Tribalism taught at Zimbabwe schools

Stunning misrepresentations of history have been revealed in a history textbook, Dynamics of History Book 3, written by S Mukanya and 1st published by the College Press in 1995. The book was re-printed from then to 2011. The book is being used nationwide by form 3 pupils as a set book.

The book alleges that the Ndebele people were cowards who never fought for the liberation of Zimbabwe from the shackles of colonialism but spent their time raiding the Shona for cattle, women and other properties.

Further, the first ever attempt at resisting colonialism was done by the Shona people of Mberengwa and not the Ndebele in what is surprisingly called Impi Yamahloka.

Whereas the late Vice President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo was a weak and indecisive leader who never wanted blacks to use force against whites and dreaded elections, a Bulawayo weekly The Southern Star has revealed.

Investigations have revealed that S Mukanya is the former Education, Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Headman Ananias Chigwedere.

Prominent historians and academics Phathisa Nyathi and Ngwabi Bhebhe are acknowledged in the book for their 'inputs' during consultations that its author made.

Phathisa Nyathi disowned the book saying: "The publishers of the book came to me with a manuscript and asked me to go through it. I critised the book and told them that there were facts that had been misrepresented in the book therefore they were supposed to correct the information before publishing.

"I was shocked that they went ahead and published it as it was despite my advise on the book," added Nyathi.

In the book, which has 262 pages it is said that Zipra forces disturbed development projects in Matabeleland soon after independence. Zipra was the military wing of PF Zapu and was commandeered by Nkomo.

Further, nothing is mentioned about the Gukurahundi atrocities which claimed more than 20 000 lives, save for that PF-Zapu united with Zanu-PF on 22 December 1987 – specifically to stop the banditry by Zipra cadres who resisted to be integrated to army structures in 1980.

Education, Sports and Culture minister David Coltart did not respond to questions sent to him on Tuesday on the matter.

There has been complainants from Matabeleland that students are taught Ndebele by teachers who do not understand or know the language. The ministry has not acted on this.

Hereunder, we publish some of the offensive distortions, omissions and completely wrong quotations from the Form 3 history text book.

On page 34,under the chapter titled: The Zulu and Ndebele States, it is stated that Mzilikazi remained too conscious that the survival of his state depended on numbers and thus dependence on natural births did not "magnify numbers" enough.

It further states: "As such, after settling in Matabeleland, he started to raid all the Shona tribes around Bulawayo. Those who submitted were spared the raids and willingly submitted to his men."

In the same page, the book further claims that: "By 1893 when the Ndebele state was destroyed by the British South African Company, some observers thought that about 60% of the Ndebele were people of Shona origin who had been captured and acculturated," it claims.

On page 99, under the chapter titled: Colonisation of Zimbabwe, the book claims that what started the Anglo-Ndebele war of 1893 was the determination by the Ndebele to continue raiding the Shona.

It reads in part: "Jameson sent Lendy to follow the impi and find out if it had gone far enough and did not seem to be withdrawing….. Lendy felt that the impi had gone far enough and did not seem to be withdrawing. His men fired on it killing about thirty, including Umgandaan. When this was reported to Lobengula he was too furious and the two sides started to drift. What then caused war in this respect was Ndebele determination to continue raiding Mashonaland," it says.

On page 100, in the last paragraph, the book confidently claims that: "Lobengula died of Malaria."

On page 102, in chapter 10, titled: Chimurenga, the first sentence reads: "Chimurenga (Impi katthoka elibomvu) is the first liberation war in this country, from March 1896 to October 1897 and was to resume in the northeast under the leadership o Mpondera and Chingooo in 1901," it says.

This is despite the fact that the first resistance to the encroachment of imperialism in Zimbabwe was done by the Ndebele in the Anglo-Ndebele war of 1893.

On page 111, the innocent and unsuspecting form three pupils are taught that: "At full noon in June, the slaughter of the whites was to start in Mashonaland, what then broke out at full noon in June was the Shona phase on Chimurenga 1.

"But although colonial historians would like it to look like two separate risings, it is interesting to note that what they call the Ndebele Rebellion was started not by the Ndebele but by the Shona people of Mberengwa.

Whereas, on page 114, the book claims that the Ndebele were treated by the white settlers as 'dangerous' neighbours and the Shona as 'cowardly.' It was therefore a 'surprise that the very Shona people plunged into war in 1896.'

The book goes on: "The second surprise was that the Shona fought on for more than a year and demonstrated greater determination than the Ndebele," it says.

On page 172, the book claims that Joshua Nkomo was weak and indecisive and preferred to negotiate and not fight the Ian Smith regime. It claims that Nkomo chose to go and see Julius Nyerere in Dar es Salaam for the purposes of forming a government in exile. It is said that on arrival in Tanzania, Nkomo and his team were 'surprised' that Nyerere did not 'want them' because he (Nyerere) like Robert Mugabe, believed that the struggle had to be fought and won at home. This is said to have made other leaders look down on Nkomo.

"Inevitably, the other leaders were embarrassed and lost faith in Nkomo. On August 8, 1963, Zanu was formed in rebellion to Nkomo. Its president was Ndabaningi Sithole, the chairman was Hebert Chitepo, the secretary general was Robert Mugabe and the secretary for youth was Morton Malianga. These leaders needed dynamic and decisive leadership. They were for outright military confrontation with the settler regime," the book says.

On page 184, under a sub-chapter titled: The 1978 March 3 Agreement, the book says, Nkomo and former Zambian leader Dr Kennedy Kaunda feared elections and sought to by pass them.

It reads in part: "It became apparent that both Kaunda and Nkomo dreaded elections and wanted to by pass them to take over the control of the country against those confident of winning elections. Each of the settlement protagonists has his own candidate and each wanted his candidate to succeed Smith," reads the book in that section.

On page 193, the book claims that Zipra cadres disturbed development in Matabeleland and surprisingly the same chapter details history from 1980 to 1992 and has nothing about the Gukurahundi atrocities which claimed more than 20 0000 innocent lives.

Mugabe has described the period as a "moment of madness" and other Zanu-PF functionaries have like Emerson Mnangagwa have said the Gukurahundi case is a 'closed chapter.'

Reads the book: "However some sections of Zapu-PF did not accept electoral defeat of 1980. Although their representatives were brought into the government, they continued to plot a coup.

"…..In 1982, fighting erupted in Esigodini between Zanla and Zipra that were being integrated. Many lives were lost and most of the Zipra cadres retreated into the bush to continue fighting as guerrillas.

"They disrupted all government efforts to reconstruct Matabeleland and many schools closed" reads the book in part.

The book also says the 22 December 1987 was signed to stop Zipra banditry.

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