A few days earlier than Africa Day, Zimbabwe certainly lost one of its illustrious sons – Cde Dumiso Dabengwa, affectionately recognized using compatriots as “The Black Russian” or the “Intelligence Supremo.” One via one, those illustrious sons of our soil are referred to as through the writer, leaving a massive void of institutional reminiscence desperately wanted as an inspirational springboard for future generations.
Describing the past-due nationalists as principled and imaginative, President Mnangagwa stated that Cde Dabengwa’s heroics rank high among the pioneering generations of early nationalists and freedom combatants. Summarising Cde Dabengwa’s life history, President Mnangagwa said, “As we mourn his untimely departure, our entire nation is lifted through the story of his life and that of his era, a tale which smartly interweaves with our own story as human beings within the battle for independence and Statehood.”
Herein lies the problem.
Most liberation warfare stalwarts are a wealthy reservoir of our U.S. records; however, only a few have taken the time to file their memories to complement our war narrative and paint them as inspirational springboards for future generations.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara has expressed his exasperation at the lack of a writing subculture in the U.S.A.
Mutambara said it changed into a tragedy of enormous proportions. Former President Robert Mugabe has not written a single e-book about the adventure he has traveled thus far.
Except for some—Joshua Nkomo, Cephas Msipa, Maurice Nyagumbo, Didymus Mutasa, Dzinashe Machingura, Agrippa Mutambara, Fay Chung, Freedom Nyamubaya, Alexander Kanengoni, Edgar Tekere, Edison Zvobgo—there has never been a subculture of writing amongst comrades.
Someone desires to remind those cadres of the cost of storytelling. Chinua Achebe places it succinctly when he says:
Most effective the tale.Can retain past the war and the warrior.
It is the story that outlives the sound of battle drums and the exploits of courageous fighters.
It is the tale. That saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence.
The story is our escort; without it, we’re blind.
Does the blind guy personalize his escort? No, neither do we the tale; rather, it’s for the story that owns us and directs us.” – Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
While in years long gone by, we used to have griots who were custodians of a country’s historiography, the arrival of the written word has made it easier for one technology to bestow its reports, trials, and tribulations on the next. It has made it possible to skip the national memory.
In Achebe’s words, the written word is beautiful; once it is exceeded, it gives us a second chance to cope with reality. We want Africans to research something from Achebe’s recommendation, for it’s far more authentic that the written word and literature preferred have social and political significance.
The written word is a great deal more than a creative ornament. It offers an essential angle on everyday experience, educates us on the meaning of our actions, and gives us more control over our social and personal lives.
We need to broaden the tradition of writing, for this type of subculture serves a dual cause.
It educates Africans and other nationalities wishing to better understand us as a people and reinstate a sense of pride in African cultures. Documenting their private histories and contributions to the liberation of a nationalist like Cde Dabengwa would no longer assist society in regaining belief in itself and putting away the complexes of years of denigration and self-debasement.
Imagine how much expertise and records we’d have lost if Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Almicar Cabral, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Thomas Sankara, or even Muammar Gadaffi had now not written something approximately their lives, their philosophies, notion, and fashionable perspective on several troubles.
The written word is crucial. Nevertheless, it is the written word that today encourages hundreds of thousands of people to comply with Jesus Christ, for his word is enshrined in the Holy Bible.
It is said that Cde Dabengwa has passed on without having authored his memoirs. His loss of life should, in reality, be a wake-up call for other nationalists, freedom combatants, and the general population to document their testimonies for future generations.
We need to write our testimonies from our angle. No one story is absolute, but mixed, they increase a character and a nation. We must move far from what Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie calls the “single story narrative.” This is specially manufactured by individuals who least apprehend us or have a forked manner of looking at us.
We hope nearby historians like Pathisa Nyathi will take it as a countrywide obligation to document the records of stalwarts like Cde Dabengwa – whose dedication to his country has become beyond reproach. A countrywide icon who sacrificed interest for the good of his native land.
