THE month of August marks important milestones in the historical calendars of Zimbabwe and Great Britain as both countries have landmark occasions to commemorate.
Zimbabwe, a former colony of Great Britain, proudly celebrates Heroes’ Day every August in honour of those who lost their lives during the struggle for self-determination and majority rule.
Great Britain considers the month of August as historically significant in commemoration of her entry to the World War I against the Austro-Germany alliance.
Great Britain entered the World War I, the so-called “war to end all wars” August 6 1914.
One of the causes of the Great War was imperialism as European powers were competing for overseas territories and colonies.
Although Zimbabwe was not directly involved in the actual brutality of the World War I, being a territory held by Cecil John Rhodes’ British South African Company made her an area of imperial interest, therefore part of the pieces in the whole imperialism drive.
Cecil John Rhodes infamously laid the foundation for the colonisation of Zimbabwe by unleashing the adventurous Pioneer Column to occupy the virgin lands of Zimbabwe in 1890.
The adventurous members of the column exercised their liberty and settled in Mount Hampden. This initial settlement enabled the planning and plotting for forays into the hinterland to complete the dominance of the settlers over the indigenous people.
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In this move Rhodes managed to literally grab the whole country while the rightful owners were happy to concentrate on internecine skirmishes that were fertilised by tribal differences.
Through his company, Rhodes literally took charge of running and ruining the affairs of the country from 1890 until the British government declared the country an official colony in 1923, some five years after the end of the World War I.
The conferment of the colonial status served the purpose of consolidating British conquest and helped quench their thirst for exotic colonies.
Of course Zimbabweans realised that the country had slipped through their fingers into the hands of agents of colonialism. Wars were fought to dislodge the invaders, yet for ninety years the occupation persisted and the people reeled from both British imperial and minority rule.
The protracted struggle against subjugation and the depraved exploitation of the natural resources finally bore results in 1980 when Zimbabwe attained independence. 1980, just like its anagrammatic 1890 is an important milestone in the history of Zimbabwe.
1980 brought joy and jubilation to a nation that had been torn by injustice and tribulations. The nation celebrated and the rest of the world welcomed the newest independent country into the fold.
Proud Zimbabweans boasted Zimbabwe would never go the way other African states had gone. Obviously Zimbabwe had the advantage of learning from the experiences of other African states that had failed dismally shortly after attaining independence.
Every soul in Zimbabwe had hope that Zimbabwe would transcend corruption, incompetence and personalisation of State organs in pursuance of universal prosperity.
The country could avoid slipping into a civil war such as Nigeria’s Biafra War, Zaire’s Shaba wars, the Jonas Savimbi-led civil war in Angola, the Alphonse Dhlakama-led disturbances in Mozambique and the Moise Tshombe syndrome.
This was underwritten by the warm nature of Zimbabweans towards each other and their connection with advanced civility. The country gave everyone hopes of a gem as it was awash with everything good a State could think of.
Political cracks started appearing before even the ink on the Lancaster House Agreement could sufficiently dry. November 1980 saw the Entumbane disturbances. These laid a foundation for the second disturbances in 1981 and the eventual dissident menace of the mid-eighties.
As if those disturbances were child’s play, in 1982 the country was informed that Zapu and Zipra were busy planting weapons of war on their farms while patriots were busy ensuring food sufficiency.
The nation found itself teetering on the brink of a civil war. Foreign tourists went missing along the Victoria Falls Road, dissidents went on a destructive path and Gukurahundi went berserk as a countermeasure. The advent of Gukurahundi was a national travesty.
People who lived and loved their lives lost them because some crazed army men had a remit to wipe out the dissident population. This is where the line of brutality is drawn. There can never be anything more brutal that what those who were exposed to the satanic treatment experienced.
For many, that is where the timeline of travesty began and ended. The people saw a cloud of dust descending upon them, they felt the whip cracking on their bare backs and sadly many never saw the next day as their lives were abruptly ended.
This is how one links colonialism, the World War I and Zimbabwe’s Heroes’ Day celebrations. Most of the men who get honoured as later day heroes owe their accolades to the blood of the innocent people they spilled in the name of one mortal. The timeline of travesty starts with colonialism and ends at the door steps of the owners of Gukurahundi.
Masola waDabudabu is a social commentator
