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A REPLY TO PROFESSOR HORACE G. CAMPBELL'S PAPER ENTITLED: "NEED FOR DEBATE ON REALITIES OF LIFE FOR THE ZIMBABWEAN PEOPLES"

By Steven Chidawanyika

"The leadership of Zimbabwe must be judged on the basis of the current relationship with the Zimbabwean people" said Professor G. Campbell in his paper distributed to the Black Radical Congress (BRC) on 20 June 2003.

Professor Campbell's article makes very interesting reading in that, despite his impeccable intellectual record, he tries very hard to sway so many groups of people especially Blacks within the motherland and those in the Diaspora towards his own view point in regard to his fight with the ZANU-PF Party and indeed the Government of Zimbabwe.

It is really amazing how he muddles his thought through the involvement of so many diverse groups who includes Black Radicals, Progressive Humans, African Americans, Black People, Radicals, Freedom Loving People, Africans Everywhere, Zimbabwean People, Africans Overseas and many others whom he mentions throughout his whole presentation. This is a typical ploy to try and rally as much support from as diverse an audience as possible so as to mask the real motive behind his criticism of the leadership in Zimbabwe.

To many people in the world who had an opportunity to interact with Professor Horace G. Campbell either in person or through his literary works, the question that comes to mind is whether his interest in Zimbabwean affairs is aimed at bettering the lot of the people or now directed towards another otherwise hidden agenda.

When the very learned Professor states that "Gone are the days when Black people should support leaders on the basis of past revolutionary actions," is he in earnest trying to foster debate or trying to lead the Black race into seeing nothing good in its own leadership. It should be remembered though that for constructive debate to take place, all progressive and right thinking people of the World should be provided with as true a picture as possible of what is transpiring in Zimbabwe.

Has Robert Mugabe, the hero to whom the oppressed people all over the world yesterday looked up to for guidance and inspiration suddenly, according to Professor Campbell turned against the cause, of not only the revolutionary path of Zimbabweans that he once led, into a total renegade to be compared with despots like Jonas Savimbi, Idi Amin and others too many to mention here.

To compare Robert Mugabe with, as Campbell states "men who have manipulated the symbols of liberation to promote carnage, gender violence, arbitrary arrests, insecurity and distraction across Africa" is but a gross misrepresentation of the absolute truth. He is trying to make the world believe that when a criminal offence is committed in Zimbabwe, by a group to whom he pays allegiance, then any lawful action taken against that offence is tantamount to torture and vindication. But that is not how the same law is translated anywhere else where Professor Horace G.Campbell feels there is no Mugabe to denigrate.

What Black people all over the world should take into cognizance is the fact that we have been made to suffer endlessly because of the colour of our skin. Yet, despite the great effort that we, as a people have exerted to liberate ourselves from the yoke of those that took us to be less human than themselves, we still have "turncoats" within our ranks who, because of either love of money or the desire for recognition by our former colonial masters and enslavers, have tried to hide behind their thumps as they pretend to be one with us.

A black man who pretends to be a brother to us and yet at the same time advocates for the Black Race to forget its history is in fact a traitor to the Black cause. Marcus Garvey, pointed out that "a people without the knowledge of its own history is just like a tree without roots". And yet Professor Campbell wants us as blacks to forget our past just because he has decided to make his point against Mugabe and his ZANU-PF Party less defendable. What will there be for them to debate about if the reasons for their land reclamation action have already been pre-labeled as "Past revolutionary actions?"

The Black Race, especially those in the Diaspora would have committed a grievous fault if they were to heed calls by enemies of emancipation to forget about the struggles of their heroes in favor of unipolarism. The history of the African people, their culture, behavior, religion and anything that gives them pride of identity can best be taught by those that are on the main land. Any one who claims to be an expert of African Affairs from research conducted in the comfort of African City hotels will be cheating the Black Race. It does not mean that who so ever steps from the plane on to the African continent automatically becomes an expert on African Affairs. There is much more to Africa than the people that these pseudo experts see and get their information from in the comfort of city hotels.

Professor Campbell seems to have obtained the unbalanced information, which he uses to demonize Robert Mugabe ZANU-PF Party and the Liberation War Veterans from the urban elite and his politically ambitious intellectual colleagues. It is a pity that the information acquired from this biased source is aimed at hoodwinking African brothers and sisters who would be having a genuine interest regarding problems on the mainland.

For all Blacks who genuinely wish to know more about the situation in Zimbabwe, the ideal thing to do is for them to come and get information first hand. By spending sometime in the rural areas, they would have lived on authentic Zimbabwean experience.

I must however hasten to warn potential researchers that a true African setting is totally different from the life they are used to at their homes. Because of these differences, researchers might find the life in rural areas very difficult to endure, resulting in them moving back to the comfort of city hotels were they end up creating mountains out of anthills. The city informants, who themselves would have never set foot in a rural area would be very pleased to feed the "pseudo researcher " with imagination and blasphemy in exchange for a chance to get employment in an NGO or receive funding for other projects and purposes.

It is now high time that all Black Africans in the Diaspora, who might have the African cause at heart, desist from being cheated by empty rhetoric from those malcontents who claim to be experts on African affairs. There is much more happening in Africa that requires a lot of patience, humility and intellect to be able to unlock the secrets thereof.

Up till when, will the Black race continue to accept lies that are peddled by Africa's detractors? All catastrophes are blamed on its leaders, just for the benefit of gaining political mileage (hunger, feminine, cyclones, and diseases) and yet Africans everywhere do not stand up and speak with one voice.

TRYING TO PUT SOME RECORDS STRAIGHT

1. The Black Race should refuse to be divided by its detractors into groups of men, women, children, boys and girls. In Zimbabwe we are experiencing this phenomenon where our women are being targeted for alienation against their men. There is an African saying that states that "a warrior can not fight well if there are problems in his house". The force seeking to destroy the Black Race is now well aware of this fact and has deliberately targeted the African woman and gird child. Let me warn all of you brothers and sisters the world over that a stable race can not be one divided by gender lines. An African woman bares both boy and girl children from one womb, and yet the world is made to believe that these two are actually different species ready to devour each other or annihilate each other from the face of the earth.

2. The comparison of President Mugabe of Zimbabwe on one side and Jonas Savimbi and Charles Taylor on the other made by Campbell is not only mischievous to say the least but smacks of total ignorance of the subject that he is trying to convince the Black Race about.

It is either that Professor Campbell has chosen to ignore the definitions that demarcate people according to the various camps to which they belong or that he has deliberately decided to obliterate the good things that Mugabe has done, all for the cause that he is trying to chart.

It is no secret that Jonas Savimbi was once an African revolutionary. It is also no secret that by receiving aid from the colonial powers to fight against his African brothers, Savimbi became a counter revolutionary and a traitor to the African cause.

Robert Mugabe never sold out the cause of either the Black race or that of the Zimbabwean people. His crime, according to Professor Horace G. Campbell was that of giving land that had been stolen by white colonialists back to be poor black people. He says that Mugabe gave the land to black capitalists and yet not even one African had owned a house at independence - where then had this capital suddenly come from?

Charles Taylor's case is best explained by himself and the people of Liberia in an honest and transparent way. But, before he went into exile in Nigeria, Taylor blamed the chaos on the USA - is it a case of pointing a finger at an imperial power again?

3. Of all the countries in the world today, Zimbabwe has worn the "Red Ribbon" more than any other. Every where one goes, every medium one listens to or watches, it is all about the HIV and AIDS Awareness messages. If Professor Campbell is trying to make the world believe that African leaders should ignore any other gubernatorial business and concentrate on AIDS issues alone, then he is making fools of African leaders. So Africa is being made to talk of nothing else other than AIDS and that anything short of this should be labeled the result of "Patriarchal leadership"?

On the issue of "Virginity Testing," Professor Campbell has once again shown how much he relies on half truths and totally fictitious stories. It was not any male person who advocated for virginity tests anywhere in Zimbabwe. It was actually the girls of Makoni District in Manicaland Province who initiated a programme that issued certificates to virgins. Their chief Makoni simply supported them. That had virtually nothing to do with Zimbabwe as a country or an AIDS remedy myth as stated. What does Professor Campbell take Zimbabweans or Africans for - fools I suppose?

4. Robert Mugabe and Fidel Castro are both united in the defense of the National Sovereignty of their respective countries. Both leaders are leading countries reeling under unprovoked hash economic sanctions imposed by the Britain and USA Governments respectively.

As President Castro stated at the recently held summit on "Desertification" held in Cuba, the two leaders "had been trained in the art and science of facing difficulties." That is about all there is to the comparison of the two great patriots. None between them has ever advocated to be like the other. They might compare notes, share experiences or suffer the effects of the same enemy, but individuals they will always remain.

Mugabe, like all true patriots, could not ignore the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in their hour of need. Had they asked for help from the USA or Britain, would they not have heeded? Would the same Campbell be blaming that move? Surely, progressive brothers the world over should be free to offer help to others in their hour of need despite how serious the consequences of demonisation might be.

It is interesting too, to note how Campbell tries to drag in the issues of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden into Zimbabwean conflict. By doing so the learned Professor risks ending up with too much food in his mouth than he can chew. He should be wise enough to know that there are too many conflicts in the world whose solutions are too complex to solve from the results of just one. The Moslems and Arabs of this world have their own problems with the imperial world which we as Africans can only understand from themselves.

5. The following are statistics that can help all groups that Professor Campbell is trying to win over to his side of the argument to understand the Zimbabwean issue better:-

a. Zimbabwean Population 13 million b. Rural population 9 million c. Urban Population 4 million d. Children/minors 50% of all population figures

The ZANU PF Party led by President Mugabe derives its support from almost the entire rural population. The MDC on the other hand controls the whole urban voting population. As it can be seen on the voter demographic statistics, despite its lack of the outspoken urban support, ZANU PF still commands nearly seventy percent (70%) of the entire population.

We all know that papers are printed in the cities. Radio and television is beamed from there too. Infact everything is happening in the urban centres but that does not mean that because the rural population is less exposed to the innovative world then they are less human than their urban counterparts. I do not see how on earth thirty percent of the population, though greatly enlightened can outvote seventy percent in an election.

6. It is very true that people are suffering in Zimbabwe. However, how can they not when the imperial world has done all it can to cause this suffering. Bank notes have been bought out of the streets of Zimbabwe to neighboring countries using the US dollar on the black market. Shops have been emptying the products that the Black person relies on daily. These have only been available on the black market but resurfaced to fill supermarkets counters when the owners were allowed to raise their prices. The prices have gone beyond the reach of above half the population of the whole country.

Just like the people of Cuba and its leadership has been demonized for over thirty years, we now see the same pertain occurring in Zimbabwe. War Veterans, Clerics who dared to support the land reform exercise, the wife of the President and indeed anyone aligned to ZANU PF become the devil's advocates. Grace Mugabe, the wife of the president, has now become an object of target practice for anti Zimbabwe campaigners like Professor Horace G.Campbell. The lady's crime - to stand back to back with her husband and all patriots in defense of Zimbabwe's sovereignty.

Why did Professor Campbell not speak out about the beauty of Iron Mask farm "in the Mazoe Valley before it was reclaimed by its true owners - the blacks. Now that the farm has been given to Grace Mugabe to use as a "Skills Training Centre" for street children, ophans and the marginalized in society, do we hear Professor Campbell talking to the international world about its beauty. As patriotic Zimbabweans, we all urge the president's wife to keep up the good work for both Africa and the Black Race at large. One day Africa will stand proud when these poor children have reclaimed their dignity. Imelda Marcus did not do for her people the noble things that is doing for the African cause at Iron Mask Farm and elsewhere.

7. Very much contrary to Professor Campbell's submission that the Settler Class had been liquidated by the end of the year 2002 as a political force, that group is very much alive if not livelier. Whom does he think is causing the shortages of seed, basic commodities, bank notes, skills migration to the imperial world, and also feeding Professor Horace G.Campbell with the blasphemy that he is trying to sell to the people of the world.

The best thing that Professor Campbell has said throughout his radical rhetoric is that, a Zimbabwean delegation to investigate the suffering of Black People in the USA would be foolish to seek that information from either Bush, Powell, Clarence Thomas or Condoreesa Rice. Surely, any serious group of black brothers and sisters would not have done any useful service to the Black cause were they not to visit the rural areas were the majority of Zimbabweans reside. It is a fact that every Zimbabwean has roots in the rural areas and spends half of their time there.

8. The mention of names like Sam Moyo, NGOs, the Commercial Farmers Union and the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union and the so called Women of Zimbabwe Fighting for Citizenships rights, is amazing to say the least in as far as the land question is concerned. When the hungry and poor people of Zimbabwe decided to reclaim their heritage, these individuals and groups sat in the comfort of their posh suburban houses only to come out to criticize the process and even fight against it later.

Those who answered the "clarion call" to reclaim the land did so on their own volition; women, men, girls and boys alike.

The whole Zimbabwean population was poor and had nothing to talk about at the time of independence in 1980. A few improved here and there to own say a house or a small family business. Now, can we really put these into the group of "New Capitalists" as Professor G. Campbell tries to let the world think? None of those that went onto the land had land before, as the whole black population had been kept onto what was known as "Reserves" by the white colonial settlers.

It is therefore not these Armchair Technocrats "who only come in to steer drinking water dirty" that should set the parameters or modus-operante in this land question. These are only agents of imperialism being used either knowingly or unknowingly to derail the gains of their people.

It is those that went onto the land who should set the parameters of land distribution. Those in the international community who feel something for the poor people now on the land should help by giving in cash or kind.

Of special mention is the fact that the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ) is an organisation just made up of its leaders and nearly no members at all. Workers in farms here in Zimbabwe are usually migrants from neighboring countries with no Zimbabwean documentation. Like Mexican labour in the USA they enter the country illegally to do "peace work" and then return to their countries of origin once in a while.

Clarence Sungai, whom Campbell mentions as the Secretary General of this (GAPWUZ) thing, is not being honest when he gives figures of workers who were given land and those that did not get it. People went onto the land voluntarily and so no one who did not go onto the land could have got the land. To say 300 000 farm workers were made homeless is being very mischievous as a farm, even under a whiteman's rule can never have been a worker's home. Sungai and a lot of others leading these briefcase organizations are only interested in getting the US dollar in donor funding and Blacks in the Diaspora should be very worry of their type.

9. Professor Campbell speaks about the marginalization of the worker in Zimbabwe. What he did not tell the world, either knowingly or unknowing is that there is no longer a "Working Class" in Zimbabwe. The MDC was born out of the amalgamation of the working class, the industrialists and the white commercial farmers. This Union which saw the massive bankrolling of the MDCs activities by industrialists and white farmers was an unfortunate development in the history of Trade Unionism the world over. It was the first time in the history of Trade Unions in the world that such a thing had ever happened before, therefore heralding the death of Trade Unionism in Zimbabwe which had been brought about by the ZANU-PF government at independence in 1980.

Organizations such as COSATU would be warned not to dice with the devil, (if they are not already part of "Hell") as they risk tarnishing their own image. I once predicted that, which ever force would come onto the Zimbabwean political arena and control either the women folk or the workers under the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) would jolt ZANU PF right to bone. This is exactly what happened but unfortunately, this group of urban women was only also part and parcel of the urban population which constitutes the working class. The group became too small, though concentrated in the decision making area to challenge ZANU PF out of power.

If COSATU still claims to be an authentic Trade Unionist Movement representing the rights of workers, how then does it explain its links with a union like the ZCTU which is offered vehicles, money, time to strike and stay away from work by the "very employer class" that it is supposed to be fighting against? You are either wrong Professor Campbell, or totally out of league with reality in Zimbabwean issues for there is no longer a working class here but something totally new in the world.

10. I wonder whether the term "Turncoat" means anything to the very learned professor. What he should know is that in every civilization, tribe, race or nation, there are those that feed with the enemy. It does not matter whether these might be clergymen, musicians, the general population, civil servants or intellectuals, every society has them. It is their role in the destruction of the Black Race to colonialism that worries us.

The mere mention of Thomas Mapfumo as someone who can say anything good about Zimbabwe made me laugh. It should be revealed to the world now the true motive of Thomas Mapfumo's utterances. The people of Zimbabwe, Africa and all Blacks in the Diaspora should know that throughout the struggle for the liberation of Zimbawe, Thomas Mapfumo had been working with the Rhodesian colonial government. It was his music that was played in helicopter gunships urging freedom fighters to abandon the revolutionary struggle and go back home to work with the colonial enemy.

Mapfumo was also the one who played at the inauguration of Bishop Abel Muzorewa's illegitimate Zimbabwe Rhodesia government. Let me hasten to tell the Black Race everywhere that Thomas Mapfumo was amongst the most wanted "sell outs" by freedom fighters by the time the war ended. It does not surprise me at the least bit to hear Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi and Hugh Masakela of South Africa castigating and denigrating President Mugabe. The two Zimbabwean singers Mtukudzi and Mapfumo could not say anything good about the ZANU PF Party as they were nowhere near the fighting that took place. The same can be said of Masekela of South Africa who was singing about the struggle of the people against Apartheid from the comfort of USA streets and hotels. He too never experienced what the struggle was all about and yet he was getting credit and riches from the struggle being waged by others.

Turncoats are paid to implement the removal of revolutionary governments either through song, dance, sabotage and many other things.

CONCLUSION

People like Professor Horace G. Campbell might look just like any of us both genotypically and phenotypically and yet at the same time be having a different agenda to that of the entire Black Race. Who exactly they are representing, is a question we might never know. What we now know for sure is that they are trying to sell their own ideas to the whole of the Black Race so that it rallies behind them against President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and his ZANU PF government.

The only logical thing for those African groups who value the continued survival of the Black Race anywhere in the world is to send representatives who will gather information from the real Zimbabwean environment. It would be only after such a type of fact finding mission that genuine and balanced debate would be really possible.

The Black Race should not be cheated into believing that Professor Horace G.Campbell is genuinely trying to defend the rights of what he calls "workers and poor formers" in Zimbabwe to whom he in reality is doing a great disservice. This fact is reinforced by the statement in which he said "while the Mugabe government was busy seizing the land, foreign pharmaceuticals and researchers appropriated the knowledge of the medicine from the Snake Bean Tree and patented the medicine in the USA".

What the Professor does not seem to understand is that theft is theft no matter what form it might take. Theft from Zimbabwe is in actual fact theft from the entire African continent and indeed the whole Black Race. The fact that when Mugabe and the people of Zimbabwe were busy reclaiming land which had been stolen from their fore-fathers more that a century ago, the very off springs of the same land thieves found an opportunity to steal the secrets of the Snake Bean Tree does not make their own crime less important. Like in the case of the stolen land, the people of Zimbabwe, Africa and the whole Black Race will one day fight for justice in the case of the Snake Bean Tree as well and many other things stolen from the African Continent.

No African, l would care to say, no progressive thinker in the world and no one claiming to be an advocate of the renaissance of the Black Race where ever they may be, can stand up and tell the people of Zimbabwe to stop reclaiming stolen land so as to give chase to the Snake Bean Tree thief.

A real intellectual, standing up for the advancement of the Black Race can not rely on information provided by people like Sam Moyo, Tandi Nkiwane, Brain Raftopolous, Rudo Gaidzanwa and many others like them who never stood for the oppressed Zimbabwean people in the days of colonial rule, only to emerge into the limelight when there was a US dollar to fund their actions.

If that is the type of intellect that Professor Horace G.Campbell is trying to impart on the people of Zimbabwe, Africa and the Black Race as a whole, then we can proudly stand up and say to him and others of the same mode of thought, "You have exposed yourselves well enough and we now know who you are".





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