The Sunday News
Richard Runyararo Mahomva
Title: On the Shoulders of Struggle: Memoirs of a Political Insider
Author: Dr Obert Moses Mpofu
Publisher: LAN Readers, Bulawayo
Year: 2020
In the mind of this self-narration
This book critiques the independence state’s stalled efforts to deliver equitable access to the national economy. The adoption of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (Esap) and excruciating strikes of austerity are discussed extensively to substantiate the coloniality of the bloodline of Zimbabwe’s post-independence economy. This book makes a very perfect read for decolonial economic policy researchers.
This profound personal historical account provides a close-fitting assortment of rare facts to what has aided political transitions in Zimbabwe between 1980 and 2020. This is mainly because Dr Obert Mpofu has been an inside actor in innumerable and noteworthy power-shifts in Zimbabwe starting from the inaugural and most significant transition from colonialism to independence. In 1980, like any other Zimbabwean, Dr Mpofu was a witness of the transfer of power from the settler regime to the ruling Zanu-PF. In the same year, he left Zapu and joined Zanu on purely ideologically driven motivations which he exclusively reveals in Chapter 5.
Dr Mpofu’s crossover to Zanu in 1980 symbolically heralded the unity of the two liberation movements following the signing of the Unity Accord between Dr Joshua Nkomo and Cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe in 1987. This modelled the early hybridisation of his political credentials as a product of Zimbabwe’s most prominent liberation political powerhouses led by the two founding fathers of the republic. Therefore, the memoir is also a philosophical expression of his loyalties to Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe:
“I am a proud product of the iconic leadership credence of Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe. My political vocation is indebted to these founding patriarchs. As a direct beneficiary of their political orientation, they certainly built my political personality. My involvement in the struggle for Zimbabwe is an appendage pursuit of Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe’s selfless sacrifices to fight for the freedom of Zimbabwe” (p. 34).
However, when assessed closely, Dr Mpofu’s move from Zapu to Zanu instinctively brings to display the man’s sense of political foresight and precision because he symbolically initiated the anticipated unity of Zimbabwe’s largest liberation parties. Dr Mpofu further highlights his active, but “behind the scenes” involvement in setting up the roadmap and the modalities which led to the realisation of the 1987 Zapu/Zanu pact which then conceived the present-day Zanu-PF. This places him at the centre of the post-independence unification of Zimbabwe which was an outcome of the Unity Accord. Therefore, at the heart of this memoir is an interwoven set of national aspirations which cut across the diverse and unifying memories of our past.
Based on Tendi (2020)’s life-account of the late General Solomon Mujuru, a former security officer alongside Dr Mpofu in ZPRA, Mujuru (nom de guerre Rex Nhongo) crossed over to Zanla due to lack of proximity to power while in ZPRA:
“Nhongo and Machingura’s varying dispositions towards promotion to the High Command reflected a key difference between both guerrillas at this stage. Machingura’s point that he felt divorced from ‘murky’ Lusaka politics was a reasonable one since he was mostly based in Tanzania. But Nhongo was not seriously acquainted with Lusaka politics either because the majority of his time since 1971 had been spent in Nehanda sector as a field commander.”
Just like Dr Mpofu who argues that his “political worth” was “discovered” and more acknowledged in Zanu after independence (p. 70), Tendi (2020: 33) indicates the same about Mujuru’s political career after exiting ZPRA:
“Furthermore, Nhongo only joined Zanla in March 1971, as an ordinary soldier from Zapu, but being a Johnnie come-lately from a rival liberation army did not make him reticent about higher politics. Nhongo was attracted to spaces of influence. The 1973 Lusaka conference marked the beginning of Nhongo’s meteoric rise in Zanla’s top hierarchy.”
The coincidental recollection on loyalty defections in both Dr Mpofu and Mujuru’s memoirs proves the existence of organisational pitfalls which were inherent within nationalist movements. This was also substantiated by the mass defection in both Zanu and Zapu leading to the establishment of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (Frolizi), hence Mpofu (p 62) submits that:
“The ideological disenchantments emanating from the Zapu and Zanu’s divided tackle of the struggle resulted in the emergence of Formation of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (Frolizi) in 1971 by James Chikerema. To those of us who belonged to the main-wing movements, Frolizi was a reactionary movement whose intention was to capitalise on the Zapu-Zanu contradictions to take charge of the liberation struggle. Among others, Frolizi was led by Nathan Shamuyarira, George Nyandoro, Stephen Parirenyatwa, Ambrose Mutinhiri, Charles Goromonzi, Shelton Siwela, Zebediah Gamanya and Enoch Dumbujena.”
The shared perspective in both Dr Mpofu and Mujuru’s books is that partisan loyalty shifts were based on the broad and contested aims of the liberation struggle. However, this does not dismiss that self-interest was also at the centre of these inter-party loyalty shifts amongst the nationalists.
In this account, Dr Mpofu acknowledges that the land reform agitated colonial capital. After realising that their chokehold on the political economy was being loosened as a logical outcome of the war of independence, the colonial forces aided the creation of an opposition political party to remove Zanu-PF out of power:
“Upon deciding to have the land returned to its rightful owners — the Black majority, Zanu-PF faced all sorts of antagonism from the West which had already planted an opposition party which conveniently served its regime-change interests. The birth of MDC under its late leader Morgan Tsvangirai was a continuation of the West’s propensity to have indirect control of the Zimbabwean political space. The birth of a Western directly funded opposition served as a culmination of colonial forces’ efforts to castrate the nationalist movement in Zimbabwe. More CSOs (Civil Society Organisation) which were proxies of the opposition were formed to advance the Western hegemonic hold in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe against the clearly defined parameters of our sovereignty,” (p 117).
In pursuit of this line of thought, the account contends the ahistorical discourse of the property and human-rights which forms the political locus of validation for the opposition and its Western-funded political pressure groups:
“The subject of human-rights in post-independent Zimbabwe must not be disconnected from this historical reality to be selectively arrogated in defence of a fallen oppressive system and a minority it protected. Therefore, a candid reflection on this subject must facilitate an appreciation of how history conceived the fragilities of our diverse national belonging,” (p 129).
Serving the Republic
The author projects himself as a product of Zimbabwe’s post-independence democratic political culture as he reflects on his 1985 election defeat and his later election as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1995 for Bubi-Umguza Constituency. This elevation was a product of hard work after the then President, Robert Mugabe had previously appointed him as a non-elected MP in 1987. Dr Mpofu was continuously re-elected as MP for the Bubi-Umguza seat from 1995 to 2018. In 2018, Dr Mpofu volunteered to relinquish his Matabeleland North senatorial seat.
In the period between 1995 and 2018, Dr Mpofu has served in various Government portfolios as Deputy Minister of Industry and International Trade. In 2000, he was appointed Governor and Resident Minister for Matabeleland North Province. In 2005, he was re-assigned to the cabinet as Minister of Industry and International Trade. After the 2008 election, he was appointed Minister of Mines and Mining Development. This appointment followed the creation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in 2009 after the contested stalemate of the 2008 Harmonised Elections — which the author extensively discusses.
After the GNU, following the 2013 Harmonised Elections, Mpofu was appointed the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. Thereafter, he was appointed Minister of Planning Development and Investment Promotion. In the “New Dispensation” in 2017, he carried on as the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage. This was after he was assigned to this post in October 2017. Apart from being one of the long-serving ministers, Dr Mpofu has worked in various capacities in the ruling, Zanu-PF. He was initially elected as a member of the Central Committee in 1990. In 1998, he was appointed into the Politburo as the Deputy Secretary for Security. In 2009, he was promoted to Secretary for Economic Affairs. Dr Mpofu has also served as the Zanu-PF Secretary for Finance. Currently, he is Zanu-PF’s Secretary for Administration. In this mandate, his role is to give strategic policy direction to the day to day running of Zanu-PF.
Significance of Mpofu’s Self-writing
Keen to record Zimbabwe’s post-independence history, with a strong determination to shape its future, Dr Mpofu’s autobiography, On the Shoulders of Struggle: Memoirs of a Political Insider, is a significant contribution to Zimbabwe’s political literature. The book assumes the tradition of self-location within crescendos of the country’s political evolution having been written by a multifaceted Zimbabwean political figure.
The memoir reaches out to various strata of Zimbabwe’s society. The author deliberately excludes some intimate details of his personal life story to draw the reader’s attention to critical political processes which Zimbabwe has gone through since the time of the armed struggle right up to the contemporary post-Mugabe era. The deliberate exclusive focus on political processes makes this account unique as it locates the narration of the author within the broader scope of national interest more than self-obsession. This makes the book one of the best political memoirs ever to come out of Zimbabwe and, as such, a worthwhile read for students of history, politics and public policy-making.
Richard Runyararo Mahomva is a Political-Scientist with an avid interest in political theory, liberation memory and architecture of governance in Africa. He is also a creative literature aficionado. Feedback: [email protected]
