Love that waving flag

 The Herald
January 13 2011 

''WHAT'S happening?

''Why is there a sudden influx of national flags on the streets with almost one in four cars proudly displaying the flag?

 ''Does this have anything to do with the coming elections?'' a friend of mine, who believes the media know everything that goes on in the country, asked me on the phone the other day with reference to the phenomenon that has gripped Harare in recent months where on almost every street corner you come across a vendor selling miniature versions of the National Flag at the ''BACOSSI price'' of a dollar for two.

Almost one in every 10 cars that you pass on the road will have the flag dangling from the rear view mirror or fluttering from the aerial aping the famous Zim 1, the pride of the Presidential motorcade.

Intrigued, I pulled over at one intersection yesterday and one vendor, who told me he answered to the name Amos Mzamba, ran over with a bunch of flags in either hand.

''How many do you want blaz,'' he asked relishing a good sale.

I asked him where the flags were coming from and like a true businessman keen to protect his business from competitors he looked at me warily and was non-committal only saying, ''a shop in town.''

Was anyone sending them into the streets with the flags?
''No,'' was his reply, ''tinotohodha blaz (we buy in bulk for resale, my brother)''

Still curious, I asked him how the business was going and he said the little flags were moving fast.

To what did he attribute the phenomenon?

And he said: ''Mudhara people were looking for these things but they could not find them, and now that they can, they are buying the flags like nobody's business. Those without cars buy them from the kombi windows to display at home. Displaying this flag shows everyone who sees you or visits that you love your country.

''I think it all started with the World Cup craze in South Africa. We saw a lot of cars coming here displaying the SA flag. Some had stickers, others had wing-mirror covers, yet others had seat covers in national colours. I believe many of our people admired that but they could not find Zimbabwean equivalents.''

The vendor said he had been asked about the availability of lapel pins, tie clips, cuff links, even earrings in the national colours, and he wished he had the means to produce them on a large scale.

Well, well, well, someone somewhere has not been doing his/her work to give citizens these symbols of national pride.

I do not know which ministry exactly should promote this, it could be David Coltart's ministry, it could be Walter Mzembi's; whichever ministry it is, must get off its laurels.

Judging by what's happening in the streets, ostensibly courtesy of some enterprising businessman, whom I hear is of Chinese extraction; Zimbabweans are mighty proud of their country and are keen to show it.

So what does that say of us as a people if we leave it, assuming it’s true, to an outsider to produce these national symbols for us?

Where are we getting it wrong?

What does this interest in the National Flag tell us about our people?

What else are we not giving them that they would rather have?

Last week I touched on the issue of recording the history of our struggle, and I hope that powers that be will do something about it lest we leave future generations at the mercy of any good storyteller.

Again, out of curiosity, I sauntered into Kingstons, the national bookseller, looking for serious books about our history as Africans and how our heritage was bastardised by European invaders in a bid to portray us as a hopeless, uncivilised people who should be thankful to Western conquest for putting clothes on our backs and food on our tables.

I came across a lot of works of fiction but nothing much educational by progressive writers like Amilcar Cabral, Ayi Kwei Armah, Franz Fanon, Cheikh Anta Diop or Walter Rodney. There are lots of romance novels by Danielle Steel, Barbra Bradford, etc, a lot of espionage work by Robert Ludlum, Jeffrey Archer, lots of Shakespeare; books that do not add value to the national psyche or consciousness.

In fact, Kingstons has since diversified to music and selling other paraphernalia. That, in a country with the highest literacy rate in Africa? There is definitely something wrong with us, and I hope that whatever it is, we will find an antidote soon lest we lose future generations to the reactionary who are spinning unbelievable yarns about Zimbabwe and its history.caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw

Burying more than men

The Herald

January 5 2011

One by one the venerated nationalists have crossed to the other side of silence with their precious memories, and only on Sunday another freedom fighter Cde Mukanganga “Sharpshooter’’ Nyashanu, was laid to rest at the National Heroes’ Acre, and with him a wealth of information on his wartime experiences. We buried more than just a body that day, but a valuable part of our history that has been lost for good.

ONE incident that occurred as I was doing my Upper 6 at Oriel Boys High School always comes to my mind when I read a story about any achiever.

The A-Level results for the past year had just been released; and one male student from Mt Pleasant High had been featured in this newspaper after acing four subjects at A-Level with As in Mathematics, Economics, Accounts and Management of Business.

His comment on being asked if he had at one point been anxious about the exam results was, ‘‘Not really, my greatest fear was just a string of Bs!’’ Ah ah! How we, poor mortals, admired that “demi-god” as his story was read to us at assembly by my then headmaster, the late Samuriwo, may his soul rest in peace, as he urged us Sixth Formers to burn the midnight oil so we could emulate the Mt Pleasant whizkid the coming year.

Mr Samuriwo was, however, not completely taken in by the dude’s comment as he, after putting the paper aside on the rostrum, quipped, ‘‘Aiwa kwava kutaura kwewabaya, nyangwe akati ndaisvetuka makwenzi akakura kunge miti ndichitandanisa mhuka hamuzvirambe nekuti nyama munenge muchiiona!’’

There is an African proverb that aptly captures that proverbial situation of the return of the triumphant hunter. It goes: ‘‘Until the lions learn to write down their own stories, the story of the hunt will always be told from the hunter’s perspective.’’

Hunters were a select group in the pre-colonial halcyon days. They, and the warriors who protected the kingdom, were a venerated lot that married the nicest women, held court with kings, ate the nicest meals, wore the trendiest kilts and often had great stories to relate about their exploits in the bush or on the battlefield. These mystical men were serenaded by praise songs especially when they brought home big game animals.

Even though listeners hung on the hunter’s every word about how the beast had come to meet its maker, some knew that they were getting one side of what went on in the forest because the beast was not in a position to counter the hunter’s narration.

For instance, the lion a hunter would claim to have subdued after a fierce duel would probably have been sleeping when he sneaked upon and impaled it with his spear. The deer he claimed to have outran would probably have been caught in a snare. But then the hunter had the bragging rights because he possessed the gift of speech which the lion or game didn’t.
So what’s my point?

My point is there are two sides to a story, and we have not done much to tell our own even as Western presses roar night and day churning out literature that belittles our struggle for independence and democracy. In fact, the Rhodesians we vanquished and their kith and kin all over the world have been busy playing the hunter while we dutifully remained mum like lifeless prey.

Our nationalists, national heroes and former freedom fighters have not done much, if anything to record their wartime experiences for the post-independent generation and posterity

One by one the venerated nationalists have crossed to the other side of silence with their precious memories, and only on Sunday another freedom fighter Cde Mukanganga “Sharpshooter’’ Nyashanu, was laid to rest at the National Heroes’ Acre, and with him a wealth of information on his wartime experiences.

We buried more than just a body that day, but a valuable part of our history that has been lost for good.

The bottom line is our national leaders have let us down by not writing books detailing the history of the struggle. Ironically, ex-Rhodies and their kith and kin like Heidi Holland of the Dinner with Mugabe fame have been churning out books by the year, painting Zanu-PF and President Mugabe in bad light while portraying themselves and those of their ilk as the wronged ones.

A visit to any bookseller at OR International Airport or any reputable Western bookseller will show row after row of Rhodesian or European interpretation of Zimbabwean history and its leadership.

Add to this the attempt by the MDC-T leaders to re-invent themselves and their quisling agenda as a logical extension of the liberation struggle and what remains is a dangerous attempt at revisionism that needs robust countering. The likes of Morgan Tsvangirai who lasted no more than 24 hours in a liberation war camp claim to be qualified to select national heroes. Even little Chamisa who still had milk on his baby nose feels he is competent to select heroes of the struggle. Yuck!
The best way to counter these reactionaries is to record our history so that future generations will know the source of the cloud that does not bear water.

Why don’t we have books on or by President Mugabe? The late Vice Presidents Joseph Msika, Simon Muzenda? Why don’t we have books by or on Mai Joice Mujuru, General Solomon Mujuru, Josiah Magama Tongogara, Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo, etc; what’s stopping our writers from interviewing these luminaries and compiling their history? Can’t we see we are being willing accomplices to the West at the nascent revisionism within the regime change ranks?

Who will we blame when our children take Heidi Holland’s view of Zimbabwe and President Mugabe? For the life of me, I can’t understand why if an illiterate like George W. Bush can have a book out in a tongue similar to English, our own leaders here seem averse to leaving documented history for posterity?

I challenge them to have, as part of their New Year resolutions, the documenting of our history. They owe it not only to us but our children and their children’s children.caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw