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Senior Arts Reporter
In his first novel, “The Chosen Generation” (2021), which will be launched today at the Museum of African Liberation, Liberation City, Harare, Ambassador Thomas Sukutai Bvuma, draws from his experiences as a freedom fighter and senior public servant to tell the story of the liberation struggle in a way that other authors or comrades would rather not.
The poet and author of the award-winning poetry anthology, “Every Stone That Turns”, published by College Press in 1999, indeed, leaves no stone unturned in his latest offering as he narrates, without glossing over, what he and other guerrillas experienced during the struggle.
In this historical novel, Nyika Yababa, the protagonist, belongs to the chosen generation of boys and girls, who abandon school, jobs and parents in the 1970s for Mozambique, where they join ZANLA guerrillas.
Yababa leaves behind a girlfriend, Wadiwa, in Sakubva African Township, Umtali (now Mutare), whom he has promised to marry.
He impregnates a female comrade at Chibawawa Refugee Camp in Mozambique.
However, Yababa’s dream of training quickly and returning to Rhodesia to fight the Rhodesians and kill his former boss is frustrated as he is moved from camp to camp.
He survives the Rhodesian attack on ZANLA headquarters at Chimoio Camp, where he was training as a commando, and is finally deployed to the front. It is at the front that he does unto the Rhodesians what they were doing to the Africans.
Against unimaginable odds, the chosen generation defeated the Rhodesian army and brought Zimbabwe’s independence. The same chosen generation is destined to rule Zimbabwe. The historical fiction delves into the questions: Was the Zimbabwe revolution a romantic stroll through bush and villages? Were the guerrillas angels united in a common ideology? Did the comrades run the economy of the country successfully after independence? And was there any hope left for a better Zimbabwe after the devastating economic crash of 2008, which saw millions of another generation of young Zimbabweans leave their country in search of jobs in foreign countries?
To survivors of the liberation war, “The Chosen Generation” should be cathartic, healing.
To other readers, the novel is revealing and educational. In his preview of the novel published on the blog KwaChirere on September 9, 2021, University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Mr Memory Chirere, writes: “This book is a must-read for all people with a genuine interest in the emerging perspectives on Zimbabwe’s difficult war of independence, and how much it is a prelude to what took place within Zimbabwe soon after.”
Bvuma’s poetry collection, “Every Stone That Turns”, has been studied at universities across the country and beyond for many years now. It was also prescribed as a Zimsec A-Level Literature in English set book twice.
Bvuma served as Zimbabwe’s first Ambassador to Brazil and South America. He is also a former deputy editor of The Herald.
He started writing poetry at St Augustine’s Mission, which saw two of his poems published in Two Tone magazine. The author abandoned his studies at the University of Rhodesia (University of Zimbabwe) in 1976 to join ZANLA guerrillas in Mozambique.
The self-published novel is available at Innov8 Bookshops, Amazon.com, or directly from the author on +263719558026.
Online Reporter