HomeOld_PostsBlacks don’t owe Rhodesians anything

Blacks don’t owe Rhodesians anything

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Not All Bid Farewell
By Tracy M’cwabeni
Published by iUniverse LLC
ISBN: 978-1-4759-9737-8

COLONISATION bred two classes of blacks one that saw whites as the manipulators and oppressors they were and the other that viewed them as superior beings and regarded them as ‘heroes.’
It is these whiteman ‘worshippers’ who relentlessly fight a war that does not belong to them, discrediting black Governments and communities.
Through her book, Not All Bid Farewell, Tracy M’cwabeni tells the story of a black woman’s experiences before and after independence.
Reading the book one can pick up from her subtle tone that not only does she adore the whiteman, but feels blacks owe their achievements to the whiteman.
M’Cwabeni was born in Zimbabwe and currently lives in Ontario, Canada.
As much as she brings out how before independence blacks were ill-treated by the whites, she paints a picture that in the end it was the whiteman ‘who saved the day.’
Her absurd and pathetic assumptions are not backed by facts as history teaches us that it was the sacrifice of thousands of black people that birthed the independence of the people of Zimbabwe.
The story set in pre-independence and post independence era revolves around the life of Ruva Ganda, wife to Mukai and mother to Hilda and Matilda.
Her protagonist faces a lot of challenges and it is only when her husband, Mukai is murdered and she gets assistance from Brian Sanderson that her life changes for the better.
The Ganda family resided in Highfield during the colonial era.
Highfield was one of the high-density suburbs that were reserved for blacks.
Efforts were not made by the Rhodesian government to up the living conditions in these suburbs; hence for Ruva and her fellow blacks who stayed in the township found life difficult.
“The racial segregation policy ensured that blacks lived in their own enclosed, deprived world, full of daily challenges with no real opportunities,” writes M’cwabeni.
“On the other side, the whites enjoyed all of the privileges bestowed on them by the colour of their skin.
“They governed the country with an oppressive, divide-and-rule ideology, owned most of the corporate businesses and farmed some of the most productive land.”
M’cwabeni highlights the plight of blacks living in the rural areas where the effects of the war were keenly felt.
“Life was tough and the people had sacrificed with their lives,” she writes.
“Signs of war were evident everywhere.
“The landscape was full of burned houses, deserted businesses and destroyed army vehicles.”
Having suffered numerous miscarriages and feeling lonely after her children are sent off to boarding school, Ruva seeks employment as a domestic worker.
She is employed by a white couple Beth and Larry Sanderson.
M’cwabeni paints the picture that blacks were ‘grateful’ to be employed by the whites.
“I’m a housekeeper and a nanny and loving it,” says Ruva.
“Those are the only jobs for us the uneducated, but I have to work with the skills I have.”
Ruva speaks glowingly about her white masters and by so doing the author creates the picture that white masters were ‘perfect’ masters and blacks were content.
M’cwabeni misses the point that blacks were not content with only being domestic workers or working for the whites hence they took up arms to liberate themselves and take an active role in the economic sector.
Following the death of her husband Mukai, Brain a white lawyer comes to Ruva’s rescue and helps her get compensation from the company where Mukai used to work as a truck driver.
Ruva is then offered a job by Brian as a farm manager at his farm and the two eventually fall in love and marry.
Once again Ruva speaks glowingly about Brian and feels indebted to him for taking her out of her poverty stricken life in Highfield and moving her to the farm.
After independence in 1980 with the help of Brian, Ruva completes her studies by attaining a degree and starts a non-profit organisation to help abused women.
She gets rid of her friends from her old life in Highfield whom she now viewed as jealous and now only associates with her new-found white friends.
The words of the late and former Burkina Faso President Thomas Sankara, “He who feeds you controls you,” aptly describes the situation Ruva found herself in.
She had met her ‘saviour’ Brian and in the process she lost her identity as she got rid of all that reminded her that she was a black person.
Life teaches us that a leopard never changes its spots hence blacks that believe whites when they get a smile from them are fooling themselves.
In the eyes of whites, Africans will always be ‘lesser human beings.’

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