WHEN something does not work there is a problem.  When that happens it is because you have lost the formula. 

In the case of  Zimbabwe’s problems, the formula is giving of yourself unreservedly as the two heroes we are honouring today did: Cdes Obert Gwerevende and Brigadier  General (Rtd) Dr Felix Muchemwa. 

Comrade Muchemwa left us on June 13 2016, with Cde Gwerevende following on June 13 2019.

Their lives are a perfect formula, a handbook on how to build a Great Zimbabwe. They gave of themselves unreservedly, totally and it is this very formula which liberated Zimbabwe. 

When we waged the liberation struggle, we had no gold, no diamonds, no platinum, no precious or strategic minerals of any kind; we had no bank accounts, no factories, no business to finance the struggle; but what we had was the selfless sacrifice of thousands. This is what won the liberation struggle; the unreserved self-giving of boys, girls, young men and women, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers. It is this which won the hearts and minds of many across the globe, convinced and committed them to assist us, to train us, to give us guns, food, medicine and even intelligence. 

The assistance we got from all over the world was invaluable, non-quantifiable; we could not have bought it with anything but what won this for us, what secured so much for us was the love of thousands for their country, love so strong they were ready to lay down their lives for it. Without this total self-sacrifice no one would have been prepared to give us anything. Therefore, love for Zimbabwe which totally self-denies was, and is, our most prized possession, is what liberated Zimbabwe. 

It is what liberated Zimbabwe.

As we struggle to build Zimbabwe, nothing less will work, nothing less will do it for us. Nothing less will solve Zimbabwe’s economic, political nor socio-cultural problems. We can coin lamentations, we can run conference after conference to make strategic plans, we can enact law after law, we can graduate millions from our universities year after year, we can marshal massive resources but Zimbabwe’s problems will remain until we go back to the original formula, the way of unreserved self-giving. 

The way of the struggle, the way of sacrifice. 

Simuka Zimbabwe!

This is the basic ingredient; people are the decisive force and their gradient is what decides it all. 

We can have Anti-Corruption Commissions galore, but corruption will not end as long as self-aggrandisement is the dominant force in so many of us. 

In Cdes Muchemwa and Gwerevende’s lives and in the lives of so many others, we have a manual on how to be at peace with Musikavanhu and our countrymen.

At three critical points in Cde Gwerevende’s life, he chose to be at peace with his God and fellow Zimbabweans by accepting the worst suffering rather than give in to the enemy.

First, he seemingly lived a quiet life as a farmer in Chesa, Mt Darwin, but that was an illusion. 

He was under surveillance from the Land Development Officer (LDO) Gerald Hawksworth, who fought and challenged him for not being on the whiteman’s side. VaGwerevende was always steadfast, he told the LDO not to meddle in the affairs of Zimbabwe. 

Cde Gwerevende was an outstanding leader in Chesa; the whiteman knew so and was afraid of his power among the people.

Comrade Gwerevende knew the cost and the dangers but that did not stop him. So the whiteman never rested, would not rest; he went as far as to try and steal vaGwervende’s shop at Nyakasikana. 

Much to his chagrin and fury, ZANLA foiled the attempt. It was in pursuit of ZANLA cadres that Hawksworth met his fate. 

Cde Gwerevende had become the host for the first freedom fighters in the Chesa area, Cde Chinodakufa and his group. The comrades were still ensconced there when the whiteman pursued the combatants to the Gwerevende homestead, to his own detriment. In the ensuing battle with the liberation forces, Hawksworth was captured and taken to Mozambique while two of his white colleagues were killed. 

The repercussions were severe for vaGwerevende and his family. 

In the aftermath, he and his family had to live in a cave for two months while all his cattle, goats and all he owned were impounded, looted.  

Ultimately his mother, father, sister, several relatives and neighbours were imprisoned. 

This did not alter anything in his commitment to the struggle. He proceeded to operate in the area with the freedom fighters until he too was captured after being severely mauled by a dog used by the Rhodesians in their operations.

Not the threats of the LDO nor his attempts to steal his shop; not the loss of all his wealth; not the imprisonment of his family and friends; nothing deterred Cde Gwerevende. He fought on until they captured him. He knew it could end most harshly for him, as had happened with his family and friends but this did not deter him. There isn’t a single obstacle he refused to tackle and overcome — nothing stopped him.

Second, after they captured him, they took him into custody with his hands and legs in chains. They left the dogbite wounds to fester, they did not change his torn trousers matted with blood, they left him to rot in grievous pain, they left him to die. They gave him no medication nor relief of any kind, but he did not die. Instead they purported to kill him because the dog that had mauled him had died. 

He was miraculously healed. One night he dreamt Mwari telling him he had seen suffering and would intervene. The following morning he was healed but that was only the end to his physical trauma; more trauma was to come his way, even worse may be. 

They told him his father had died in prison. 

It was the heaviest blow he did not need in that moment; he realised they had tortured him to death. They tormented Cde Gwerevende to reveal what was happening at his home with regards to spirit manifestation. They offered him anything to reveal those secrets or face trial in which death was the surest outcome. He knew they would go through with their threats, he had lost everything; they had killed his father; his friends were in jail with him; a nephew, a member of ZANLA cadres operating in the area had been captured and hanged,  and he was being charged with high treason. 

He could sell out and go home and live a comfortable life, or he could face death for the freedom of his country.

He chose the latter. 

He told them they could kill him, he had nothing to say to them.