Book Review : Nkomo, The Story of my Life

 After a long time of waiting I finally got my hands on the book Nkomo, the Story of my life. And I must say I was not disappointed. The first chapter grabs the reader by the eyeballs. It begins with Nkomo's escape from the newly dependent Zimbabwe as he is pursued by his political enemies. It is ironic, how the country he had fought for, now turns on him. He reminded me of Snowball in Animal Farm and Trotsky in the USSR. 

After getting you hooked by the action packed first chapter, Nkomo goes back in time and begins narrating his personal life before politics. He talks about his upbringing, his parents and family life. He also delves into the racial politics of the day. In one chapter he explains how whites evicted the black people from their land and how they had to move elsewhere. Nkomo talks about how education was very important to his parents and for a time he wanted to be a traditional doctor but his parents talked him out of it. The boy Joshua Nkomo becomes a man, he encounters the harsh reality of life as black person in a racist Rhodesia. He must endure as he is paid less than a coloured biracial person even if they do the same job. The book takes you on a journey with Nkomo to South Africa where he furthers his studies and returns to Rhodesia as a man. And almost by fate he is swept up in the political turmoil of the day and evolves into a politician. It seems from his retelling, he had greatness thrust upon him.

The second act of the book is Nkomos fight against Rhodesia, Ian Smith and the racist regime. It is by far the most engaging part of the book as Nkomo plays cat and mouse with the Rhodesian intelligence and finally he spends a decade in the prison that only hardens his resolve. I will give one example of how absurd and cruel the racist system in Rhodesia. It is a moment that made me sad and laugh at the same time. Nkomo is in a car with a sympathetic white person and they stop at a restaurant to eat. The white person goes into the restaurant to eat but Nkomo is not allowed in the restaurant because he is black. While his white friend eats in the restaurant, black workers bring food for Nkomo and he has to eat in the car. This moment made me feel sorry for Nkomo and made me understand what motivated him to fight racial oppression in the land of his birth. I was almost moved to tears. I could not understand how whites could eat food made by black hands but could not bring themselves to sit in the same restaurant as a black person. The double standards and hypocrisy are astounding! Racism of a bygone era all sounds very ridiculous in hind sight.

The third act of the book is Nkomo facing betrayal from former allies and he discovers how bittersweet independence is. He is hounded and treated like public enemy number one and must flee the land of his birth. It is quite ironic that is the British who gave him refuge from his African brothers who sought to destroy him.

All in all, it is a very good book and it is not a waste of money to purchase it. The book is a treasure. In a perfect world the book would be turned into a movie for the world to see. Had things gone Nkomo's way, he would be remembered as Nelson Mandela, father of a nation. But it was not to be. Perhaps Nkomo was too naive and kind hearted for the treacherous world of politics. The problem with Nkomo is that he believed life was like a movie and in the end good triumphs over evil. In reality, bad guys often finish first and good guys finish last. Unfortunately, life especially in politics, is not a fairy tale. Many political careers end in tragedy.

Nkomo, Story of my Life ends on a hopeful note that Zimbabwe would be a paradise but decades later Zimbabwe sinks deeper and deeper into the abyss. If there was a time machine, Nkomo and Ian Smith might have agreed to a three state solution. Divide Rhodesia into Mthwakazi for the Ndebeles, Rhodesia for the whites and Zimbabwe for the Shonas. If there is an afterlife, Nkomo might be turning in his grave, shaking his head and maybe regretting having wasted his life fighting for a free Zimbabwe that was not meant to be. 

Moral of the story

First lesson I learnt from the book is that the devil you know is better than the devil you dont know. In life, things can only get worse. Nkomo fought the Rhodesians thinking black majority rule would be better. Only to find out that the Rhodesians were far better than the Shonas. After the so calle independence, the Ndebeles would experience a far worse experience than anything they endured under the Rhodesians, Gukurahundi.

The second lesson is that often your brother is a greater enemy than a stranger. The Ndebeles were abused by their fellow Africans, the Shona way more than by white people. In life it is often your relative who betrays you not a stranger.

The third lesson I learnt from Nkomo Story of my Life is that good does not often triumph over evil. In the end the evil Mugabe  was victorious and the noble Nkomo had to flee for his life and watch thousands of his fellow Ndebeles get slaughtered. 

The fourth lesson is that to beat the wolf you must become a wolf. Turning the other cheek will only get you slapped. Only a war could liberate Zimbabwe from white Rhodesian rule. Peaceful protests and dialogue would not be sufficient to bring about freedom. If Nkomo hadn't fought a violent war he would have remained a victim of colonial oppression. Sometimes in life it pays to be a bit evil. In the real world the meek do not inherit the earth. Only the strongest survive and the weak get trampled.

Book Review : Travel and Adventure in South East Africa by Frederick Courteney Selous

 Some time ago I read and finished the book Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa by the legendary Frederick Selous. It is a must read for anyone interested in Africa, especially, precolonial Africa. It is a very big book, over 500 pages, but dont let that deter you. The book is impossible to put down. Why? Selous gives the most vivid accounts of his hunting expeditions and his relationships with the Africans. As I read the book I could almost smell, taste and see Africa in its untamed form before colonialism.

Selous is a legend in Rhodesian lore. He is the man who the Selous Scouts, a Rhodesian military outfit is named after. He is the man who led the Pioneer Column as it made its way from South Africa to Mount Hampden. He is the man who gave Mount Darwin and Mount Hampden their names. He is the man who chose where Fort Victoria city nowadays Masvingo would be built. He was an adventurer like Indiana Jones, a fearless wanderer and a man's man. He is what Tony Soprano would call the strong, silent type. 

Selous wound up getting killed during the first World War, he was shot by a German somewhere in Tanzania, I think. For a man addicted to adrenaline there could be no other fitting death. I doubt Selous wanted to die in bed at 90 years surrounded by his loved ones. He was a man of action and died the way he lived, on knife's edge. If he was to resurrect and see what Rhodesia had become he would die of shock and agony after realising Rhodesians had lost everything their forefathers had worked for.

The only thing I did not like about the book was the carefree use of the word Kafir. It is on almost every page and illustrates the racist and condescending attitude that white pioneers had towards Africans. I suppose for a man born and raised in Britain to be confronted by primitive Africans it would be expected for Selous to look down on Africans as inferior. However, he is a complex man full of contradictions. On one hand he bemoans the extinction of wild life in Africa and on the other hand he runs around Africa like the Terminator, dispatching lions, leopards and elephants without remorse.

I did learn a few things from the book that I did not know. It is often said Lobengula sold the country to the British. But in the book Selous records events of how Shona chiefs signed treaties with the British in exchange for protection from the predations of the Ndebele tribe. It is easy to understand why Shonas were desperate for that protection because they had suffered greatly under the Ndebele. In one chapter called Matabele atrocities Selous gives the reader multiple accounts of Ndebele savagery.

If you want to know what Zimbabwe was like before the advent of colonialism, look no further than the Travel and Adventure in South East Africa. It is a nail biting, edge of the seat kind of book. Selous flirts with death on almost every page and you feel like you are taking every step with him.