‘It’s time for Africa to salute liberator Nyerere’
Kuda Bwititi (The Sunday Mail; 23 February 2014)
President Mugabe has called on fellow African leaders to honour
Tanzania’s founding President, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, saying it was
embarrassing that such a revered figure is not getting the recognition
he deserves for the immense contribution he made to the liberation of
many African
states.
Speaking at a birthday party hosted
for him by staff of his office at State House yesterday, the President
said African leaders should do more to honour Dr Nyerere, who supported
liberation movements by making his country a sanctuary for freedom
fighters.
Cde Mugabe, who is the African Union Deputy Chair,
said he would strongly advocate Dr Nyerere’s recognition. “I want to
say, when all honour has been showered on heroes in Africa, the man who
has been humiliated is Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. There we are, liberation
movements, there we were - depending on the resources in Tanzania. But
there has been nothing said about this man and his country at the OAU.
Nkrumah, yes, he had that support … But Tanzania, to say Nyerere was
like any other.
“I want us, Zimbabweans, to stand for Nyerere.
Africa should be reminded of the responsibility that it thrust on this
man, a burden to train all liberation movements. It was a burden that
was not only political, but, at the end of the day, there is no one to
say Tanzania deserves to be mentioned.
“At the end of the day,
there is no one to say Tanzania deserved to be even mentioned, just
mere mentioning as having accomplished that mission, that mission to
have us as friends, that mission to make us train our liberation
movements in Africa.
“We all went in various ways, in various
dimensions, to Tanzania to liberate our countries and we have not gone
back to Tanzania. Well, I am going to be chair of the AU and I am going
to tackle this issue,” he said, drawing applause from guests at the
function.
President Mugabe said Zimbabwe, which upholds the
spirit of Africanness, should take the lead in expressing gratitude to
President Nyerere.“There is none, none, none, none, none at all who have
recognised what Nyerere did. Just look at the nature of the mission he
undertook. He never changed at all and we were all there. We of Zimbabwe
are not ungrateful, we are not ingrates. We are a grateful nation and
we shall undertake to honour this man,” he said.
President
Mugabe said Zimbabwe’s service chiefs received military training in
Tanzania and would not be removed from their posts as they have executed
their duties diligently.
“Maservice chiefs amurikuwona ayo,
hanzi security sector reform, security sector reform? Unoreformer ivava
kuti vave chii? What do you want to clean out of excellence? You look at
(Zimbabwe National Army Commander Lieutenant-General Phillip Valerio)
Sibanda uyu. He was a United Nations commander at one time.
“Then zvononzi reform and you can’t reform excellence. I have stuck to
them because I know them. I know their loyalty, loyalty not just to me,
but to the country, their givenness. I remember at one time ndakaenda
naChiwenga (Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Constantine)
kuLibya and he was very young. Takamiswa ikoko naGaddafi, you know,
during the struggle and we came with nothing.
President
Nyerere was born on April 13, 1922 and led Tanzania as its founding
President in 1964 until he retired in 1985. He died in 1999.His
philosophy sought to make Tanzania a self-reliant nation free from
indebtedness to former colonial powers and the entire Western bloc.
He was also adamant that colonialism and capitalism were responsible
for the subjugation of Africans. The West, however, attempted to
undermine his socialist ideas by accusing him of collapsing Tanzania’s
economy.
A devout Catholic, he often fasted and lived a humble
life by not enriching himself at his nation’s expense. He is often
referred to as the Father of Southern Africa’s liberation as he was a
die-hard supporter of the freedom of African states and also one of the
founding fathers of the Sadc.
When Tanzania, which was then
called Tanganyika, attained its independence in 1961, President Nyerere
strongly believed that his own country’s independence would be
meaningless if other African countries were not free.
He
worked tirelessly in support of this goal for Zambia (1964), Malawi
(1964), Botswana (1966), Lesotho (1966), Mauritius (1968), Swaziland
(1968) and the Seychelles (1976).
When the other countries of
Southern Africa were forced into wars of liberation to eventually
achieve the same end, Tanzania provided political, material and moral
support until independence and majority rule was achieved in 1975
(Mozambique, Angola), 1980 (Zimbabwe), 1990 (Namibia) and finally, 1994
(South Africa).
President Nyerere pursued the ideals of
liberation, democracy and common humanity for the rest of the continent
and with the leaders of the other few African countries that were
independent in 1963, established the Organisation of African Unity
(OAU), now the African Union, whose main objective was political
liberation for the rest of the continent.
He was the first
Chairman of the Frontline States, a body that was set up to support
liberation movements in Southern Africa.The leaders of the Frontline
States met regularly from 1974-1994 to co-ordinate efforts, resources
and strategies in support of the national liberation movements of
Southern Africa that were fighting colonialism, racism and white
minority rule.
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