Chronicle Editor
Vincent Gono, Features Editor
THE announcement on Friday by President Mnangagwa that the statue on Mbuya Nehanda will be unveiled on Tuesday coinciding with the Africa Day celebrations is not a planning accident.
It is a localised recognition and show of solidarity with the departed native sons and daughters of the soil whose inspiration, toil, sweat, tears and blood contributed to the making of Africa as a solid continent. That she stoked the fires of nationalistic resistance against white minority rule as early as 1896-97 and immediately after the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884 that partitioned Africa among the European powers without the involvement of Africans is a fact that deserves recognition. She was one of the most influential African people who just like Kinjikitile Ngwale of Ngaarambe in Tanganyika (present day Tanzania) in 1904 gave the subjugated African communities a vision of a united and independent African continent.
Like Nehanda, Kinjikitile’s biggest achievement was uniting different ethnic groups in and even beyond the Tanganyika region against a common enemy, the German colonial administration. He thus stirred the first embers of nationalism in Tanganyika. He is seen as the initiator of the Maji Maji war, even though he himself died shortly after the uprising started. The Maji Maji war lasted from 1905 until 1907 and was one of the biggest wars against colonial powers in Africa.
Zimbabwe’s independence was to materialise in 1980, more than eight decades later after the first uprising in 1896 while that of Tanzania came 56 years later from the Maji Maji war of 1905. It was her inspiration and courage and that of the other native sons and daughters of Africa that saw them rising up with spears, bows and arrows against the white men who had guns.
That her spiritual self from where everything could be credited had told her that the whites had come to take both African land, pride and dignity as early as 1896 should be born in mind and that all the revolutions and the struggles that later took shape were only following in the same footsteps of the 1896 First Chimurenga deserves recognition.
She therefore, remains an African heroine. A pioneer of African resistance against colonialism.
Historian and cultural activist Pathisa Nyathi said the statue of Nehanda represented the restoration and recognition of African dignity.
“That the statue of Nehanda is going to be unveiled on Tuesday is apt. It is a loud statement that we are looking at Africa Day not from the narrow lenses of Zimbabwe as a country but we are fitting our national heroine into the broad context of African politics where she rightfully belongs. She is a pioneer of African resistance and an inspiration to all the struggles that followed. She gave Africans the courage, motivation and desire to fight and gain the lost independence. The wars that followed in the 1960s were a resumption and continuation of the struggle that Nehanda had started,” said Nyathi.
He said ignoring such personalities as Nehanda in the shaping of African resistance was a historical mistake.
He said it was with the objective of ridding the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonisation and apartheid, promote unity and solidarity among African States and to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development as well as to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States that the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union was formed in 1963.
By then a number of African States were not yet independent but the premise was to ensure that those countries that had gotten independence assist others until the whole continent was stirred clean of the vestiges of colonisation. The first country to get independence was Ghana in March 1957 and it was Kwame Nkrumah’s declaration that: “We are going to see that we create our own African personality and identity. We again rededicate ourselves in the struggle to emancipate other countries in Africa; for our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.”
The vision of a united and independent Africa whose seeds were sown by such continentally unrecognised people as Nehanda were beginning to emerge. And Nkrumah did not end there. He explained his vision in his 1961 book, I Speak of Freedom when he said:
“Divided we are weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world. I believe strongly and sincerely that with the deep-rooted wisdom and dignity, the innate respect for human lives, the intense humanity that is our heritage, the African race, will emerge not as just another world bloc to flaunt its wealth and strength, but as a Great Power whose greatness is indestructible because it is built not on fear, envy and suspicion, nor won at the expense of others, but founded on hope, trust, friendship and directed to the good of all mankind.”
Ghana was one of 30 nations that founded the Organisation of African Unity in 1963. But Nkrumah regarded it as inadequate as it was not the United States of Africa he longed for. His ideas were opposed to that of Julius Nyerere of Tanzania who felt there was a need for Africa to gradually get there building the continent into one brick by brick and it was Nyerere who won the debate.
Today, Africa stands as one solid continent and emphasis is on building resilience in its communities through deliberate policies aimed at improving the livelihoods of its people although there are certain targeted hotspots that the continent needs to deal with holistically. The issue of hotspots is however, often motivated by the presence of natural resources such as rich endowments in oil, precious metals, diamonds and other minerals that will be looted in times of conflict and crisis. The colonial powers continue to exploit the African raw materials to build their economies at the expense of the African economies.
It is gratifying, however, to note that this is changing. Following the agenda of the African Union today, the African leaders are well aware that the promotion of economic development should be a priority. There are also encouraging signs that show that things are changing for the better.
It is however, time for African countries to enter into economic ties with other continents that are mutually beneficial. For too long Africans have been hoodwinked by non-Africans where, in their desperation to gain their acceptance, agreed to non-beneficial economic deals.
It is therefore time that Africans must start believing that they have the capabilities and the expertise to run their economic affairs to the benefit of their populations. After all that is what pioneers of the struggle for independence such as Nehanda were advocating for.so that Africans can be masters of their destiny.
Bongani Ndlovu