The ManicaPost
THE nation plunged into mourning following the recent deaths of national heroes — Dr Stanley Sakupwanya and 3 Infantry Brigade commander, Brigadier-General Eliah Bandama. Manicaland Province, in particular, will certainly look back and feel the misery of losing two great men in a short space of time – a sad development that somehow embodies evidence to the assertion that this province suffered the most during the protracted liberation struggle.
History will record that it was a long, arduous and forgettable winter of 2014 as the nation learnt to come to terms with the loss of two of its illustrious sons.
Just as the wounds were still fresh after the death of Dr Sakupwanya, people of Manicaland were made to take more grief as the province lost the fearless, humble perfectionist — Brig-Gen Bandama.
What now boggles the mind is the rate at which we are losing brilliant minds at a time when their brain power or intellect is needed.
There is no doubt that the late Dr Sakupwanya and Brig-Gen Bandama were true heroes in every sense of the word – men whose characters were shaped by indelible experiences of the liberation and post-liberation struggle – and they will certainly be remembered as such.
For ‘‘Doctor of the War’’ — Dr Sakupwanya — treating blood-socked bomb or bullet injuries was his calling as much as it was an unenviable task that demanded intrinsic burning desire to save lives.
Such great determination saw him in the thick of things after the bomb explosion that killed the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) vice-president Cde Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo as he had to literally join one body part to the other for decent burial.
For Brig-Gen Bandama, taking multiple gunshots by helicopter gunships in one’s knees and thighs on the battlefront during the liberation struggle is no child’s play.
These are men, among many, who showed strength of mind and willpower to challenge oppression of the poor by the racist Rhodesian government.
They have well documented nasty experiences in which they came face to face with the brutal Rhodie authority as they grew up, but somehow they remained resolute in giving their input towards emancipation of the black majority.
For example, as mere Form Four student at Chikore Mission in Chipinge District, Brig-Gen Bandama and colleagues were banned by the then Education Minister, David Smith, from receiving any formal education in Rhodesia after nasty clashes with equally racist school authorities at Chikore.
For Dr Sakupwanya, as a young boy, it was his dream to be a doctor. However, a white pharmacist at his father’s workplace tried to dissuade him arguing it was above a black man’s intellect. This strengthened his resolve until he played an important role in the struggle to let the black majority rule prevail and put an end to bottlenecks that would project blacks as inferior to whites.
It is sad that in recent years, thanks to global integration, we have undergone a regrettable cultural metamorphosis which has left us worshipping foreign gods and heroes while failing to acknowledge and accord respect to our own.
In the context of contemporary youths, it naively seems far-fetched to dwell on the struggles of the past simply because of the challenges they are going through today, mainly economic.
The tragedy of it all is that without the proper understanding and appreciation of the historical struggles that were fought for to be where we are today, efforts to find solutions to current challenges will remain futile.
As a generation, there is real danger of falling in the same trap that even our stone-age ancestors fell into when they embraced what is not theirs in exchange for land and other goodies.
If truth be said, we owe it to men and women like Dr Sakupwanya and Brig-Gen Bandama, who were ready to make the supreme sacrifice just for the sake of their beloved country and its citizenry.
May their dear souls rest in eternal peace!
