PUBLICATIONS

DOWN WITH TRIBALISM

Down with those who preach tribalism, those who are intent at seeing the perpetuation of the destruction of our beautiful country. Like you my brother you work for the same Robert Mugabe you want us to believe you so much hate. Matabeleland has never existed as a separate entity. It has always been part of Zimbabwe. The Rozvi Kingdom with its Kalanga language (to which I belong) found Matabeleland there; they called it Bukwa (Guruuswa in Shona) because of its ranches. The Khumalo found it there, after a lot of fighting they conquered the Rozvi and built the Ndebele Nation.

Mzilikazi tried total conquest but he was not successful, he found resistance in Tohwetjipi, or Sibumbamu, who was a Rozvi/Kalanga General. It was Lobengula, arguably the shrewdest politician and leader Zimbabwe has ever had (bayethe okaMthwakazi, May His Soul Rest in Peace) who finally brought peace to Matabeleland. Under him Rozvi Chiefs such as Sai, Bidi, Rozvi -related Ndiweni, Hwange etc returned their chiefdoms and influence and the Rozvi religion with its Njelele and other shrines became the official religion of Matabeleland. This meant that even Lobengula, the mighty King, would also follow Rozvi religion. But this was in exchange for loyalty and also tjiKalanga, Zimbabwe's official language for more than two centuries was replaced in Matabeleland with the Ndebele language, (I must say which is not pure Zulu). This is reality my brother. Nations are not built by confrontation.

The Ndebele is not a tribe but a nation. 70% of present day Ndebeles have their roots in Zimbabwe, which makes the argument advanced in Mashonaland that Ndebeles should go back to South Africa very silly, add that to Bantu migration patterns and you will laugh at our lack of knowledge. Remember this was the basis by which Robert Mugabe, Enos Nkala and others massacred people of Matabeleland thinking that they have to go, where? And the Matabeleland version of wanting a separate country has its basis in a wrong argument, that "imikhuba yethu 'aihambelane, we are so different from the Shona, substance, form and content!"

The only real difference between the people of Matabeleland and those in Mashonaland is in languages, and this was a colonial design that the half-backed revolutionaries who are running our country decided to maintain. But this should never be allowed to erode the common ground we share that makes us Zimbabweans. The fact is that it was a government that massacred people lets not exaggerate it into a Hutu and Tutsi scenario that has never existed in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans have tended to unite for a common cause. For example the first Chimurenga was not only fought to drive colonialism away but it was also fought to bring back the Rozvi and Ndebele monarchs, hence the term "chiMurenga", "Murenga"/"Tobela" being God in Rozvi language, and the prophet behind all this was a Rozvi called Mkwati (the founder of Chimurenga, not heralded though) and he was saying the message from God was to have the resurrection of the two monarchs. In the First Chimurenga Ndebele impis came to Mashonaland and fought in that part of Zimbabwe with the help of impis from Chief Mashayamombe (where Kaguvi and Chaminuka came from) and Chief Hwata (where Nehanda came from) who had guns and knew how to use them. As a piece of history you may also want to know that all these people were opposed vigorously by a puppet of the BSAC, Chief Zvimba of Mashonaland West, to whom President Robert Mugabe is directly descended. Defeat came because of people like Chief Zvimba and Chimurenga part 2 came. Then the 1962 debacle came, Nkomo the unity leader, a unifying force in our struggle was ridiculed and accused the Morgan Tsvangirai fashion, and the rest is history. The only person who was accepted as the leader of the struggle did not become the leader of the country, not only that, he was ridiculed and chased away and now where are we? The same seems to be happening in MDC today, oh how we have this propensity to destroy ourselves.

Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa