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Lungile Tshuma
It has caught the attention of many, not because it is beautiful but because of the message it puts across about an individual and the organisation he represents and leads. Beautiful, expensive cars have been plying Bulawayo’s roads in recent years. People admire them – the sleek Mercedes Benz, BMW, Range Rovers and so on.
But has anyone ever imagined that a spartan, virtually rickety 1978 model Datsun 120Y can draw people’s attention more than the pricier, newer vehicles?
Cde Pendros Gumbo (57) owns the eye-catching colonial era 120Y, a vehicle that talks, so to speak. Indeed a car that one drives encapsulates the character and interests of its owner and Cde Gumbo’s revolutionary machine does it quite well, simply. While some motorists put the Zimbabwean flag inside their cars’ windscreens or on wing mirrors, he put his on the right corner where he bolted a one-and-a-half metre-high mast from which the national emblem has been flying for years.
“I placed the flag in 2010 encouraging people to lift Zimbabwe high,” said Cde Gumbo, a Zipra war veteran.
Besides the flag, the other striking article on his blue car is a huge portrait of President Mugabe with a message “Team Zanu-PF”. The picture draws many people’s attention as it is on the roof of the car.
“I like this man because he can stand up in every situation. He is a God-fearing man and with leaders who fear God, impossibilities will be made possible,” he said.
Pointing at the portrait, he added, “He is a brave leader. When the situation was tense from 2008 to 2009 he stood up for his people and assured them that their situation will normalise. It is also clear that the situation is slowly normalising. Before that, the 1992 drought which hit the country saw the President doing a brilliant job in assuring citizens that they will not die of hunger.
“During this period (2008-2009) sanctions affected people and it shows the cruelty of western countries. This is the reason why I have a clear message on my windscreen calling for the lifting of sanctions.”
Arguably Bulawayo’s first motorist to adorn his car with the national flag before all and sundry followed, Cde Gumbo praised President Mugabe for his bravery.
“President Mugabe is our young Lobengula (for his courage),” said Cde Gumbo.
“Despite all the challenges he faced and he is still facing including sanctions, whites will have to swallow their pride and watch Zimbabwe’s great man ruling. Whites will not do anything to him because he is a true man of God, angel Gabriel indeed”.
On the front bumper of his car he plans to mount an aluminum picture frame and put another picture of President Mugabe. At this time, there is a Zanu-PF calendar with the President’s photograph on.
“I do not socialise with cowards and with a brave man like the President in my car it makes me feel safe and I feel that I am a true patriotic citizen. I love my country and my President for the work he has been doing since independence,” said the ever-smiling, Cde Gumbo.
His is a 35-year-old vehicle which has seen it all; only a few of its contemporaries are still on the road. It was already two years old when Independence came; was on the road when the Unity Accord came in 1987; drove through the Economic Structural Adjustment
Programme, witnessed the launch and prosecution of the Third Chimurenga, was throttled by the fuel shortages of the pre-2008 era and welcomed the inclusive government.
Despite his car being an old horse, he said it is reliable and, with its dramatic outlook, did a great job in campaigning for the revolutionary party in the 31 July elections. The bearded war vet insisted that the car might be old but it is capable of doing great things.
“Some people might laugh at me just because I am driving an old model but old things are mostly reliable. Some people have been telling us that the President is old and cannot be voted into power. But is it the matter of age? Or it’s a matter of what he has done, is doing and is going to do for the country? Thousands were resettled, empowered and benefited from the President’s scholarship programme. With all this why then should I not then publicly declare that I am a number one fan of President Mugabe?
A supervisor at a fencing company in Bulawayo, he carries the Zanu-PF 2013 election manifesto and the national constitution on the dashboard of his vehicle. He said the purpose of him carrying the manifesto is that he wants to remind people that the party resoundingly won because it had a clear manifesto which was people-driven.
As for the constitution, he said he is a citizen who wants to know much about the constitution so that no one can tell him what it says, as some can twist the information.
The Zanu-PF manifesto which has attractive phrases, Ibhola Egedini/Bhora Mugedi and Team Zanu-PF 2013 are written in Cde Gumbo’s car. Apart from the calendar, the front bumper is inscribed with the phrase “Team Zanu-PF 2013, Ibhola Egedini/Bhora Mugedi and it’s a goooal.”
“The message is clear,” explained the revolutionary father of three. “When as the party we were campaigning we were saying we are Team Zanu-PF and we should work together as a team and score. Now that it’s a score I have to continue with the phrase by saying it’s a goooal.
I am actually saying to the President, we won and those who are against our victory should go and hang themselves.”
He urged people to love their country and work in harmony to develop it. He said some are ashamed of their country, a phenomenon he described as “turning your back against your mother”.
Seeing him in his beard, one might assume he goes to an apostolic church, but he is a Seventh Day Adventist. The Zanu-PF chairman for Queenspark West cell hails from Lower Gweru where he is one of the beneficiaries of land reform. However, he said, he now needs a bigger plot so that he can produce more for the country. He said he wants to leave a good legacy of a productive farmer and thereby defeating the myth that black farmers were not as good as white farmers.
He said he has seen many cars coming from South Africa with stickers “Mzansi for sure” (a praise phrase for South Africa) yet he has not seen any with the message “Zimbabwe for sure”.
He has to come up with his own phrase “Zimbabwe for sure” which is written on his car as a call for people to be proud of their country.
Yet another message on his car “Zimbabwe is not for sale,” an idea which the President has been telling whites and the opposition-MDC-for the past years.
Just like the huge haulage truck that Zanu-PF drove to all of President Mugabe’s star rallies ahead of the July elections, Cde Gumbo’s car is also another advertising platform for the party.
At the back of his car he has a picture of the late Father Zimbabwe, Dr Joshua Nkomo. He said the country’s history will be incomplete without acknowledging the role Dr Nkomo played in liberating and developing it.
“He is father Zimbabwe,” Cde Gumbo said.
“He managed to unite people of all tribes and stressed the importance of people taking their land and utilising it. The country is where it is because of him and President Mugabe.”
Online Reporter