admin
Linda Mzapi
Don’t let his flowing hair and Asian looks fool you.
He is like any other Zimbabwean, like the plateau peoples of the Rozvi and descendants of the great Mzilikazi and Lobengula.
Mr Khuram Majid speaks fluent Shona to prove it, too.
Of Pakistani extraction but born in the then Southern Rhodesia, Mr Majid experienced Ian Smith’s fascist oppression alongside indigenes.
He remains a member of the Zimbabwe family and relates how his forebears’ struggles and those of their black compatriots triggered a common objective of chasing colonialists out of the country.
His uncle, Mr Abdul Waheed Khan, became a member of Zapu’s Central Committee at the height of the liberation struggle.
“Our colours might be different, but we are the same as we have shared the pain of colonialism over the years,” he tells The Sunday Mail on the sidelines of the Pakistan Harare Embassy’s 76th National Day anniversary celebrations.
“Now we are sharing the smiles of Independence. I am celebrating 108 years in Zimbabwe; I know everything that needs to be known by a Zimbabwean citizen.
“My father and grandfather are buried at Pioneer Cemetery in Harare. Kuno ndiko kumusha kwedu. Pandinoenda kuPakistan ndinenge ndichishanya (This is our home and Pakistan is only a place I visit now.)”
Mr Majid’s grandfather, Mr Abdul Majid Khan, and his family lived in India and sailed to Africa in 1908, searching for better economic fortunes.
At the time, Southern Africa was the world’s cynosure, being home to vast mineral resources and trade.
Mr Khan settled in Chinhoyi while Mr Majid’s maternal grandfather, Mr Sirdar Mohammed, opted for Chipinge. Three generations of the Majids have lived in Zimbabwe, suffering racial discrimination during colonial times.
“We were marginalised during the colonial era. My father struggled to get a trading licence as we were not allowed to trade freely. Baba vangu vairara mumiti nguva yekuvakwa kweKariba Dam kuitira kuti vatengesere vaivaka zvokudya nezvikupfeka,” says the 44-year-old.
“He had to fight to get a trading licence and as kids, we could not attend the good schools (which were reserved for whites). One could not travel without the requisite pass.
If you didn’t have one, the agents would bash you.”
He goes on: “A fellow Indian man who used to help us with grain deliveries was shot dead by Ian Smith’s agents while on an errand.
The circumstances surrounding the incident were never explained. The oppression shook us, and that is why we felt the need to fight.
“My uncle, Mr Abdul Waheed Khan, participated in the liberation struggle alongside Dr Joshua Nkomo. He lived in Chinhoyi and was at one point incarcerated along with other nationalists. He died last year and was buried at Warren Hills Cemetery in Harare. There were suggestions that he be buried at the National Heroes’ Acre, but our customs require an early burial. So, that did not happen.”
At Independence in 1980, the Majids welcomed the dawn of a new era.
Mr Majid was one of the first non-whites to enrol at St George’s College, a boys high school previously exclusive to whites.
“We are now doing business freely and practising our religion as we wish under the democratic Government of President Robert Mugabe.
“As I mentioned earlier, one could not move about willy-nilly during the liberation struggle, but everyone now drives, walks or cycles wherever and whenever they wish. This is freedom.”
Tinaye Agere
Online Reporter