Dear Alex Magaisa (posted as first response to Alex Magaisà's article on Newzimbabwe.com.

Dear Alex Magaisa

Thanks for the message. I appreciate it. In fact I did try to send the same message to you, but my message bounced back, I guess you have a reason for that.The issue at hand is clear, suggesting that Zimbabweans must seek to come out of their ethnic identities is like asking an Indian to stop refering to himself or herself as Indian. That will be unfair.In fact our past is very clear and informs our identity. It will even inform the cause of action we shall embark on tomorrow.
Remember the Matebeleland Massacres. The episode stretched from 1980, to be precise, to 1990, in some parts of Matebeleland. I am a direct victim of it. I lost relatives, maybe to refresh your memory, if you have read the document Breaking the Silence, co-authored by CCJP and Legal Resources Foundation there is a case of a pregnant younglady who was bayonetted by the notorious 5th Brigade soldiers. Her womb was split open to expose the foetus, the simple reason was that she belonged to the "wrong" tribe, Ndebele. I was there. I witnessed it. In fact,that was my Sister in Tsholotsho.Tell me more about it!These soldiers clearly stated that they are doing all this to us because we are Ndebele. It raises some eyebrows for anyone today to argue that that was not the reason yet the messengers we clearly stating it in no uncertain terms.
Another thing, I was forced to drop out of school in 1982 and went back in 1985. Even then (in 1985) our teachers would sometimes be beaten at the school assembly. Imagine it! There is another incident which happened at a Secondary school in Matopo, all teachers were forced to strip, then a female teacher was given a 30cm ruler and ordered to move around measuring all
male teachers´ organs and other areas of shame.
Horrendous indeed. The reason still is simple,
Magaisa, it was done to them because they are Ndebele.Period!

Then came the so called ´Unity Accord´, everyone
thought the time of tribulation is over. It could be true but, I still maintain that that was a fascade. The Unity Accord marked the change from naked physical violence to more subtle means of economic suffocation,characterised by suffocation.This marks the time when Matebeleland is not offered any assistance by government to develop in any way considering that the decade 1980 to 1990 was indeed a lost one to Matebeleland.
Remember, when all these disturbances were taking place, Mugabe did not put a hold to economic and social development in Mashonaland. In fact, he was even building more schools. Some schools were being upgraded to A´Level status.

The 1990s was worse in Matebeleland because
unemployment became worse, standards of living
dropped. This was aggravated by the Economic
Structural Adjustment Pogramme (ESAP). With
infrastructure that was destroyed during Gukurahundi not being attended to it became worse. Our schools were NOT developed. This explains why most schools in Matebeleland are still concentrating on Humanities and Arts subjects to this day. You went to UZ, you
definitely know what I am referring to. All of us had to do degrees like BA, Sociology and other Arts and Humanities related programmes. Very few people went to do Medicine, Engineering etc, however, that doesnot mean very few people in Matebeleland have health problems as a result they do not need Medical doctors.We do need medical doctors, but not those who speak Shona to our grand mothers and parents.
You will recall that historically Matebeleland
enjoyed being home to heavy industries. These have all been relocated to Harare. In 1987, the government of Zimbabwe agreed through Parliament to electrify the Railway line only from Harare to Gweru. Why?

I hope you realise that the relocation of Heavy
industries from Bulawayo to Harare, meant a serious suffocation in terms of limited employment
apportunities. Now, the jobs that are available in
Matebeleland are being taken by Shona speakers. The reason being that those in privileged positions (Managers) are Shona and they employ their relatives.Again on development, did you know that Hwange Thermal Power station accounts for the country´s 920 megawatts, while Kariba Hydro-Elecrticity Power station accounts for 750 megawatts. Then some small electricity generating stations at Munyati, Bulawayo and Harare act as back-ups to the national grid in case of a local blackout and they only account for 300 megawatts. The sum-total of electricity consumption expectation is 2 750 megawatts. This implies that
there is a deficit of 780 megawatts (cf, Zimbabwe ICTs e-readiness survey 2005, produced by NUST funded by UNDP). Thus automatically rendering Zimbabwe a net importer of electricity. Then the highest electricity-grid imported is from South Africa. It comes through Insukamini in Matebeleland.
Interestingly, a closer analysis shows that
Matebeleland provides electricity for the entire
country, yet it remains in darkness, and in dire need, with poor road infrastructure and communication network. Who then is to blame for this marginalisation, waMagaisa?
Even teacher training Colleges, like United
College of Education (UCE), Hillside, Gwanda ZinTech most Students are from Mashonaland. This means that teachers who are produced, most of them are Shona speakers. This is a deliberate blow to Ndebele as a language, you know very well that a primary school-teacher is an all-rounder. Now our children have to be taught by teachers who cannot even speak a word in Ndebele. What are they going to teach them during time for Ndebele? This is a deliberate clumsy policy orchestrated by the Harare government. It is very clear. I have a close Ndebele friend who was chased by locals from Murewha High. Her name is Siphiwe Khumalo. They said she has to go and teach her
own people.
It looks like Ndebele people are the only ones
who are tribalistic, Shona people are not, even when they practice it, it´s cajoled as an expression of fact. Ho Yebo!!!

I also challenge you to visit Victoria Falls, and see for yourself. Shona is now the dominant language. I wish to remind you that there is no direct link between Vic Falls and Harare, for example, for one to go as far as Vic Falls, you have to go via Bulawayo. But in Vic Falls and in Bulawayo you find Shona people doing menial jobs, as if people from Matebeleland donot want those jobs. That´s unfair, I say!
I must add that I am a Staff Development Fellow from NUST, Department of Journalsim and Media Studies. Can you believe it that at NUST the major language is Shona? But it´s deep in Matebeleland! Most students are from Mashonaland. The question therefore is; Is NUST serving Matebeleland any purpose, in terms of nudging development? The answer is NO? NUST is a lost policy project, which was created through an act of Parliament to hoodwink the people of Matebeleland into believing that they own something.
This is just a false concept of reality.

Then on Land redistribution
You will recall that very few Ndebele people if not nil, got land in Mashonaland. Those who got it
quarelled bitterly with the likes of Shamuyarira,
Ibboston Mandaza and other politicians. But most
politicians from Mashonaland own land in Matebeleland.Examples include, Joseph Msikavhanu who owns more than two farms, Ibbo Mandaza who owns more than one and many other Shona elite who own big tracts of land.Does that really mean the people of Matebeleland donot need land? The answer is NO? This is one major weakness of the so called ´Land re-distribution´. The government of Harare is commissioning all this by omission.

Magaisa, I challenge you never to go angry when
someone says, the people of Mashonaland are
beneficiaries of Mugabe´s skewed policies. Whoever
says that has a very strong premise! When he (Mugabe)was killing people, there was massive development taking place in Mashonaland and schools were functioning well. You went to school then, I was running all over like a headless chicken looking for safety. I am defnitetly not suggesting that you should have dropped out of school to show solidarity, but it happened and you went to school, some people who were supposed to be with you at UZ were brutally murdered.
My father had just been killed and my Sister
bayonetted for the simple reason that she is Ndebele.

Truly, Shona people are beneficiaries in a big way. There are no tribal undertones in this statement. It´s just a matter of fact. However, anyone is free to perceive it the way they want. This also explains why most Shona people in this democracy ideation still want to locate the Zimbabwean crisis back to 2000, instead of 1980. I guess at one time you have even said it, that Zimbabwe was once a good country/nation! It never was for some of us!
If we all want to prosper in Zimbabwe waMagaisa, we must tell the truth. You as lawyers, always
encourage, ´that we tell nothing else but the truth´,unfortunately everything true is always painful and hard to take. Zimbabwe belongs to all of us, but it has bigger problems, most of them were and still being caused by the irresponsible leadership and likely to be passed to our generation to solve. I therefore suggest that we make the truth our starting point.I know Mugabe later on sent part of 5th Brigade to kill people in Manicaland, but I cannot speak for the people of Manicaland, my problems are too heavy for now, but all of us must speak. I sympathise with the
people of Manicaland too and even those who lost their relatives recently. It is really sad!!!

Regards
Brilliant Mhlanga
University of Oslo
Department of Media and Communication
Blindern
Oslo
Norway.

Mandla

Has waMagaisa given any feedback to your responses to his article? If so, what is he saying? Is he able to defend his non-existent idea of individual supremacy over their ethnic groups?

The only thing that this foolish magayisa can do is:ukucatsha ngomunwe.Iqiniso liqiniso. INdebele nxa likhulum'iqiniso kuthiwa liyi-tribalist. Now these zezurus are busy srutinising this Mutambala because unguMdau kasilo zezuru. Laba bantu balobandlululo
olubi kakhulu.

He has responded to all of them. At first he was apologising for his article on Newzimbabwe.com. Saying he was just sharing his views, if we find them ill he is asking us to take his apologies.
So I responded with this one above.
He responded, saying he is very grateful for the openness, I am showing he feels that my views must be publicised for everyone to see how Ndebeles have been treated and still being treated. So I responded by reminding him that almost every Shona knows this fact and they love it as beneficiaries of the system.
That was when he asked me together with a number of our Brothers and Sisters allover to share what I propose to be the solution. I then wrote the other one I sent yesterday.
I will post his response if people want to read it.

Mangethe, thanx for your views, but I must warn never to get involved in their politics of dialects, I mean Zezuru or Ndau.
I worked with them during my days in the SRC and the NCA. They easily unite for as long as you are Nedebele and they are dealing with you.
Of-course we know that there is a group which oppresses all others even more, but even the oppressed Shona dialects donot seem to see a problem with our suffering. I know of the Karanga issue and the Zezuru. I have friends and colleagues who are Karanga, but I usually tell them ukuthi bayafanana kimi, ngoba uma kula maresources sekumele abe shared equally, they would rather give either the Karangas, the Ndaus etc first mina besengibuya later.
We shall fight ours first

Bafowethu.

IT IS TIME.

Li Zwangendaba

Mandla,
U Magaisa kumele ayibone imicijo yakho emihle kangaka.Utshaye ekhanda, wethu.Post this on www.newzimbabwe.com sizwe ukuthi u Magaisa uthini.Khathesi o Sibanda labo Ncube sebesijikelana ngenxa yendaba yobushona yonale.Ingaze inqobe ekhethweni iMDC abantu laba bazasiphinda.Itshabi litshabi,mani!Koze kube nini? Sagqibela amadibha senziwani?

Duze
Lamuhla ngivumelana lawe, uqinisile kufuneka amabhomu kuphela nje zwi. Ukukhuluma akusizi, period. Without the shedding of blood some things can never be undone. Kukhona izibopho ezikhululwa ngegazi nje kwaphela,qha. Njengoba uhlala utshilo nje. Nansi into ohlala ukhuluma ngayo, phezudlwana, iposting ka Ndethi, lapha athi 'Dear Magaisa'

True that the 5th brigade was sent into Manicaland, but the trauma felt there wasn't as bad as it was in Matabeleland.
In Manicaland, people were mostly tortured and beaten, with only about 450 deaths, but in Matabeleland, nearly 20000 people's lives were completely cut short. And that's much more devastating than beatings.

Mfowethu Mandla, thank you for your solidarity of Manicaland's suffering as well. As I am 1/4 Manyika and spent 4yrs in Mutare, I feel for my 2nd homeland; my 1st being Gwanda in Matabeleland of course.
If any of you have been reading some SA articles on Manicaland, you would know that political unrest is currently rife down there more than anywhere else. As I'm also an active advocator for the seperation of Manicaland from Zimbabwe, I understand the frustrations that AmaNdebele are going through! The blatant murder of Herbert Chitepo by the Mashona, simply because he was a bright WaManyika politician with a future, will be forgiven, but not be forgotten! Neither will the deployment of the 5th brigade into the Western and Eastern regions!