AUGUST 23 is finally here and the die is cast.
Eligible voters in the country shall throng various polling stations countrywide, selecting their preferred candidates to take the nation forward.
Yes, there are many political parties on the ballot but the two main rivals are President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ZANU PF and Nelson Chamisa’s CCC.
As Zimbabweans vote on August 23, we, at The Patriot, maintain that they must vote with the country’s heroes and heroines in mind.
They must remember that ZANU PF is the Party that stood with the majority from the onset, while the CCC is a mutation of the MDC that was created to promote whites’ interest in the country – a party that is bent on reversing the gains of the liberation struggle.
Zimbabweans must be reminded that it is the same CCC that brought about wanton suffering to the masses after advocating illegal economic sanctions to be imposed on the country by the UK, the US and their allies. In the same vein, Zimbabweans must be reminded to take a cue from the First Chimurenga/Umvukela heroes and heroines who, after several brutal encounters with colonialists, never gave up.
They fought to the very end and even inspired Second Chimurenga heroes to pursue the fight against imperialism until the country attained independence on April 18 1980.
White settlers had used deceit and guns to rob us of our land and dignity.
However, the sustained resistance by indigenes in Matabeleland and Mashonaland in the face of superior firepower was enough evidence, for posterity, to show how settler-rule was hated from the beginning.
From as early as when missionaries came, Bible in hand, they were determined to deprive us of our land and resources.
The Moffatt Treaty and the Rudd Concession say it all.
The First Matabele War, in which King Lobengula’s warriors were prepared to face settler-guns toe-to-toe, demonstrates the determination of the indigenes to reclaim their inheritance.
The wiping out of the Shangani Patrol of Allan Wilson bears testimony to the bravery and fighting prowess of King Lobengula’s warriors.
The many early battles in which the whites, despite being better armed, suffered defeat with heavy casualties forced the settlers to call for re-enforcements.
Reversal of fortune was inevitable as the war raged across the country.
The Maxim machine gun was particularly devastating.
But the losses the settlers suffered at the hands of leaders like King Lobengula, Mapondera, Mashayamombe, Makoni, Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi gave the imperialists a headache.
They did not like it to happen again.
Note that the absence of any burial sites for our heroes of the First Chimurenga/Umvukela was a deliberate ploy by the settlers to deny their followers a rallying point.
Such a rallying point would revive memories of their heroics, so they thought.
This explains why leaders like Chingaira Makoni, Chinengundu Mashayamombe and many others had their heads severed from their bodies.
Minus the head the remaining torso would not have the expected spiritual influence to future generations, so they believed. They were mistaken.
The blood of the murdered heroes of the First Chimurenga/Umvukela helped unite the indigenes both from Matabeleland and Mashonaland against the settlers.
The birth of nationalism, with the main objective of reclaiming stolen land, gathered momentum.
On the other hand, colonialists redoubled their efforts to entrench white supremacy by enacting racist laws that reduced Africans to third class citizens.
The climax came when the prophecy by Mbuya Nehanda: “Mapfupa angu achamuka,” became reality.
The Second Chimurenga, a direct offspring of the First Chimurenga, saw the indigenes with military hardware that matched that of the settlers.
With the same determination as that of their predecessors, imperialists were vanquished on the battlefront. The British, not prepared to witness a humiliating surrender of their kith and kin, arranged the Lancaster House Conference to pave way for majority rule — and desecrated heroes of the First Chimurenga finally had the last laugh.
This is the history we must all remember as we vote.
Our ancestors fought for this country and the only Party that can safeguard it is ZANU PF.
