Chronicle Editor
History was made on Thursday when the Government installed the country’s newest chief. To make that piece of history more significant, he must be the first person to hold that position in the long, long history of that community.
So, the people had every reason to dance and sing, feasting at what is likely their biggest and most important party yet.
Local Government and Public Works Minister, July Moyo was, on that day, at Mtshina Secondary School in Tsholotsho to fulfil yet another promise by authorities — he investitured Mr Christopher Dube as Chief Goledema.
“It is a momentous occasion as we are installing the first and substantive Chief Goledema Mr Christopher Dube,” said the minister.
“This chieftainship was created by the Second Republic which is ably led by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa,” he said.
“History shows that they did not have a chief, but the Second Republic is saying we can no longer have the Tjwao people excluded and left behind. Without this leadership, they were discriminated against and as such could not enjoy basic rights to their ancestral property, language, cultures and forms of governance. They could also not access social services such as education, health, water, sanitation and housing and so on.”
We appreciate the work that the Government is doing for the San, who were marginalised for centuries. They had no land, weren’t legally known to exist as they weren’t registered — no birth certificate, thus no ID. Without a registration document, they could not get formal education. They had no representation too.
It was unfortunate that we had such a community in our country. Every one of us was just unbothered and the San knew it, so they just kept it all to themselves. Sad.
Happily, they are now firmly on the road out of marginalisation. Thursday sent that message out most resoundingly. Chief Goledema’s investiture was a culmination of hard work that has been happening at Government and community level since 2018.
A few months ago, the Government stationed a team there to register the San. Also, two dozen or so of them graduated as prison officers recently. The Government is implementing food security initiatives among the people as well.
We celebrate with Chief Goledema and his people for the positives that have been happening in their community over the past five years.
We urge the people to embrace the work that is being done. We urge them to get registered as citizens of their country. We urge them to go to school, to seek jobs and continue knocking on the Government’s doors for all they want. We urge them to work even harder to revive their language, which, like its speakers, was being marginalised to the point of approaching extinction.
The Government must widen its role to get that language firmly on the map. Koisan is already one of the country’s 16 official languages, so all of us must recognise and promote the language rights of the San.
It is great now that they have a point person in Chief Goledema.
We cite Mr George Sibanda, a San, elsewhere today, highlighting that while a lot is being done for the Tsholotsho community, their relatives in neighbouring Bulilima are behind a bit. That is a good observation, which, we are sure, the Government will gladly look into.
Online Reporter