to Bulawayo seeking employment.

There were restricted areas where blacks were never to be found at. The racism went as far as having laws governing who walks where and who does not. “We were not allowed to walk on pavements. Those were areas set only for the whites. A black person was supposed to walk on the dusty ground,” said Mr Nyathi. During the colonial era, certain facilities were also out of reach for blacks. These were places deemed too luxurious for “primitive black natives” such as hotels. Similarly, education access was different between black and white children.

Certain schools with better facilities were for whites only. Mr Nyathi said black children were not permitted to enrol at schools such as Northlea or Townsend high schools. He said black people also had a certain type of alcohol they were permitted to consume. The bottled alcohol was for whites only.

Black people were to stick to the traditional brew.

“It was an offence for an African to be found with bottled beer according to the 1889 Charter. We would later get that one from the coloureds who had access to it, otherwise we were ordered to stick to the traditional brew,” said Mr Nyathi.

To date, the country has come a long way in terms of doing away with all forms of racism, discrimination or exploitation among races – one of the gains of our glorious independence.