“There are no people here, Africa is just a jungle — full of treasures as no man has ever seen,” they said.
We are perennially bombarded by accusations of land-grabbing; here is the truth about land grabbing in our Zimbabwe.
In 1896, Cecil John Rhodes wrote: “Dear McDonald, Inyanga is much finer than you described. I find a good many farms are becoming occupied. Before it is all gone, buy me up quickly up to 100 000 acres (400km²), and be sure to take in the Pungwe Falls. I would like to try sheep and apple growing. Do not say you are buying for me. Yrs. C.J. Rhodes.”
It was later found that the Pungwe Gorge lay just outside the Estate, so in 1938, a further 550 acres surrounding the Pungwe Falls was purchased.
In Matopos, Rhodes seized a further 38 000 ha from the people of Zimbabwe.
The seizure of both Nyanga and Matopos estates from the people of Zimbabwe represents an unprecedented depth of greed.
The sweeping, bald and beautiful Nyanga mountains welcoming you to their peak, Mount Nyanga transports you to another plane; the intriguing shapes of the hillocks tease your mind, while the many granite kopjes, reminiscent of Matopos, are a nostalgic reminder of how magnificent this great land is.
You gasp at the huge gorges taking you back to Mozambique and you recall that once we were one Kingdom, and still are one people.
Had the people of Matabeleland South seen the Nyanga mountains first, they would have realised that there are many mbalabalas, not just their great Mbalabala.
This is the land Rhodes took with impunity, the land freedom fighters liberated every square inch of, now it is ours, once again.
Hapana chisikwa chiri nani kupinda chimwe
Chino nechino haiwa ndechangu
Unotokumbira muridzi, kuvhima masango anoera
Unotokumbira muridzi, kuvhima masangao anorura
Michero yesango, unotokumbira muridzi munun’una
(Mtukudzi…)
Rhodes and his fellow bandits never accepted that such enchanting beauty belonged to black people.
They took the land with impunity… unotokumbira muridzi, hakuna chisikwa chiri nani kupinda chimwe… this message fell on deaf ears.
Asi zvaiva nevaridzi, and they paid heavily. In the First Chimurenga, we wiped out half the population of the marauding robbers
The beautiful rivers of Nyanga, Mare, Maroro, Nyangombe and others, the multiple streams and rivulets sing and whistle softly, some gurgling; meandering through the sacred forests and down the rocks, gently reminding you that you are not alone as you feel the deeply powerful non-intrusive presence; the force that protects Zimbabwe and keeps it tranquil, which our people know not to disturb.
The whites felt this powerful force, but they chose to ignore it; their insatiable greed overriding everything else.
The rivers form many streams and rivulets that blissfully cascade down rocks, creating inland beaches in some places, breaking as they race downstream into an array of exquisite bridal veils; Mtarazi, Nyangombe, Nyamuziwa falls.
Beautiful Zimbabwe
We shall never forget,
Beautiful Zimbabwe
The song reverberated in the rear camps in Mozambique.
At Matenje Base, the headquarters of the ZANU Education Department in Tete, Mozambique, the children read:
Zimbabwe is our country
It is a beautiful country
It is beautiful and rich
It is our country
They said: ‘It does not belong to anyone else, it is ours’.
The white robbers took it with impunity and with glee.
In Hwange, the majestic animals told the same story: ‘It is our country, it is beautiful’.
As for the glorious mighty Mosi-oa-tunya, they said: ‘There are no people here, the white man was the first human to behold such celestial grace fit only for the angels’.
The legendary land of gold trounced them; there was gold everywhere.
And in the land of glorious magnificence, Manicaland, diamonds blinked as in a star-lit sky.
Having seen Zimbabwe, Britain knew it would survive; they celebrated; this was the answer to their woes, to her poverty.
British convicts came out of the woodwork and flooded our country.
The force of Zimbabwe saw it all but remained silent in the depths of its soul.
They would discover other treasures, emeralds, platinum, copper, silver…
They discovered the land was perfect for growing so many crops and fruit trees such as apples, peaches, grapes, wheat, flowers, oranges, bananas, tea, coffee,sugar and so much more.
Kuvhima masango anoera, unotokumbira muridzi
Kuvhima masango anorura unotokumbira muridzi
No! They said:
We shall be comfortable here
Here in the land of our choice, eternally ordained to us.
They harnessed the mighty Zambezi and built a great big dam to produce electricity for their towns and their homes.
There are no people here, they said.
So they built great big homes, palaces nestling in the forests, hills and valleys; anywhere they dreamt.
There were no people here, only flora and fauna.
But the spirit of the land never forgot the truth, never denied itself, there were people here.
The force rose from the depths of its soul and gathered its children around itself, and told them: ‘Let us be strong, we will go and get what is ours’.
It was a great war.
There are no people here, they shouted loudest.
The Guns replied: ‘There are people here!’
After a while they could not even snooze anywhere anymore; there was fire everywhere, the arrows never missed their mark.
Tapera, they shouted in alarm!
An indaba was their only salvation, they realised.
But they still would not accept: Hapana chisikwa chiri nane kupinda chimwe.
Nevertheless, Zimbabwe reclaimed its land and it will protect it and will never sell out to the enemy.