daniel chigunwe
Lawson Mabhena
Bulawayo Bureau
In an interview with CTV News in London during Lancaster House negotiations, then Zimbabwean African People’s Union (Zapu) leader and co-leader of the Patriotic Front, Dr Joshua Nkomo was asked two pertinent questions about the liberation war.
The first question was on how long Dr Nkomo believed the Frontline States would continue to support Zimbabwe’s liberation fighters in light of the negative impact the war had on their economies. His answer was emphatic: “It’s not a question of supporting the Patriotic Front, that’s the mistake certain people make. The Frontline States are not supporting the Patriotic Front; they are carrying out a responsibility that we all agreed on as Africans to free Africa.”
The second question was on whether there was pressure from the guerrilla forces for the political leadership to reach a quick settlement at Lancaster House to avoid further loss of life.
In answering to this, Dr Nkomo did not hold back any punches: “There was great loss of life by the United States in a matter that was not even theirs. How could their people remain in Vietnam for so long, fighting for no cause? But here our men are part and parcel of the struggle; they are not ordinary soldiers, they are political soldiers.”
From the line of questioning, it was clear that the West was tired of the war in Rhodesia. The feeling was probably mutual; no one wants war.
However, the late Dr Nkomo, a founding nationalist largely referred to as Father Zimbabwe, understood that genuine liberation is not given – it is seized.
Said Dr Nkomo of his army in one interview: “Our army is not a Salvation Army . . . to beat the drums and when the church is over to walk away to their homes. No, no! It is there to defend what it has won.”
Late political philosopher, Frantz Omar Fanon, who participated in Algeria’s fight for independence, wrote extensively on the need for colonised nations to turn to violence.
Because colonialism itself came about through violence, Fanon argued that violence was the only language a coloniser could understand.
Most importantly, violence liberates the oppressed from their inferiority complex. Through violence against the oppressor, the oppressed are born again. They can now truly believe that like their oppressor, they too were also made in the image of God.
“At the level of individuals, violence is a cleansing force. It frees the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction; it makes him fearless and restores his self-respect,” Fanon wrote. Perhaps no one captures Fanon’s philosophy better than Ian Adams and Robert Dyson, who sum it up as thus: “Through violence against a colonist, the native comes to know himself and creates himself. In a sense, he destroys the oppressor and the oppressed in one blow.”
Dr Nkomo was not a violent man. He spoke against violence on many occasions while preaching the gospel of peace and forgiveness.
“It must be perfectly clear that the failure of the Geneva conference, if it does come, will not be because of the transgressions of the nationalists, freedom fighters, but it will be the stubbornness of imperialism in Zimbabwe, which Africa has pledged to support in uprooting not only in Zimbabwe but in all parts where this evil still lingers.
“So the position is perfectly clear on our side; we are not blood thirsty, we are not warmongers, but we cannot continue to be humiliated and we cannot stand by while our people continue to be exploited and oppressed by a minority who we have expressed quite openly that we are prepared to have as part of the population of our country,” Dr Nkomo told a press conference in Nigeria in 1977.
After having tried to bring about equality in Zimbabwe in a peaceful manner, he later understood the need for an armed struggle. It was an ugly way to bring about independence or majority rule, but was still a necessary evil.
For Zimbabwe to truly be free, both the oppressors and the oppressed needed violence. Both the oppressor and the oppressed needed to be destroyed “in one blow”.
This is why the “political soldiers” led by Dr Nkomo took up arms. This is why the Frontline States – Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia – supported the war. Getting a majority vote and land on a silver platter would have never been enough. After 90 years of racist oppression or colonial rule, the natives needed to be liberated from their inferiority complex in as much as the settlers were desperate to be liberated from their superiority complex.
It is a paradox of historical proportions: Dr Nkomo – one of the world’s most peaceful gentle giants – had to lead one of the most violent liberation wars in history.
Lieutenant-General George Peter Walls, the head of the Armed Forces of Rhodesia, is claimed to have famously said he could conquer Africa if he could get Dr Nkomo’s troops. That was the might of Dr Nkomo’s army.
The violent liberation is the reason why Zimbabweans are still the only Africans to have repossessed their land. The Land Reform is a direct result of the destruction of the oppressed. But does the liberation war make Dr Joshua Mqabuko kaNyongolo Nkomo a violent man. The answer is a big NO!
He will forever be remembered as a peaceful man, a peacemaker.
General Josh was a man of peace and gentle giant who just had to lead a very violent armed struggle.
Online Reporter