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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
WHILE the protracted armed struggle was in full swing, some freedom fighters were sent to pursue academic studies to equip them on governance issues ahead of the inevitable independence.
Some freedom fighters were sent to countries such as the Soviet Union, now Russia, Cuba, China, Britain and even America for academic training.
Others trained in regional countries such as Zambia and Tanzania where guerilla camps were set.
Former freedom fighters who benefited from academic scholarship programmes include Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Dr Mavis Sibanda, Great Zimbabwe University Vice Chancellor Rungano Jonas Zvobgo, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Cain Mathema among others.
Zapu’s education department pursued scholarships for freedom fighters as part of a broader thrust to equip them to govern an independent country.
In an interview, Dr Mpofu said in preparing to rule the country, visionary nationalists saw the need to academically equip the younger and astute freedom fighters with skills that would be needed in independent Zimbabwe.
Dr Mpofu, having joined the liberation through Zambia, acquired a journalism diploma in the neighbouring country before being posted to India to advance and returned to the country with a business administration degree.
“After taking over from the colonial regime and freeing the country, there was a need to bring about administrative leadership into the new Government of Zimbabwe and for that to happen, we needed to have expertise from various fields, the economy, the administration of Government and administration of the entire spectrum of governance. So, it was necessary for people to go for further education, not just military but civil education,” said Dr Mpofu.
“I went for military training before I went to university. It was solely for that reason that we were being prepared for future government. It (the training) helped us in setting up new government structures after independence. Our colleagues who were out there came up with various sorts of experiences. But you will know people will always focus on the military side, yes that was the cog of defeating the enemy militarily. But after defeating the enemy militarily, you needed to come up with civil administration to take over from the colonialists and this is what most of our comrades did.”
He said it was nightmarish being among the first Africans to work in Government that for decades had been controlled by repressive colonialists who even at Independence did not want to transfer knowledge. Dr Mpofu said some of the whites who led critical Government departments left their jobs and it was now upon educated Africans to take over.
He said at independence, the Ministry of Manpower Planning was set up and it played a key role in identifying critical personnel to lead Government departments.
“Most of us were inexperienced, that I can admit. We were inexperienced. We were qualified but not experienced. It was really a crashing experience where we had to learn fast in order to understand what was going on. I joined the department of Customs and Excise which is a technical department,” said Dr Mpofu.
“I really struggled to understand what was going on because we were taking over from whites who were not very keen to impart their knowledge.
“They used to say, especially the guys that I was understudying, there is no substitute to experience and I did not have the experience which was really a problem. They were not willing to offer advice to us and we struggled to understand the operations of Government.”
He said the transfer of knowledge among the black majority and policies that were implemented thereafter, have seen Zimbabwe’s human capital being sought after globally.
Cde Obert Matshalaga who was the secretary for education in Zapu during the liberation struggle said academic studies were equally important as the armed struggle.
He however, said most of the cadres preferred the armed struggle as opposed to pursuing studies.
Cde Matshalaga said the party understood the need to have skilled workers after Independence and continued to recruit more cadres to pursue the education route.
“We had a set of scholarships from socialist countries, almost all socialist countries provided us with scholarships.
We also had the Commonwealth supporting a number of scholarships. Our idea was that we should prepare for the eventuality of Independence and it was equally important to have our cadres trained for civil and other high skilled positions. We sent people, gave them scholarships to go to the Soviet Union (Russia), Germany, Yugoslavia, Romania, Jamaica, Nigeria among others,” he said.
Cde Matshalaga said cadres including the late national hero Joel Biggie Matiza, former Zesa chief executive officer Mr Josh Chifamba, former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Deputy Governor Mr Nicholas Ncube are among the people that benefited from the scholarship programmes.
“During the armed struggle we had an education department which was also responsible for manpower development. It was responsible for setting up schools for refugees. We would pick anybody from the camps to take up scholarships. But most people then were reluctant to take up scholarships, they were mostly excited to go fighting than spending three to four years studying,” said Cde Matshalaga.
He said the biggest challenge was obtaining travel documents for students before they could take up scholarships as most of them had no passports.
Cde Matshalaga said for students to remain committed to the liberation struggle, they had to undergo political orientation.
“Their political orientation was meant for them to appreciate their role in going to school. We had to politicise them so that they could appreciate that going to school was just as good as carrying guns across the Zambezi,” said Cde Matshalaga.
“We encouraged them to form a party cell so that they continue sharing ideas on the liberation struggle. They were very strong cadres and when they came in most of them joined and led the public service. Most of these cadres were disciplined and had a political focus vested in serving the people because they trained in countries where focus was based on providing basic needs for development.” — @nqotshili.
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