WHEN in 1893, Leander Starr Jameson planned to raid Matabeleland and overthrow Lobengula because Mashonaland had not yielded as much gold as they had hoped for, it was a horrendous crime perpetrated by inhuman greed that had no qualms about committing mass murders of a sovereign people in order to rob them of their immense resources.
Long before they set foot on Lobengula’s land, rewards had already been promised to so many for participating in this criminal war. Jameson promised to share out Lobengula’s treasure, primarily his gold, his herd which was thousands strong and to parcel out Matabeleland in pieces thousands of hectares each.
While all this evil was being hatched, the people of Lobengula continued to marry and to give in marriage, babies were being born, families were making plans, whatever problems they faced, they hoped to solve in time. Life seemed so normal, they buried their dead with hope for a future perpetuated by the generations they were still bringing forth, they hoped the rains would come and that after the harvest they would hold their usual feasts, slaughter beasts and eat roast beef as of old.
Everything must have seemed so normal but not quite; they knew of the invasion of Mashonaland, they knew of the false so called ‘Rudd Concession’, they knew of the enemy’s ruthless greed, an enemy that would stop at nothing to get what it coveted. But they hoped it would never get so far that they could lose everything, that so many of them would die for no reason. They must have prayed in their hearts and to Mlimo that this white plague would not be visited upon them.
Their King Lobengula had sleepless nights, he could see what was afoot. He knew sooner rather than later they would try something so evil something would never be the same for him and his people. The enemy was better armed, worse still it had no morals.
He must have spent many agonising moments; after all he was king. He was responsible, he would not run away, he would do his best with what he had. He must have held many meetings with his council, but they all could read something was inevitable, the white menace would attack and seek to pillage the land.
He must have cried to himself and to his God. We don’t know what his God said to him in response, perhaps He told him: “Be a man my son, we have to stop this cancer, this plague from Europe.” Perhaps he told him: “Don’t give up, I will be with you.” Maybe he told him like he revealed to Nehanda, that ‘only for now my son, their end shall come, we shall defeat them on this very soil’. His God must have comforted him for certainly what was coming was too evil to contemplate.
When the fateful moment came, he fought and strategically retreated when it was no longer possible to hold back the fire from the enemy’s maxim guns. He was not going to let thousands continue to die when in that moment there was no prospect of victory.
He would have continued to work with his council while he was in exile, planning for the day they would rout the enemy with no knees, he would have continued to work with his warriors in Umvukela so they could retrieve their country. Alas it was not possible to achieve this in his life time.
Just over a century later,to the north of our rich continent Africa, a son of Africa, Muammar Gaddafi had built a paradise for his people. They had free health, free education. For his people housing was a human right. His people truly owned the nation’s resources, proceeds from oil sales were distributed into each citizen’s account, those who graduated from school and failed to find employment were paid half the equivalent of what they would earn in that profession. Women received cash bonuses for children and their retirement was at 55.
He was working on plans to assist African countries with beneficiation, he had set aside US$30 billion to start the IMF bank of Africa and the Central bank of Africa. Under his tutelage African economic power would have rivalled any economic body in the world, the EU could not compete, for Africa has vast resources and Europe does not.
By establishing economic justice for all in his country and for working for the same for the whole of Africa, something was going to change permanently for the world order, the West which enriches itself by robbing others would have lost its biggest looting ground, Africa, and for this reason, Muammar Gadhafi, was earmarked for death.
They set their dogs on him, they sponsored terrorist groups, Al-Qaida included, to create havoc and when as a sovereign head of state he responded to create order, they accused him of being a butcher of his people.
How can it be possible to create a paradise for your people and then turn against them and butcher them.
Does this sound familiar? Robert Mugabe spent 10 years in prison for his people, and years in exile fighting the British but because they want to loot Zimbabwe’s resources unhindered, Mugabe too is a dictator, he must go.
Like Lobengula, Gadaffi was haunted by the impending doom. Could injustice still be allowed to have such a face, he could not believe anything so evil could still happen on this material earth. Vietnam was evil, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a crime, too evil. Would this still happen to Libya? Would God allow the promise he had lived for the Lybian people for four decades to be destroyed just like that, because of greed?
He knew that nothing would be left after they killed him, terrorists at the behest of their Western masters would destroy everything so special, so beautiful, they would loot it all and his people would be reduced to rags. It has all since come to pass, Libya is overran by terrorist groups including at least 6 000 ISIS.
As they massed against him, and every evil encircled his precious land he must have cried out to his Great God, he must have pleaded with Him that such evil could not happen. We do not know what His answer to him was.
As they murdered thousands, his son, grandchildren and other family members included, the chilling hatred of the West for anything or anyone that stands in the way of their greed must have convinced his breaking heart that he had always been correct, to stand for his people, and to die for that was honourable. And when they finally captured and tortured him he knew he was a great hero like the founding fathers of Africa, those who formed the OAU which he had baptised the AU.
They bombed everything so special, they destroyed it all, and they killed him. They think they have killed his dream the one he lived for Libya and for Africa, asi mapfupa ake achamuka chete, aNehanda akamuka wani?
Libyan oil they now loot, Iraq oil they now loot and now they are after Syrian oil. They have set their terrorist groups on Assad including the demonic ISIS. Their greed has killed a quarter of a million Syrian lives, has displaced millions and they blame this holocaust on Assad as if he started this war.
It is harassing on the spirit to repeatedly hear John Kerry of the United States call Assad a butcher of his people. The Russians who are helping Syrians are also branded murderers of defenseless civilians, they are being vilified more than ISIS which has murdered hundreds in cold blood.
The temerity to say that civilians are fleeing Alepo because the Syrian government has launched a brutal campaign which is targeting them is to ruthlessly spawn the same lies they used in Iraq and Libya for illegal regime change because of their greed and lust for other people’s God-given wealth.
We are tired of these lies because always they are a prelude to the murder of legitimate heads of state and the destruction of nations. We know that they are baying for Assad’s blood for obvious reasons, and they are praying the UN will grant them a so called ‘no fly zone’ except that the Russians are complicating matters.
The vampire’s thirst for blood cannot be quenched because its lust and greed for what belongs to others in unquenchable, that is why North Korea’s defiance of the West is commendable.