THE recently launched book, The Struggle for Land in Zimbabwe 1890-2010, by Rtd Brigadier-Gen Felix Muchemwa is more than a treatise on the country’s struggle.
It is more than what the doctor has ordered, but a delivery of what the country desperately needs.
We continue to appeal and cry for the authentic Zimbabwean story, one produced by Zimbabweans for Zimbabweans.
No nation has thrived without knowing, understanding and appreciating its history.
Never mind, in fact, forget that American Ambassador Charles Ray who wrote a book that sought to encourage us to forget where we came from.
In the words of the diplomat, ‘were we come from is not as important as where we are going’.
But the truth is that every Uncle Sam has been guided by the past.
Every President of the so-called ‘land of the brave’ has been guided by objectives set some more than 200 years ago.
Then why do they advise us to forget our past.
It is because they want us to operate rudderless so that we can go in any direction they blow us.
Thus the book produced by Rtd Brig-General Muchemwa is important.
It is not just a book.
It is a source delivering vital information that we all must grasp, appreciate and understand.
As we are engaged in turning around the fortunes of our economy, we must never forget why we are doing it.
We must always know why we are fighting, why we are struggling and sweating.
Our efforts to get the economy fully functional are proving a mammoth task not because we are clueless or weaklings, but because there are forces bent on seeing us fail.
And why do they want us to fail?
Do our young know these forces and how they presently operate and have operated in the past?
Do they know where to get these answers?
The answers are readily available.
They are in books such as the one released by Rtd Brig-Gen Muchemwa.
This book is as important as the economic blueprints and strategies we have crafted.
It is part-and-parcel of the solutions we seek.
It should not be regarded as a historical treatise to be consumed when we find time.
It must be consumed now.
We cannot afford to wait and engage it in our leisure time.
This is one book that must become a part of the education curriculum.
It is time that our children are taught from history books that we have produced ourselves.
We are happy that our people are taking up the challenge to put on paper our story for present generations and posterity.
Is it not strange that while they advocate that our past is not important, Rhodesians continue to produce copious volumes, not of a ‘future Rhodesia’, but the vanquished Rhodesia that was decimated and will never rise again.
They write about the past ‘glory’ of Rhodesia.
They are determined not to forget it and their young born years after the destruction of Rhodesia understand and know about the dead country as if they were present when it was created.
Citizens of our beloved country, it is in where we have come from that we can find and know the elements that want to stop us from getting where we want to be.
It is in the past that we also get the strength to soldier on.
To know where we are going, where we must get, how to get there, we must know where we are coming from; it is as simple as that.
Thank you Dr Muchemwa for the masterpiece.