Open Letter from Mthwakazi to President Robert Mugabe, by V J Sibanda

By V J Sibanda (Bulawayo24) Your Excellency, President Robert Mugabe President of Zimbabwe Office of the President Private Bag 7700 Causeway Harare, Zimbabwe 29th April 2012 Open Letter from Mthwakazi to President Robert Mugabe on 'snake' utterances Dear Your Excellency, President Robert Mugabe, Greetings to you, Your Excellency! We write to you, once again, as Mthwakazi. 1. We are writing to you today, Your Excellency, in connection with certain utterances attributed to you by The Herald's edition of 27th April 2012 on your arrival in Bulawayo for the Trade Fair on the 26th April 2012. You are alleged to have uttered the following words, among others: "Now is the time to remove all the snakes on our way and ensure that Bulawayo and the whole of Matabeleland is vibrant." 2. We do not know the particular context of those words and where they were located in the context of everything you said that day. We are sure you will clarify that if and when you reply, Your Excellency, as we hope you will do. 3. As you may already have seen from press reports, the people of Mthwakazi, rightly or wrongly, have reacted negatively to those alleged utterances. 4. We do not know, Your Excellency, whether you did utter those words and if you did whether they are accurate as reported by The Herald. Again, we are sure you will only be too happy to clarify that, Your Excellency. 5. However, we are still concerned as Mthwakazi, Your Excellency, at such words being uttered at all, as alleged. 6. You will no doubt recall, Your Excellency, that when you first used the imagery of a snake at a rally in Marondera on 14th February 1982 it was in reference to the late Zapu President, Joshua Nkomo, and most ominously, through him, uMthwakazi as a whole. Soon thereafter, your government labeled uMthwakazi 'dissidents'. As you know, Your Excellency, dehumanization or labeling is one of eight stages to genocide. True enough, the Gukurahundi genocide against uMthwakazi followed. Gukurahundi genocide remains unacknowledged and denied. Denial, as you know Your Excellency, is the last stage of the eight stages of genocide which confirms its existence or that it has happened. 7. We are therefore deeply concerned as Mthwakazians, Your Excellency, that if these utterances attributed to you are true, we are beginning to see the language of dehumanizing and labeling re-enter the political landscape again and, as Mthwakazians, are deeply worried about where this is all now headed, given uMthwakazi's experience with Gukurahundi and what we say in Paragraphs 12 (a) – (c) below. 8. The perception is strong among Mthwakazians, Your Excellency, that unlike in 1982 when your 'snake' utterances expressly targeted uMthwakazi, this time you may be using the setting, Matebeleland, and Bulawayo in particular, to target and set uMthwakazi up again for another anti-Mthwakazi operation. 9. As uMthwakazi, Your Excellency, we find it peculiar and deeply disconcerting that with all the opportunities and different settings you have as Head of State to do so, you choose Matebeleland, and Bulawayo in particular, as the setting for using the 'snake' imagery again and talk of unidentified and nameless 'snakes'. 10. Your Excellency, as uMthwakazi, we feel that there is nothing stopping you identifying your political enemies expressly as the MDC formations, if it is them you were referring to, as you have done many times before. As uMthwakazi we feel the 'snake' utterances attributed to you, if they are yours and true, refer to someone else, outside the MDC formations. We are worried that they refer to uMthwakazi and may be the beginnings of labeling and dehumanizing uMthwakazi again. Your Excellency, as uMthwakazi, we therefore feel threatened by the 'snake' utterances attributed to you, if indeed those utterances are yours and true. 11. We would therefore ask as uMthwakazi, Your Excellency, if those 'snake' utterances are yours and true, and in order to put uMthwakazi's concerns to rest, that you identify who you were referring to as 'snakes' in those alleged utterances and that you publicly state that the 'snake' labeling did not in any shape or form refer to Mthwakazi. 12. We write this letter, Your Excellency, mindful of three important points. (a) The point first is that, as uMthwakazi, and by letter dated 24th February 2011, we formally addressed you about uMthwakazi's desire for its independence and separate statehood. Despite our request for a response, we have still not had any formal response from yourself and your government. (b) The second point is that, in your first public utterances on uMthwakazi's independence, which you did not specifically refer to, or to our letter of 24th February 2011, you expressed hostility to the idea of Mthwakazi's independence behind the front of the Copac draft constitution 'leaked' in March 2012. As uMthwakazi we are concerned that you may well be using these seemingly innocent opportunities and settings to attack uMthwakazi, and that your alleged snake utterances at Bulawayo Airport may only be the beginning of anti-Mthwakazi rhetoric that will escalate with time. We are sure, Your Excellency, that you accept the democratic principle that uMthwakazi's independence will be a political and democratic decision of Mthwakazi, not of any individual. (c) The third point is that one of your own Ministers, an Mthwakazian, Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, the co-Minister in the Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, is currently on trial on a matter relating to the Gukurahundi genocide. As uMthwakazi, we cannot help wondering whether Mr Moses Mzila-Ndlovu could be one of the 'snakes', with all the political implications of that for Mthwakazi as a whole? 13. The perception is strong among Mthwakazians, Your Excellency, that these three points inform and are the true political context of your alleged 'snake' utterances in Bulawayo. We are worried, Your Excellency, that the 'ambiguity' over the identity of the 'snakes' may well be intended with the full knowledge that this 'ambiguity' tapes into the painful legacy of Gukurahundi in Matebeleland and the Midlands and that we may well be seeing Gukurahundi, once again, being used as a means to intimidate, control and silence uMthwakazi politically. If we are wrong, Your Excellency, we are sure you will only be too happy to dispel our belief and put us to peace. 14. We are therefore asking, as Mthwakazians, Your Excellency, that you clear the air and put all of uMthwakazi's deep concerns outlined above to rest. Your Excellency, we thank you. Siyabonga! MTHWAKAZI MTHWAKAZI, ONDLELA ZIMHLOPHE UMTHWAKAZI ISIZWE SOHLANGA