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(ZIMPAPERS) Patriots, revolutionaries, liberators

Patriots, revolutionaries, liberators
Sunday, 20 February 2011 01:25 Top Stories

THE 21st February Movement was born out of a desire to inspire Zimbabwe’s youths to emulate President Mugabe’s revered attributes. As the President celebrates his birthday tomorrow and joins youths at the 21st February Movement celebrations in Harare later in the week, our reporter Itai Mazire chronicles the critical role young people played in the liberation of the country.

WHENEVER people talk about Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, many are inclined to think of the cadres who were stationed in Mozambique and Zambia during this period as the only liberators who fought for the freedom of the country.

But the truth, of course, is that the liberation struggle was also fought from within Rhodesia by brave young men and women. These young people played an important role.
During the colonial era, youths dotted across the country fought from within Rhodesia’s racist belly to topple the Smith regime by operating underground regiments.

Fearless young cadres in Harare, Mutare, Gweru and Bulawayo, among other major centres, never ventured outside the country’s borders, but still managed to influence the course of history by willingly turning their homes into mini-army bases.
The late Cde Danny Garise was among the heroes of this underground battle.

His death in the United Kingdom on December 23 last year evoked emotional reflection.
Media, Information and Publicity Minister Cde Webster Shamu battled hard to hold back tears as he spoke at Cde Garise’s burial in Mhondoro on January 8.

“Dick Dan (Cde Garise), a fearless warrior whom we forgot to mention in our history and his cadres, was key to the benefits we enjoy today as a country,” he said as it drizzled over the Garise homestead.

“They were young. He was in Mbare — an astute organiser, a centra point for the recruitment of cadres for military training outside the country.”

Most of the mourners only knew Cde Garise as a former teacher who had been strict during his years in service.

Yet the minister’s eulogy opened their eyes to a new view of the greater service that destiny had in store for him. Such was the importance of Cde Garise and his counterparts.

A shrewd campaigner and mobilising agent, he was a vital component of the Zanu-PF propaganda machinery from the days of nationalism right up to the peak of the liberation struggle.

The role of urban youths under the Youth League dates back to September 1962 when Zapu was banned. The leadership then resolved not to form another political party but to wage the struggle from underground.

It was only a matter of time before the Youth League metamorphosed into a close unit of guerillas. And so it did.

The youths announced their militancy as they confronted the settler regime. They also ensured locals did not collaborate with the enemy. In Harare, the youth undertook to subvert the colonial regime with the late Cde Enos Chikowore “General Chedu” as their leader.

Cde Garise’s operations in Harare were also unmistakable. His Mbare home was a springboard for more than 70 cadres who left the capital to join colleagues across the border. The late Brigadier-General Paul Armstrong Gunda was among them.

Cde Garise mobilised cadres around the Mwana Wevhu Campaign and organised many political meetings and rallies in and around Harare as the people rose against the oppressive regime.

The likes of Cde Shamu, the late Cde Ephraim Masawi, as well as other urban youths, operated from Mbare and Highfield where they spearheaded the downfall of the white regime by engaging in operations deemed “subversive and acts of terrorism” by the settlers.

In cow-horn formation, the youths rapidly destabilised the regime using urban guerilla warfare tactics that helped win the war. They burned down tobacco fields while other selected groups forged the movement passes enabling new recruits to train at camps outside the country.

The passes were also used to facilitate the easy movement of cadres who would attack the white regime’s key assets.

The biggest operation must have been the bombing of fuel storage tanks in Southerton. The flame from the blast took five days to douse.

In Mutare, youths also bombed bridges to hinder the flow of settler troops into Mozambique.

Their counterparts in places like Bulawayo and Beitbridge sabotaged railway infrastructure to block the then apartheid South Africa’s aid from reaching the regime.

In rural areas, other members of the league became informants for their brothers and sisters across the borders about the movements of enemy forces.

After independence in 1980, the Youth League became the maturing phase of the 21st February Movement which was formed in 1986.

The movement caters for children between the ages of five and 14 with its key activities centring on education, culture and environment conservation.

Members of the movement automatically graduate into the league upon reaching the age of 15. However, each member is also free to be part of the league.

Today the Youth League has continued to pursue the course charted by its predecessors.

It has pursued programmes of patriotism, revolutionary commitment and the defence of the interests of the grassroots against foreign and domestic exploitation.

Cde Shamu implored youths countrywide to pursue this line of patriotism.

“As a country, we are now worried about the behaviour that has been inculcated into most of our youths across the country by the West and its allies,” he said.

“The role that was played by the youths who fought on the war front and from within was key.

“Loyalty to your leaders brings harmony to the nation and the youths should always bear in mind that another generation of their type shed blood in Nyadzonia and Chimoio to ensure they walked freely in this country.”-The Sunday Mail

Labels: CHIMURENGA, LIBERATION, ROBERT MUGABE

posted by MrK @ 8:06 PM