‘We do not have a sense of value where we say this is my country, I am prepared to die for it. We need to define and affirm that this (Zimbabwe) is my country and I will die for it.

I have to protect her inherent assets because all that is in me is Zimbabwe, everything is mine: LIFE, LAND, LIBERTY. There is a sacred covenant with my God, sacred and sealed in the blood of its gallant sons and daughters. This is why Zimbabwe is a nation among a community of nations today.’ (Francis Ribeiro: 2014)

THIS is the heart of a freedom fighter, the heart of a true patriot who loved his country unto death, nothing else mattered.   

The Catholic Church describes him as a compassionate man who loved his country. 

It is these same qualities, love and compassion, which fired each freedom fighter to leave home and take up arms to liberate the country. 

It was the inability to bear the suffering of their fellow countrymen, to tolerate the violation of one’s country, which drove each man and woman who fought for independence and democracy.

Fr Ribeiro could not bear the suffering of fellow Zimbabweans, nor the violation of his country which he loved so much. 

As Chaplain in Rhodesia’s prison system, he came face to face with the deepest suffering of his fellowmen as they were incarcerated under extremely harsh conditions. He would not condone the Rhodesian prison system; he criticised it in the strongest of terms:

“The folly of the Rhodesian settler-colonial regime was to think that by locking people away as political prisoners they were dealing with the problems, what they did not realise was that they were, in fact, creating more problems because the conditions were very harsh. They did not realise that they were also creating ‘terrorists’  — the very terrorists they were fighting. Oh God forbid…!”

He could not bear to see his fellowmen and women suffering. 

He tirelessly worked with prisoners from all walks of life, lent them his shoulder to cry on and he bravely ensconced with freedom fighters incarcerated, some of whom were condemned to death. 

The Rhodesian regime was brutal and ruthless, but Fr Ribeiro chose to serve and save; he knew the worst could also happen to him. 

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is one of those he saved from the gallows through his interventions as Chaplain. 

Those he could not save from the gallows he assisted to be at peace before they died.  

He gave of himself with so much love and compassion but it was a heavy cross he bore throughout his life; the agony of prisoners, ensconcing with their tortured souls and the deep despair of those condemned to death was a fathomless contribution he made to his fellowmen but also the heaviest cost that tormented him to his very death.

Roman Catholics, the nation of Zimbabwe, ZANU PF and the President concur that Fr Ribeiro vaive munyaradzi. 

Which indeed is the soul of the freedom fighter. 

‘Ndakatsvaka vavaraidzi asi kwakanga kusina munhu,’  a Catholic hymn laments Christ’s utter loneliness as he anguished on the Cross…. but in Father Ribeiro, prisoners, among them freedom fighters and the whole nation of Zimbabwe, found varaidzo mavari. 

Baba Ribeiro vakava munyaradzi mukurusa.

Zvainyaradza to have a  Chaplain who would not only talk of religious issues but one who also talked of political issues. 

President Mnangagwa recalls that out of four chaplains, Fr Ribeiro was the only one who would dialogue with them (political prisoners) on political issues. 

Fr Ribeiro, unlike Fr Richartdz who told Mbuya Nehanda to repent of her fight against the whiteman (in the First Chimurenga) so that God would forgive her and accept her into heaven ( after they had murdered her),  identified with the cause of the freedom fighters . 

He consoled the freedom fighters; he did not rebuke them for taking up arms against the whiteman.

His soul was the same as his fellow freedom fighters, thus he lamented:

“We do not have a sense of value where we say this is my country, I am prepared to die for it. We need to define and affirm that this (Zimbabwe) is my country and I will die for it.

I have to protect her inherent assets because all that is in me is Zimbabwe, everything is mine:  LIFE, LAND, LIBERTY. There is a sacred covenant with my God, sacred and sealed in the blood of its gallant sons and daughters. This is why Zimbabwe is a nation among a community of nations today.” 

This is the heart of a freedom fighter, the heart of a true patriot who is in love with his country unto death. 

This is Fr Ribeiro’s challenge to all Zimbabweans — to love Zimbabwe selflessly, to give it their all, including life itself.

This is a commitment he fulfilled; he worked for Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle and continued to do so after the attainment of independence until his death.

Up to the time of his death, he was involved in a research so important and dear to freedom fighters and those interested in the story of the country’s struggle.

It was a research on the lives of freedom fighters who died during the struggle, those who were executed and those killed at the front. 

His research also included the lives and histories of the seven legendary Chinhoyi heroes. He dedicated himself to this work for no remuneration, for no gratuity, but for the love of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, to honour the families of those who gave us this most precious gift, the gallant sons and daughters. 

He was still working on tracing these histories and making it available to Government when his time came. 

How many of us can still work for Zimbabwe, out of love?

This is why Fr Emmanuel Francis Ribeiro is a freedom fighter in his own right; this is why ZANU PF accorded him National Hero status. 

ZANU PF is simply homing into its true self; the self of a party whose genesis and purpose is to end the suffering of the masses by ensuring Zimbabwe remains for Zimbabweans. 

A party founded on compassion. 

The moment people heard of Fr Ribeiro’s passing, they spontaneously hoped he would be granted national hero status.

Fr Ribeiro debunked the falsehood that it is the Church which defines people; his life underlined the truth that it is the people who define the Church, who must define the Church.

His own ensconcement in the Church reflects his patriotic fervor; whereas the general outlook in the Church was that the cow hide drums, mbira and hosho, were associated with ancestral worship, therefore evil and  demonic, he fought a heroic battle until these are now everyday musical instruments in Catholic worship. 

It takes a true patriot to break through such deep anti-African sentiments to make it normal for these instruments to be used in Church. 

This once again demonstrates that it is not the Church which defines people, but people who should define the Church — he redefined Catholic worship. 

Thus, Fr Ribeiro boldly stated that before the coming of the whiteman, we knew how to worship and we sang and danced to Musikavanhu. We had beautiful instruments to accompany this prayer and worship and there is no reason to keep these out of the Church.

Fr Ribeiro is one of the few within the Catholic Church who chose to embrace the political destiny of the country against all odds. 

This was an option open to all Zimbabweans, clergy or not. 

Within the clergy, a few, like Fr Ribeiro, Fr Michael Traber, Bishop Donald Lamont and  Sr Janice McLaughlin, among many unsung heroes among Catholic priests and nuns, risked their lives to protect Zimbabwe’s destiny, both black and white. 

However, these were not the majority. 

We therefore celebrate the triumph of the true Zimbabwean in Fr Ribeiro.

When your story is told by others, you will never know the truth because those who write about you do so for their own purposes. 

It was an act of self-affirmation, affirming the African in him and his nation when he wrote some of the first African novels and initiated the establishment of the Literature Bureau to facilitate the writing and publication of African literature. 

Who was interested in the lives of Africans, their problems, their joys, sorrows, their culture, their definition of themselves? 

No-one! 

The Rhodesian regime had buried the African and  African-ness when their genocidal intent failed; the continued existence of the African was  ‘a necessary evil’ to their total plunder and looting of the country’s resources. 

It took a son of the soil to boldly state that we are a people of consequence, our stories matter as our lives matter. 

In the end, what shall we say of this African hero, this patriot par excellence, Fr Ribeiro, our national hero!

We shall say that he is a son of the soil who never neglected to do anything that would bring him closer to Musikavanhu.

He told the whole world that Africans were a people in their own right; by introducing African literature for his fellow Africans and also introducing African musical instruments and hymns in Catholic worship when the dominant forces in the Catholic Church and in Rhodesia declared that Africans were not worthy beings in themselves.

But even more fundamentally, Fr Ribeiro walked in the footsteps of all our heroes when he honoured that the closest way to ensconce with  Muskikavanhu is to fight for this land he gave as a most gracious gift, to cherish and to defend with our very own lives. He did not take it lightly that people would not give their all to secure this most precious of gifts.

May your soul rest in eternal peace son of the soil!

Aluta continua!