WHEN you left a year ago comrade, we promised we would not let you down.
I promised I would not stop writing because combatants do not put down their guns because their comrade has passed on.
We had many books to still write together, but you were called too soon.
I have been very busy comrade.
The book on spirituality on which you gave me such invaluable advice is complete.
The one on early childhood education which you told me ‘is just what the doctor ordered’ is also ready for the publisher.
Remember our discussion to put the articles together?
The first set of articles is also ready for the publisher, the one titled ‘From Matenje to Mt Pleasant’; the second and third sets are following soon.
I have continued with the children’s stories.
You would laugh your head off comrade.
Some of them are just hilarious and of course, I am writing on Heritage Studies; what would you expect, I am still fully ensconced on all the assignments you used to advise me on.
So I have not put down the gun dear comrade.
I have kept my promise.
We missed your grand presence at the Zimbabwe Heritage Trust (ZHT) Writer’s Workshop in August last year.
You would have been proud and the writers would have cherished a word or two from your fount of wisdom.
It still was great, so true to the soul of ZHT, your friends shone it would have gladdened your heart.
At the end of that gracious day, it was so clear that nothing short of the standard you bequeathed us at The Patriot would make the grade of ZHT books, we were consoled.
Dr Augustine Tirivangana concluded that: “We are the salt of the earth, we should make the difference.”
You would agree I know.
At The Patriot we are still very busy.
For the President’s birthday, we went to Matobo.
Rhodes never slept a wink as Zimbabweans thundered on this gracious land with accolades for a great icon, President Robert Mugabe, Rhodes’ nemesis and the school hosting this auspicious occasion could not deny the President a special birthday present.
It changed its name from Rhodes Estate Preparatory School to Matopo Junior School, and on this trip we also discovered an archive of history we have yet to excavate.
In November, we went to Cuba, to bury dear Cde Fidel Castro, to honour this great icon of icons, and to console the Cubans; to tell them we will always be brothers and to thank them for their courage, understanding and support during the struggle and after.
Before you left, we had predicted Donald Trump would win because he truly represents the dominant sentiment in America and he did.
As usual, we do not spend too much time on such; the leopard does not change its spots and we have Zimbabwe to take care of.
We are still basking in the incandescence of Cde Felix Muchemwa’s book, The Struggle for Land in Zimbabwe (1890 – 2010).
Grounded firmly in his detailed research, we can tell them there is nothing so special about the Rhodesian economy; that it is a loot economy founded on murder, armed robbery and slave labour, the crassest of exploitation, we can challenge the xenophobia of branding our diamonds ‘blood diamonds’, when everything that ever came out of Rhodesia was dripping with the blood of our people whom the British murdered in cold blood in their thousands.
The detail of how much land was taken by whom, what happened to the whole of the Ndebele herd, descriptions of the vicious dispassionate dispossession and relocation of whole communities of our people all depend on our appreciation of the gravity of the armed robbery of our land by the British and how deeply wounded our people were by this callous infringement on our humanity and the consequent subjugation for 90 years.
Thus when we write from Cde Muchemwa’s shoulders, we can launch our missiles further and aim at our targets more accurately.
Our young would love to understand our war; its history in its detail and there in Cde Muchemwa’s book, they can quench their thirst in his moving, entrancing description of the Battle of Mavonde.
He takes you there and you are in the battle with Cde Muchemwa and all the others.
In all the military history of our struggle, he details they can find the answers they seek. They can find inspiration and consolation.
Our young thirst so much for these great things and sometimes it hurts so much when you come too close to their thirst.
Thank God for this great book; thanks to Cde Muchemwa and all you comrades who midwifed this great project.
We are all now able to refer to this great armoury.
It was a quantum leap for us and we can do even better now.
And you would love to know and you would be so proud Cde Kanengoni that ZANLA Comes to Town – Part 2 is out and it scooped the Best Film and Best Director awards at the Zimbabwe Film Festival in October last year.
It was a special time for us.
We continue to thrive on the foundation you and many great ones laid at ZHT.
We continue to tell the Zimbabwean story.
Great things continue to happen, so dear ZANLA combatant, you can rest in peace.
We are at peace with you for the great work you did for our people as a fearless freedom fighter at the battlefront in our Second Chimurenga, for your great defence of the soul of our nation as a writer, journalist and our great founding leader at The Patriot.
We remember you this month of April, the month of the seven great ones of Chinhoyi; the month of our independence, the month Cde Victoria Chitepo, Cde Vivian Mwashita were recalled; your month, for in April you too left without saying goodbye.
We buried the two heroines at our National Shrine when the wound of your own sudden departure was still too fresh to bear.
We bear this great loss with fortitude because all of you, our heroes, raised Zimbabwe to her heights.
Our nation’s flag is buoyed higher and higher because of your enduring sacrifices.
Adieu!
So long great one!