Zimbabwe Decides Its Destiny

Everyman has the right to decide his own
destiny, and in this judgement there is no
partiality. – Bob Marley, from lyrics of
Zimbabwe, a song, and an album dedicated to
Zimbabwe at independence in April 1980
THE crowd of over 100,000 that packed the
Rufaro Stadium, Harare, on 18 April 1980, was
full of expectations for the new country. When
Bob Marley hit the song, Zimbabwe, tears
rolled, the drums pelted to new rhythms, the
guitars strummed, and the crowd went into
frenzy. The lyrics could have been lost on
everyone.
President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari donated
$15 million to Zimbabwe. Part of the money
was used in training Zimbabwean students in
Nigerian universities, their government
workers in the Administrative Staff College Of
Nigeria in Badagry, and their soldiers in the
Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna.
The expectations evaporated quickly. Edgar
Zivanai ‘Two Boy’ Tekere, the ZANU-PF
Secretary General, largely seen as a major
challenger to President Robert Mugabe, invited
Bob Marley to that performance. Marley’s
music inspired the guerrilla fighters during the
battles to liberate Zimbabwe. Tekere, a
founding member of ZANU PF, was a colleague
of Mugabe’s in the guerrilla war that they
organised from Mozambique.
His disagreement with Mugabe was early and
he lost his position as Minister. Another
Mugabe ally Lt-Gen Lookout Masuku,
commander of the Zimbabwe People’s
Revolutionary Army, died mysteriously in
1986, four years after he was accused of
planning to overthrow Mugabe.
“Who is Mugabe to declare Tekere a hero? No-
one in the current party’s (ruling) politburo
qualifies to deliberate on the heroism of the
late, great nationalist Tekere,” Enos Nkala, a
co-ZANU founder, asked at Tekere’s funeral
which Mugabe did not attend.
Other modern fathers of Zimbabwe like Joshua
Nkomo, Bishop Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa,
Ndabaningi Sithole, Canaan Banana have long
fallen out with Mugabe.
Zimbabwe’s 13 million people wallow in the
scourge of Mugabe, who at 89 has won a
seventh tenure. Age may be the only thing that
would stop him from beating the 42-year
record of Gabon’s Albert Omar Bongo, who
only death, at 71, separated from power.
About 85 per cent of its population, 11.05
million, is under 64 years old. Mugabe is the
only president that more than 90 per cent of
the population knows.
Zimbabweans would be under worse pressure
to find leaders when Mugabe expires. Cote
d’Ivoire is still in turmoil, 21 years after Felix
Houphouët-Boigny, its first president who
ruled for 33 years. Mugabe is running
Zimbabwe into a futile future that would unveil
when he is gone.
It is up to Zimbabweans to decide their
destiny, just as Bob Marley sang 33 years ago,
and everyone danced in exhilaration.