THE sad story of the liberation struggle can never be fully told without mentioning the tragedy of Nyadzonia which by now should have been officially recognised as a genocide by those who claim to be custodians of democracy.
On August 9 1976, a special counter-insurgency unit of the Rhodesian forces, the Selous Scouts, carried out a heinous attack on the Nyadzonia Camp in Mozambique, killing over 3 000 innocent unarmed men, women and children.
That this gory act is yet to be classified as genocide is testimony that the world is still miles from achieving equality.
If this had been done by Africans, it would have found itself in pages of history and presented as an exhibition of how ‘callous’ black people are.
But at a time when institutions like the International Criminal Court (ICC) have sought to turn a blind eye on the definition and meaning of genocide, the ball naturally falls into the hands of Zimbabwe to vigorously pursue perpetrators of the Nyadzonia massacre.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) defines genocide.
It was adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on December 9 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260. 
The Convention entered into force on January 12 1951. 
Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as: “Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group.
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2
The same genocidal evidence is found in abundance in Zimbabwe where more than 5 000 civilians, 10 000 people at Chimoio and more than 3 000 at Tembwe and Freedom Camps were murdered by Rhodesians.
To cushion its owners from possible prosecution, the ICC put a clause in their constitution which states that it can only deal with crimes committed after 2002, a deliberate disclaimer to the horrors of the days of slavery and colonialism.
Zimbabwe needs to push for the classification of these murders as genocide.
Malawi has already done that.
Last year, families of 33 pro-independence fighters who were killed in the 1950s in the region today known as Malawi demanded reparations from the United Kingdom (UK) for unjustified killings perpetrated on its indigenes towards the end of colonial rule.
Relatives of protesters who were killed by British colonial forces in Malawi in 1959 during the Operation Sunrise massacre in Nyasaland (Malawi) said they are seeking reparations in court.
The Mail & Guardian reported the families of 51 slain freedom fighters are pushing the Malawi Government to seek £100 million in compensation.
On March 3 1959, Britain imposed a state of emergency in Nyasaland to stop violent protests by political activists of the Nyasaland African Congress fighting for independence, led by Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
The peaceful and unarmed protesters, including three pregnant women, were demonstrating against the arrest of freedom fighters on a passenger ship on the shores of Lake Malawi.
Public opposition to the detentions culminated in the killing of 51 demonstrators and 1 300 arrests.
In honour of the slain freedom fighters, the Malawi Government declared March 3 Martyrs’ Day, celebrated as a public holiday to honour those who lost their lives in the struggle against British colonialism.
There is a feeling the Malawi case has substance because of the precedent set in 2013 when, after a High Court case, the British Government paid out £19,9 million in costs and compensation to 5 228 Kenyans who had been tortured by British colonial forces during the Mau Mau uprising between 1952 and 1960.
During the Mau Mau uprising against white settlers, the Kenya Human Rights Commission says 90 000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed and
160 000 people were detained in appalling conditions, although some historians have argued that the figure is much lower.
After the court case, former UK foreign secretary William Hague told The Guardian newspaper his government regretted the abuses that marred Kenya’s progress to independence.
“Torture is an abhorrent violation of human dignity, which we condemn,” said Hague.
“We understand the grief felt by those involved.
“The British government recognises Kenyans were subject to torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration.”
Our Government too must come forward to push for compensation from the British over the Nyadzonia and Chimoio massacres.
After all, the Gurkhis of Nepal are doing the same to the British, more than a century after being forced to fight on the British side.