Tinaye Agere
Government yesterday officially conferred national hero status posthumously on the late nationalist, Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole. Rev Sithole, who was founding president of ZANU, spent 10 years in prison after the Rhodesian government banned the party. Last year, President Mnangagwa posthumously declared Rev Sithole, who died in 2000, a national hero in recognition of his contribution to Zimbabwe’s independence. Our Deputy News Editor LINCOLN TOWINDO (LT) spoke to Cde Wilson Khumbula (WK), who was Rev Sithole’s long-time deputy and successor as leader of ZANU Ndonga, about the significance of the national hero status.
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LT: Can you begin by telling us the significance of the late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole’s contribution to Zimbabwe’s independence?
WK: Rev Sithole was chosen as the first president of ZANU on August 8, 1963 when the party was formed in Salisbury, Rhodesia. Through his leadership, ZANU shifted the direction of our agitation for independence.
Along with the new ZANU executive, they agreed that freedom was never going to come through negotiating with the colonisers.
The previous arrangement under ZAPU was to attain freedom through negotiating with the white man.
But the ZANU leadership had seen that the white man was not sincere in negotiating for majority rule.
It so happened that ZAPU already had trained freedom fighters who were in Egypt, awaiting deployment.
But the problem was there was no plan on when these combatants would be deployed to fight for freedom.
In 1963, the new leadership under Rev Sithole decided that the time had come to deploy the trained cadres to wage the liberation war.
Through Rev Sithole’s leadership, Zimbabweans were finally geared to prosecute a war of liberation.
A problem then arose on how they were going to arm the trained cadres. The freedom fighters had been trained by the Russians, who were more aligned to ZAPU.
So, there was a need to find a different source of arms for the fighters since the new party did not have a strong alliance with the Russians as ZAPU.
So, Rev Sithole said they could not go to the Russians to ask for weapons because of differences between him and ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo.
However, his wish was to help liberate Zimbabwe through the barrel of the gun.
He then opened negotiations with China in order to source weapons for the trained cadres.
So, in short, Rev Sithole’s biggest contribution was that he pioneered the armed struggle for the country’s independence.
He was a very brave man, who was unshackled by fear of the oppressor and determined to win independence through fighting the enemy. His main contribution was to spearhead the armed revolution.
During that time, there was no fighting in Zimbabwe; many had placed their hope in negotiating for freedom.
He was the one who first thought of the idea of taking up arms and fighting for the liberation of our country.
During ZANU’s first People’s Congress held in Gweru in 1964, he made a clarion call that still rings true today.
He came up with the slogans “Iwe neni tine basa” and “We are our own liberators”.
These slogans were a declaration of intent, which showed bravery and willingness to fight for liberation.
Congress also declared that they would no longer seek facilitation for independence from the Commonwealth, the United Nations and the British government.
That clarion call resulted in many — including the likes of Noel Mukondo, (William) Ndangana and our current leader, President Mnangagwa — crossing into the country to wage the liberation war.
LT: Can you briefly describe the kind of man Rev Sithole was?
WK: We all have our places of origin, which we all hold dear to our hearts, and that was the case with Rev Sithole when it came to Chipinge.
Rev Sithole was born in Chipinge, Manicaland province, where he had a very close relationship with the people because that is where he was nurtured.
His Chipinge roots bestowed on him a spirit of bravery and principles of patriotism. But that does not mean he was a tribal leader. In fact, he was a leader with national outlook.
He loved the people of Zimbabwe.
To show that, the party leadership that came out of Gweru was drawn from all corners of Zimbabwe.
This showed that his leadership was national and not regional.
Rev Sithole was a determined man, who fought for his principles and would never hold back in the face of what he considered wrong.
He was fearless and would finish any task that he had put his mind to.
Even though he ended up having differences with his colleagues towards the end, he remained a patriot, who gave his life to Zimbabwe.
LT: What is the significance of conferring national hero status to the late Rev Sithole?
WK: Zimbabwe owed Rev Sithole a massive debt and that debt has been paid.
There was no other way of repaying that debt; no amount of money or earthly rewards could repay that debt.
All that was needed to repay the man was to recognise his contributions and show him that, as a nation, we appreciate what he did as one of the founding nationalists of our struggle for independence.
So, Zimbabwe owed the man a huge debt and, through President Mnangagwa’s wisdom, that debt has been repaid.
LT: How much does the conferring of national hero status on Rev Sithole mean to the people of Chipinge and Manicaland at large?
WK: When we speak of Rev Sithole’s legacy, we do not mention it in the context of Chipinge because he was a national leader.
However, the people of Chipinge were perplexed by the failure to recognise the contributions of one of their own.
Because of that, there was some level of lingering bitterness. They wanted to know why one of their own was not being recognised like others from other parts of the country. I can say the people of Chipinge were angry; they felt they were being treated like outsiders.
But now the conferment of national hero status has helped resolve that; we feel like part of the country and believe the leader we have, as a nation, cares for us.
So, the people are very happy and celebrating this recognition.
LT: Can you recount the work that was going on behind the scenes that led Government to confer national hero status on Rev Sithole?
WK: Like everything else, this also had a starting point.
In fact, the process started way back when Rev Sithole was still alive.
I was there as one of the leaders of ZANU Ndonga when conversations about rapprochement with erstwhile colleagues started.
Among the people who started this conversation in Government were Didymus Mutasa and Basil Nyabadza, who was then chairperson of Manicaland province.
The late Cde Kumbirai Kangai was also involved for a while.
Nyabadza then stopped attending the meetings after he was deployed to ARDA (Agricultural and Rural Development Authority).
Cde Mutasa worked very hard for this to happen despite facing many challenges with colleagues in the party, some of whom were against the idea.
We then had some leaders from Chipinge who continued the conversation with me when I was legislator for Chipinge.
Others who were involved include the late Chris Mushowe, Munacho Mutezo and Mike Madiro.
At one point, Amai (Joice) Mujuru sent a delegation that included Webster Shamu for the discussions.
Also, the situation in the party, which was going through internal challenges back then, was not conducive for the discussions to proceed.
After the 2013 elections, Cde Win Mlambo resumed the conversations, but things were moving very slowly.
It was only in 2015 that we made a breakthrough after we agreed to disband ZANU Ndonga and join ZANU PF.
After that, we were then supposed to speak to the late former president Robert Mugabe but were unable to do so because he then left the country on short notice.
Time moved on and the conversation was again reignited by the Second Republic.
After announcing the conferment, President Mnangagwa called me to discuss everything.
That was also around the time he selected me to join the Central Committee.
He told me that it had always been his wish to unite comrades who had left the party for different reasons.
He said he wanted to pay the debt the country owed to Rev Sithole.
LT: What more would you want Government to do for other liberation luminaries who were not conferred with national hero status under the First Republic?
WK: In all honesty, what the Second Republic, under President Mnangagwa, is doing was long overdue.
He has already conferred national hero status on many others who had been ignored for a very long time.
You speak of the likes of Nikita Mangena.
But there are many others who are deserving.
The party should now come up with their names and take them to the President, who will take appropriate action.
That way, we will unite the party and strengthen the revolution.
There are some who feel left out of the party because their relatives may have been overlooked, and that should not happen again.
Government should look at all those people who may have been left out and give them due recognition.
Twitter: @kuntowaz
Online Reporter