IT is a pity that Liberation War Hero Cde Alexander Kanengoni died just six days before Zimbabweans were to celebrate their 36th Independence anniversary on April 18.
For the former freedom fighter, who had sacrificed his life by going to the war front during the liberation struggle, must have been looking forward to celebrating 36 years of independence only six days away then.
He valued the virtues of the armed liberation struggle and restoration of dignity to the indigenous blacks as a result of the victory over the repressive white racist regimes.
And he wanted the common bond of shared beliefs that united ZANU PF during the struggle to be eternal.
That is why in the February 26 – March 3 2016 edition of The Patriot, he chose to publish a speech by President Mugabe in Chimoio, Mozambique in 1977 in which he defined the party line.
The Patriot Deputy Editor wanted to emphasise, as he always did, liberation struggle guidelines which regarded discipline and adherence to party ideology as supreme.
He had been disturbed by what appeared to be public discord within the ZANU PF party.
That must be why he was impressed by the discipline and organisation displayed by his fellow war veterans when they met their patron President Mugabe recently.
He could not hide his pleasure at the way the war veterans presented their thematic committee resolutions at the famous indaba.
This was, especially where they quoted the party constitution or the President to support their presentations.
This historic meeting must have seen Cde Gora (Cde Kanengoni’s Chimurenga name) departing this world a happy man.
Cde Kanengoni was a committed cadre, well-schooled in the ZANU PF ideology to the extent he was a political commissar on the war front.It was this faith in everything that contributed to the liberation war effort, which made Cde Kanengoni, like the rest of other victorious Zimbabweans, cherish their independence.
The celebrations on April 18 should remind us that a precious generation is on its way out.
What with the latest deaths of heroes and heroines like Kanengoni, Victoria Chitepo and Vivian Mwashita.
These are some of our liberation icons with live experiences of the Second Chimurenga from the battlefront.
But what have we learned from our heroes so far?
From Cde Kanengoni, as revealed by the contributions in our latest publication, he did a lot through his pen to give us an insight into what the liberation war entailed from the horse’s mouth.
If we had got half as much from the rest of other heroes, our liberation ethos would be richer.
Cde Kanengoni was able to roll into one his attributes as a teacher, writer and soldier and leave for posterity a richer Zimbabwe.
And there was no better weapon than The Patriot, where he had become the heart and soul of the newspaper for him to leave a lasting legacy.
When The Patriot was launched five years ago, Cde Kanengoni, as Deputy Editor, was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the paper.
He was presented with a team of raw reporters, some of them straight from college, to launch a paper that had to tell the Zimbabwean story and celebrate being Zimbabwean.
And Cde Kanengoni proved equal to the task.
He developed a fatherly relationship with his newsroom, where he encouraged his reporters to be simple.
Cde Kanengoni combined his experience as a teacher and his editorial experience from ZBC and The Daily Mirror to mould a crack-team of reporters.
His experience as a freedom fighter added that simplicity of character, which made him easily accessible both by reporters and contributors.
His team’s confidence in him was mainly due to his in-depth vast knowledge on many subjects.
He was more than just a history book.
To tell the Zimbabwean story one of his main concerns was to demystify the colonial illusion that whites were a superior race.
After all, he had been actively involved in defeating these whites with superior weapons at the battlefront.
Cde Kanengoni exposed Cecil John Rhodes for what he was – a fraudster who not only cheated King Lobengula, but also defiled Matopos by having his grave right at the centre of a sacred place for the indigenes.
Whites’ racist laws, which denied blacks fertile land and afforded them second rate services, including education, were well articulated by Cde Kanengoni.
That is why former American Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray’s theory that the past was irrelevant did not have many takers.
Cde Kanengoni’s team knew in detail the dangers posed by so-called white liberals, hypocrites, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), educated blacks stuffed with colonial software, puppet political parties and quislings.
He used to cite examples of blacks with a poisoned colonial mentality who would be happy herding cattle in Botswana instead of getting involved in more useful chores in their country.
It used to baffle Cde Kanengoni how a normal person could be persuaded to be so unpatriotic as to hate his own country.
As a writer of international repute, he exposed other writers who used their talent to despise their country, with some seeking refuge in foreign lands.
This and about a lot more Cde Kanengoni educated his team in order to clear their minds of colonial software and celebrate being Zimbabwean by telling the Zimbabwean story like a true patriot.
The history lessons and personal guidance saw The Patriot gradually penetrate the market as Cde Kanengoni’s dream of editing a paper that would restore the dignity of Africans by challenging neo-colonialism gained a foothold.
Cde Kanengoni was a giant not only in stature, but also through his ideas that should gain in momentum long after him.
Fare thee well Cde Alexander ‘Gora’ Kanengoni.