The Sunday News
Dr Obert Moses Mpofu
History belongs to the victors and those are the ones who have the right to tell it. In most cases, winners write history in their favour, but there are a few outliers. The victors in the Pupu Battle, that is, the brave men under the Ingubo, Insukamini, Imbizo, Ihlathi, and Nyamandlovu regiments, who had grappled with colonial forces in a do-or-die battle against the colonisers were never accorded the chance to tell their story.
Whoever held the pen at the time ensured that the story that was told is one which glorified the defeated white colonialists under Allan Wilson. Our own brave warriors were depicted as the vanquished and their story was almost lost in history, until NOW!
A few days ago, His Excellency the President Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa unveiled the Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site in Lupane. This was a historic event, a first of its kind. The whole idea of the unveiling was to retell history as it truthfully and factually happened.
Indeed, until the lion can tell his story, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. It is a fact that, for the longest time, Zimbabwe’s history has been marred by misinformation, disinformation and outright lies, perpetuated by our colonisers and meant to discredit us. These distortions have served the purpose of bolstering the positions of the vanquished while being detrimental to the truth.
The Battle of Pupu fought on December 4, 1893, stands as a pivotal event in Zimbabwean history. It marked the clash between colonial forces and the Ndebele Kingdom, led by King Lobengula. Such important moments in Zimbabwe’s history have long suffered from lack of the proper and adequate attention. It has indeed been a disservice to all of us. This has however, changed as the unveiling of the Pupu Memorial Site will forever immortalise one of the most important events in our history.
Under the command of General Mtshana Khumalo, King Lobengula’s Imbizo Regiment became the vanguard of resistance. Their victory symbolised that evil would never fully prevail, for as long as there are a people determined to protect their land. It certainly didn’t matter that Allan Wilson and his 34-men strong colonial patrol were armed to the teeth with superior weapons, they were defeated nonetheless.
Even though many of our own fell, many rose in their stead and were inspired to save our country from the jaws of oppression. The battle of Pupu was indeed the seed that led to the fight for our liberation.
The Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site in Lupane
Perhaps the greatest lesson we have learnt from the unveiling of the Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site is that, there is so much of our history lost and hovering out there, waiting for us to reclaim it. It is almost like those who walked before us are whispering to us beyond the unknown and from the ancestral plane to resuscitate our history through walking the same path they walked many moons ago.
They are telling their story from beyond the grave. It is like time and space are coming together as one and we are slowly getting to the place that we are meant to be.
First was the statue of Father Zimbabwe himself, Cde Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo, then of course the much revered Mbuya Nehanda. Next up is the unveiling of the former President Robert Gabriel Mugabe at the Robert Mugabe International Airport. The crusade of taking ownership of our lost history has begun and is spearheaded by none other than His Excellency President Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa, whom history shall one day also remember and immortalise as having been the one who changed Zimbabwe’s trajectory and set it on a path of economic prosperity.
Such monuments as the Pupu Battlefield Memorial Site serve as stark reminders of the sometimes unforgiving and harsh paths we have had to walk as a nation. So many sacrifices and so many lives lost, but not in vain. All has led to this very moment where our nation is free and our people enjoy the fruits of Uhuru.
Bravery, tenacity and resilience in the face of the unknown is one take-away from the story of the Pupu Battle. It can be said that, when sanctions were imposed on us more than 20 years ago, we pretty much had the same feelings as those experienced by those of the Imbizo regiment as they faced off with the enemy.
While it is true that much has been lost due to the effects of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, the fact that our nation still stands and continues to move forward is enough proof that we indeed inherited our tenacity ad resilience from our ancestors. Indeed to whom much is given, much is expected. We inherited so much from those who came before us and indeed there are great expectations that we lead our country to prosperity.
Going forward, it is our hope that our youth appreciate such a rich history and work towards protecting the liberation gains.
Dr Obert Moses Mpofu is an Academic and the Secretary General of Zanu-PF. He writes in his own capacity.
