MSU student launches book

Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
TOMORROW is Africa Day — a date that reflects the words of Ghana’s founding father Nkwame Nkrumah who once remarked that his native country’s freedom was meaningless as long as the rest of the continent was still under colonialism. Taking into cognisance these words, a student from the Midlands State University (MSU), Richard “Ras Mkhonto” Mahomva, on Wednesday evening launched a book titled Pan Africanism, From the Cradle, Present and the Future. The book launch was held at Cafe Munandi with entertainment provided by X-Mile and Thandy Dlana.

The book seeks to contest the study of African critical thought and to address how Africans were disregarding their own ideologies and adopting foreign principles.

In an interview, Mahomva said the reason he wrote the book after spending three years at university was that there were no books addressing African thought.

“When I got to university I soon realised that there were no books that we were given that dealt with African ideology. All the books were written by foreign authors who have their own western dogmas. So in my first year second semester I started writing this book,” he said.

Mahomva, who is a Politics and Public Management third year student, said he drew inspiration from writers such as Walter Rodney and Marcus Garvey.

Rodney, born March 23, 1942, died on June, 13 1980. He was Guyanan by descent and penned a book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa in it he describes an Africa that had been consciously exploited by European imperialists, leading directly to the modern underdevelopment of most of the continent.

At 38, Rodney was killed by a bomb in his car, a month after returning from the independence celebrations in Zimbabwe and during a period of intense political activism.

Mahomva said the book has case studies of African leaders such as Nkwame Nkrumah and the late vice- President Dr Joshua Nkomo who spearheaded Pan- Africanism.

“In the book I have chapters dedicated to people like Nkwame Nkrumah and our late vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo. These men are the founders of Pan-Africanism in their countries as we know in Zimbabwe Dr Nkomo was the one who began the drive to free our nation from the shackles of colonialism,” he said.

Mahomva was born on October 23, 1990 and grew up in Bulawayo’s Pelandaba high density suburb. He attended Gloag High School.