They lied to us…….

By Mike Bambo

Some claimed to have downed a chopper. Some claimed to have fought the liberation war. Yet some claimed that they cowed Smith to the negotiating table. Still some said they killed many whites. Collectively, they claim to have won the war of independence.

All these are lies. Today I have realized that these people have been lying to us. Apart from the few comrades that were defeated by Smith in Chinhoyi, there is really nothing special to write home about the liberation struggle.

These war veterans who received training, never used that training to fight the enemy, Smith’s government. Instead they used the skills they acquired to kill and beat up people in the rural areas. Some of the well-known war veterans were well known for killing their own people and not Smith’s soldiers on the pretext of being sell-outs.

Once they entered a village or district, they would quickly force people to offer them food with meat. And they would force people to sing songs such as: “Gandanga haridye derere mukoma.” If anyone refused to give them chicken or any type of meat, they would go to the homestead and shoot all the livestock as punishment.

The culprits would further be accused of being sell-outs. If they were beaten, they were lucky for the punishment was death. Some of these war veterans never killed any white person. But if you were to count the number of civilians they killed; you and I would be shocked.

There is also a myth that was spread during the war that the comrades disappeared. No they did not. When they got wind that the white soldiers were coming they would escape at terrific speed that even the ordinary people were shocked. They feared the white soldiers, and never tried to confront them. In essence they were cowards; makwara chairo.

Now they want to emerge and sound as if they were courageous during the war, when they cannot even face Mugabe and challenge him. The man has over stayed his welcome, and still no one can challenge him, yet we have people who claim they challenged Smith. LIES. Vanotopfugamira Gushungo.

Those who were not in the battle front never experienced any hardships. Most of them spend sleepless nights raping women, and forcing themselves on underage girls. Some of the shenanigans being exposed by the media by these men who claim to have fought during the war is reminiscent of what they actually did during the war. Sleeping with a 15 year old girl. Shame.

Some have countless children with countless women. It is even claimed that some of these so called war veterans could not even load a firearm, let alone fire it. I am not talking about those brainless abused youths, who get hired and accept if they are given unhygienic masese scud. No, not these ones. I am talking about the men who have been making the news recently.

Some women did not even fight during the war itself, but were busy providing pleasure to the men who were not fighting. Men would take turns to sleep with the same woman, day in, day out; and one son of a well-known Masvingo war veteran left the University of Zimbabwe in shame when her mother continued doing what she did during the war.

What am I driving at? These people who claim to have liberated us have enslaved us in worse situations than we were under the Smith regime. Just come to think of it. Who would have thought that we will be scattered around the globe away from our loved ones in search of a befitting and better livelihood. These so called war veterans were shocked when they heard that the war had ended. They wanted to remain in the bush raping women and worse still killing innocent people on the false pretext that they were sell-outs (vatengesi).

The war never ended because they had defeated the Smith regime. Never ever. That is a naked lie that should never be dismissed forthwith, and never to be repeated at all. The war ended because of Britain and Smith’s conscience. Smith realized that those fighting were destroying infrastructure, and that even if they were allowed to rule, it will be difficult to rehabilitate the infrastructure. The rate at which the war targeted infrastructure was alarming to say the least

Second, the deaths of the ordinary people was increasing by the passing of each day. Workers in farms were targeted and asked why they were working for the white man, and many of them lost their lives. The so called liberation war fighters killed many civilians than the Smith regime. That is a fact that real war veterans would admit in a blink of an eye.

I put it to ZANU PF that they never won any war against the Smith regime. I put it to ZANU PF that they killed more people than the Smith regime. I put it to ZANU PF that their rule has resulted in more poor people than there were under Smith regime. ZANU PF and indeed Mugabe have failed us. It is time for them to leave and let us re-write the true history of the War of Liberation.

 Mike Bambo is a student in the US and can be contacted at [email protected]