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Chimoio: Lest we forget the sacrifice!

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AS we commemorate (Friday, November 23) the 41st anniversary of the massacre of our sons and daughters at Chimoio by Rhodesian soldiers, it should be a time to remember the resolve of the liberation forces to free the country from colonial rule and everything it entails.
It was a mammoth task.
There is the mistaken assumption that it was only Ian Smith and his band of white settlers the nationalists were fighting.
Smith was merely a front supported by Western imperialism on the pretext that he was stopping the spread of communism and preserving ‘Christian civilisation’, whatever that means.
But in reality, it was white capital fighting to make sure Zimbabwe, considered a part of what they call ‘the Persian Gulf of Minerals’, remained under the control of their kith and kin.
Unfortunately, this gave the white settlers the licence to kill.
And at the same time, according to the Western capitalists led by the US, the blacks had no right whatsoever to wage the liberation war.
That’s the reason for the apparent impunity of the Rhodesian regime, in the face of the West, when thousands of innocent souls were massacred at Chimoio.
Mind you, this gruesome mass murder of blacks was widespread and Rhodesians knew they were protected by the West.
This explains why, when Smith bombed camps at Chimoio, Nyadzonia, Tembwe, Nampundwe and Mkushi in Zambia as well as Villa de Boma in Angola, among others, the so-called Western international community was unmoved.
Never mind the thousands of black souls who perished.
It is worth noting that according to our colonisers, the right to life is not universal.
That right is determined by the political basket to which one belongs.
We don’t have to be reminded of the events of September 11 2001 in the US.
The hysterical reaction of the US to the death of about 3 000 people, most of them Americans, at the World Trade Centre is well-documented.
But the over 3 000 blacks gruesomely murdered at Chimoio on November 23 1977 by Rhodesian bombers were considered ‘terrorists’ not only by the Rhodesians, but also by the West.
As we celebrate Chimoio Day, it should also be time to renew our resolve to remain vigilant.
Our enemies are still on the prowl.
Let’s not forget that the forces that gave Smith tacit approval of the massacre at Chimoio, among other camps, are still very much alive.
Chimoio was meant to break the spine of nationalists.
The West feared that the liberation fighters had the capacity to prevent the capture of the Zimbabwean half of ‘the Persian Gulf of Minerals’ once in power.
However, despite massacres and all forms of atrocities, the nationalists triumphed.
The present illegal sanctions and regime change onslaught are strategies by the US and its Western allies to wrest power from the victorious liberation movements.
They tried with massacres but failed.
As we remember those who perished at Chimoio and other camps, let’s resolve never to betray their sacrifice by cheaply surrendering our natural resources to greedy capitalists

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