Call for investigation into deaths of war heroes
Posted by ZDN on December 9, 2009
As South Africa’s mediation team prepares for another round of tough negotiations to resolve contentious issues raised by the three coalition partners in Zimbabwe’s transitional government, Zimbabwe Democracy Now is calling for a full investigation into the deaths of two liberation war generals.
December is the 30th anniversary of the death of General Josiah Tongogara and people across Zimbabwe believe that for any future reconciliation to take place, the truth of his death must finally be revealed.
Zimbabweans have also raised the issue of Lieutenant General Lookout Masuku’s death in 1986 since rumours persist that he was tortured and poisoned in prison.
Tongogara was a revered commander of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) in then Rhodesia. The party at the time expected him to be the first president of Zimbabwe, with Robert Mugabe, head of ZANLA’s political wing, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), as prime minister.
At the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979, which paved the way for independence the following year in war-torn Zimbabwe, Tongogara was reported to have been a crucial moderating force.
However, since Tongogara openly favoured unity between ZANU and Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) party, he is said to have had heated differences with Mugabe about the direction the country should take after independence in 1980.
Just six days after Mugabe signed the Lancaster House Agreement, Tongogara was killed in a car accident in Mozambique on Boxing Day on his way back to Harare.
He had returned to Mozambique, where ZANLA was based, to inform his soldiers about the Agreement and the ceasefire.
A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefing of December 28, 1979, described Tongogara as a potential rival to Mugabe because of his ambition, popularity and decisive style.
He was seen as someone who could build lasting peace and reconciliation with his enemies – traits which would have been invaluable in Zimbabwe today.
Tongogara’s hurried burial, without a proper autopsy, led to suspicions which still persist that he had been murdered. He was buried at Heroes’ Acre outside Harare and Solomon Mujuru took over as head of ZANLA.
Lieutenant General Lookout Masuku
The cause of Lieutenant General Lookout Masuku’s death has also remained a contentious issue.
Masuku commanded the forces of Joshua Nkomo in the guerrilla war against the government of Ian Smith and after independence Masuku became deputy commander of the national army.
In 1982, he was arrested with Nkomo’s military intelligence chief, Dumiso Dabengwa, on charges of plotting a coup against Prime Minister Robert Mugabe’s two-year-old government.
Although both Masuku and Dabengwa were acquitted in 1983, both were immediately detained again under emergency powers similar to those used by the Smith regime.
Masuku died three years later on April 5 at Harare’s Parirenyatwa Hospital, reportedly from meningitis, although many people believed the circumstances were suspicious.
Joshua Nkomo, addressing the tens of thousands of mourners at Masuku’s funeral, said that Lookout, after all his sacrifices, had died a pauper.
“We cannot blame colonialism and imperialism for this tragedy,” said Nkomo. “We who fought against these things now practice them.”
Nkomo went on to question why Zimbabwe was enveloped in the politics of hate. “What Zimbabwe fought for was peace, progress, love, respect, justice and equality, not the opposite.
“There is something radically wrong with our country today and we are moving, fast, towards destruction,” said Nkomo regretfully. “One of the worst evils we see today is corruption. The country bleeds today because of corruption.”
Masuku was not accorded the honour of being buried in Heroes’ Acre, instead he was laid to rest near Bulawayo.
Calls for commemoration
Zimbabwe Democracy Now calls on both factions of the MDC and Zanu-PF to ensure that flags fly at half-mast on Boxing Day to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Tongogara’s death.
It is a national scandal that a whole generation has grown up with little knowledge of brave men such as these and the true heritage of the liberation struggle.
Instead, many of the people who survived the war have gone on to become fabulously rich, forgetting those who died to put them in their current positions. Masuku, after all his sacrifices, died in poverty.
Sources close to the reformed ZAPU party have indicated that there are plans next year to organise an annual commemoration of Masuku’s death. We believe this will be an important contribution to national reconciliation.
Mrs Ethel Moyo, Spokesperson, Zimbabwe Democracy Now
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12-22-2009
1:34 pm
Musavengana
This is one of the issues that prove that as nation we are powerless when it comes to Mugabe. We all know very well that Mugabe got rid of Tongogara, a few more months and Tongogara would have been the leader of Zimbabwe but Mugabe was not going to have this. We know Mugabe is a killer and if he doesn’t like you he gets rid of you. Hopefully one day a commission can be set up to look into these deaths and maybe give us the answers that we already have.
01-22-2010
11:17 pm
Lionel Nyoni
How true this is. As a nation we have completely failed ourselves. I vividly remember that fateful day and since then the same tactics have been used to remove unwanted people. Hopefully when we are totally free ,crimes against humanity will be investigated and dealt with.