The Sunday News
Charles Dube
ZIMBABWE achieved independence through a protracted liberation struggle. Some people, among the black majority, never believed that black people could rule this country. Takundwa says, “This beer hall talk about majority rule was absolute madness. Such a thing would never happen in this country. A black man ruling a white man? Never!” Such was the resistance liberation fighters encountered during the armed struggle.
It needed patience and strong education to convince black people with such views to change and understand what majority rule was all about. Joseph Takundwa chose to join the Rhodesian forces against the liberation forces. Remember, Takundwa only left active fighting with the liberation war fighters, derogatory called “terrorists” fearing for his life. He deliberately shot his toe which rendered him unfit to continue fighting in the so called operational areas.
Takundwa ran away from Nharira when freedom fighters were after his life. He had sent them poisoned clothes which led to the death of some of them.
He was saved by his nephew Nicholas, a mujibha who informed him that the freedom fighters were coming for him. Takundwa refused to own up and take the blame for having his son Lovemore killed in his place after sending them poisoned clothes. He left in a huff with his wife Fatima and daughter Sofia.
Lovemore was left at the mercy of the freedom fighters who found him in the shop, took him to a nearby hill. All the villagers were invited to come and watch what the freedom fighters could do to a sell-out. As the villagers sang and danced, they took turns to thrash him with huge logs. They gathered his torn limbs and broken bones and threw them into the fire. We get the description of this scene through the eyes of Fatima, Lovemore’s mother.
Fatima had gone back to try and get back Lovemore, a feat Takundwa could not dare do. Lovemore was killed for his father’s crimes. Takundwa was the sell-out, not Lovemore. Fatima is candid with Takundwa accusing him of killing her son. Takundwa is a coward who could not stand for his family. He is selfish as he flees, leaving his son vulnerable to attack. He cannot stand facts and resorts to violence. When Fatima says he is not a man but a woman, he unleashes a vicious blow that caught her by the chin.
This is physical abuse exerted on Fatima by Joseph Takundwa. From what we see here, it is like a woman is a subject of physical abuse who is silenced through a beating. Takundwa believes in beating up his wife to submission. But Fatima does not take all this lying down as she says: “Go ahead and kill me right now. Go ahead, beating defenceless women is the only thing that you can do!” Takundwa believes both of them are equally to blame for their son.
Takundwa trusted the Rhodesian government so much that he was happy when the Rhodesian army authorities helped him secure a job with a security company. He secured a house in Mufakose and vowed never to go back to the rural areas again, not before “the terrorist” killers were totally wiped out.
He believed all the propaganda unleashed by the Rhodesians as he says judging from the numbers of terrorists reported killed in operational areas each day, it was clear that the terrorists would soon be wiped out.
He believed that the Rhodesian forces had already won the war. The (terrorists) would soon surrender. That is what Takundwa believed. His hopes were high. Read this: “Then the Rhodesian soldiers, both black and white would march victoriously in the streets of Salisbury (Salisbury). He also hoped for rich pickings as he was sure the Rhodesian forces had not forgotten about him. He too would be soundly rewarded for the role that he had played in bringing that victory.
Joseph Takundwa entrusted all his hopes to the minority whites who were in power during his era. He hated blacks, even telling his wife that they were mad. He asked, “Do they really think that a black person can be above a white person? Do they think that a black person can be the owner of a factory… such that whites would come to him looking for a job? Do they truly believe that whites can work for a black man?
“For example, those black people working in big European farms, do they think that the day would ever come when they will go to live in the big European houses while the whites are living in the compound working in the fields for them? Such a thing will never happen in this country. We were born black: we will die black. We will never change to become white. Never!” This is a typical example of people who never understood the gist of majority rule and independence. Were they brainwashed by the whites?
Takundwa was defeatist, resigned to defeat. He never believed in himself and other blacks that they could rise up against the whites and change the status quo. It is not true that blacks were to perennially submit themselves to the whites. There was nothing impossible with blacks owning factories and whites coming to look for jobs from them. Takundwa and the like viewed whites as the superior race who were to remain in power for ever.
Fighting for majority rule or independence did not mean blacks changing to become white. It meant self-determination and having control over their resources. In addition it means people become masters of their own destiny and own the means of production. Takundwa suffered from self-shame. He says, “We were born black, we will die black”. While this is an unchangeable fact, it does not necessarily mean that people should resign themselves to permanent subjugation when they can group and fight for their freedom.
Despite all hope about the Rhodesian forces winning the war, Takundwa makes clear that he harboured a deep seated fear in his heart. What, the “terrorists were to win the war?” He had heard spine chilling stories about what happened to sell-outs. He had heard stories about a black book in which all the names of “sell-outs” had been recorded by the “terrorists”. He claimed that it was said that all the people who had names in that black book would be thrown into a giant fire.Takundwa acknowledges that he was a sell-out, hence an enemy of the majority.
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