Book Review : Mugabe by Martin Meredith

 

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One of the best books I ever read on the former president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is the work of Martin Meredith called Mugabe : Power, Plunder and the Struggle for Zimbabwe. It is easy to read because Martin Meredith is a natural writer. It feels like you are having a conversation with a friend. The book is a must read for anyone interested in the history of Zimbabwe.

My thoughts on the book

Mugabe does come across as a bit biased. Yes, Mugabe was a tyrant. He has been described by his numerous enemies as the 'apostle of Satan' and a 'bloodthirsty Marxist'. Mugabe is a man who had the blood of innocent people on his hands. He is a man who didn't die a hero but lived long enough to become the villain. Mugabe oversaw the Ndebele genocide known as Gukurahundi in the early 80s. He was the architect of the disastrous land grabs that saw white farmers driven off their farms thus causing the downfall of the Zimbabwean economy. Hunger and poverty would be the result, sending millions of Zimbabweans into exile, becoming a thorn in the side of South African citizens. Mugabe is the man who did not hesitate to kill and imprison his political opponents. His one and only goal was a one party state with him as president for life. 

With that being said, Mugabe was to some people a freedom fighter, a revolutionary and a hero. That side of Mugabe is not talked about in Martin Meredith's book. To his disciples, Mugabe was a man who gave freedom, education and land to his people. He was a bulwark against imperialism and its running dogs. He was an eloquent speaker and orator. He was an educated man with multiple degrees. He was a teacher before becoming a politician. 

Most political careers end in failure and Mugabe is no exception. In the end he was an old tyrant betrayed by his protege in Mnangagwa. He is a man who spent his last days sulking and brooding about the coup that evicted him from office after 37 years of unbridled power. He died in a foreign country in luxury whilst his people starved. At the end of it all Mugabe won the world and yet lost his own soul.

Lessons from the book

1. Black leaders should write their own biographies

Though he portrayed himself as an intellectual, Mugabe did not pen his memoirs or write his own story. Unlike Mandela and Ian Smith we never got his side of the story. He died without telling us his secrets, his thoughts and his motivations. Thus, it is imperative that black people write their own stories or else white people and foreigners will set their narrative. Mugabe's name will be forever besmirched by his detractors. If he had written his own life story the future generations would get his side of the story. Perhaps behind the suits, degrees and fluent English Mugabe was just a political gangster, unruly, uncouth and uncultured. He was no different from the Idi Amins, Bokassas and Mobutus of the world. He was just your typical African dictator who can't let go of power. Mugabe proved Ian Smith right and affirmed the racist belief that no matter how educated black people are, they are culturally and biologically incapable of building and maintaining advanced civilisation

2. Great speakers don't always make great leaders

Democracy is a system that favours sweet talkers and politicians that can tell lies and make promises they can't keep. Demagogues like Hitler and Mussolini proved that being a good orator does not mean one will be a good leader. Gone are the days when a ruler had to prove himself on the battlefield to show he was a leader. In the pre-modern era, men and women had to personally lead troops into war to show their mettle. The Alexanders and Julius Caesars of the world were men of action and not smooth speaking politicians. Mugabe is one such a leader who gained popularity by his silver tongue. He did not hold a gun and fight on the front lines against Rhodesians. He was a speaker and orator, first as a teacher and as a politician. Mugabe had the power to dazzle audiences with his perfect English and humour. But at the end of the day, he was a terrible leader and all his speeches could not save the Zimbabwean economy or his political career.

3. Power is an illusion

In the series Game of Thrones Varys asks Tyrion a riddle about a sellsword in a room with a king, a priest and a rich man. Each great man bids the mercenary slay the other two. Who lives and who dies? Varys then says that power is a trick and it resides where men believe it resides. Thus a small man can cast a very large shadow. In the case of Mugabe this is true as well. For 37 years he cast a very large shadow. Through guile, threats and violence he was able to hold a grip on power. Via media and propaganda Mugabe was able to brainwash a whole country into following him. But at the end of his life, that trick could not fool the people any longer. Even his party comrades were tired of him and ushered him out. 

But what I take from the Varys quote is that power ultimately resides with the sellsword or mercenary. It is the soldier and the armed man that has power. Without the men of arms a rich man, king and priest are powerless. Such is the case with Mugabe. Without the support of the army he was no great man to be feared. Without his soldiers he was nothing more than an old senile man. And this is the case in every country all over the world. Power resides in weapons and the men who know how to wield them. Like Mao famously said, 'Political power comes out of the barrel of a gun.'

Final thoughts

It seems to me it was destiny for Mugabe to rule. I am not a man of faith but it does seem Mugabe survived death too many times that one could believe he was ordained to be president. Why didn't Ian Smith kill him when Chitepo and Leopold Takawira were assassinated? When Mugabe drove out white farmers and openly mocked USA and Europe, why was he not taken out like what happened to Gaddafi, Saddam, Lumumba and Sankara? Perhaps like they say, the good die young. And Mugabe being an evil yet intelligent man, was fated to live a long life that brought misery to many.

To his fans, Mugabe was a hero who gave Zimbabweans liberty, learning and land. To his critics he was a heel who brought death and destruction, misery and mayhem, poverty and pandemonium, hunger and havoc to his people. Whatever he was, Mugabe will be remembered and talked about for generations to come. Whether history damns him or vindicates him remains to be seen.

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Robert Mugabe: Mastermind or Buffoon? The Freedom Fighter Who Destroyed a Nation

 

Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the ultimate paradox of post-colonial African history. Rising from a lonely, Jesuit-educated schoolteacher to a radical guerrilla leader, he successfully broke the back of white-minority rule to become the founding father of Zimbabwe in 1880. To his devoted supporters across the continent, he was an intellectual giant who outmaneuvered the British Empire and delivered land, dignity, and education to his people.

To his critics, he was a textbook tyrant who weaponized economics, starved his own population through hyperinflation, and transformed Africa's breadbasket into an international basket case.

Following our investigations into Chief Bere, King Lobengula, and Ian Smith, the final chapter of our series tackles the most polarizing figure of them all. Was Robert Mugabe a political mastermind who successfully conquered, consolidated, and held absolute power against global superpowers, or was he an economic buffoon who ran a wealthy nation into the ground and was ultimately blindsided by his own protege?

Let’s weigh both sides of the coin.

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The Case for the Mastermind: The Ultimate Survivor

Proponents of Robert Mugabe argue that his career was a masterclass in political longevity, Machiavellian strategy, and unwavering commitment to Black empowerment. He didn't just play the game of absolute power; he dictated the rules for nearly four decades.

• Conquering the Throne: Mugabe survived the brutal Rhodesian Bush War, successfully united a highly fractured and tribally divided nationalist movement under ZANU, and outmaneuvered both his internal rival Joshua Nkomo and British diplomats at the Lancaster House Agreement. He took power in 1980 on his own terms.
• The Three L’s: Liberty, Learning, and Land:
  • Liberty: He successfully ended 90 years of colonial oppression, delivering true national sovereignty and Black self-determination.
  • Learning: Mugabe heavily funded public education, transforming Zimbabwe into a continental powerhouse with one of the highest literacy rates in Africa.
  • Land: Through the Fast-Track Land Reform program launched in 2000, he did what no other African leader dared to do: he broke the colonial land imbalances, seizing white-owned commercial farms and returning the ancestral soil to millions of Black Zimbabweans.
• The Billionaire Exit: For twenty years, Western superpowers slapped his regime with heavy economic sanctions, actively backed his opposition, and predicted his immediate collapse. Mugabe outlasted multiple US Presidents and British Prime Ministers. He defied them all, dying peacefully at the age of 95 in a luxury Singapore hospital as a billionaire, having secured a massive financial empire and legal immunity for his family.

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The Case for the Buffoon: Ruin, Paranoia, and the Ultimate Betrayal

The critical view of Mugabe exposes a leader completely blinded by his own ideological dogma, a man who treated economics like a secondary political tool rather than a rigid science, and who ultimately destroyed his own legacy.

• Economic Suicide and Sovereign Rot: Mugabe genuinely believed that political will could override economic laws. His chaotic, violent implementation of land reform and indigenisation laws triggered the total collapse of commercial agriculture. He responded by printing money, unleashing the world's most infamous hyperinflation crisis where a 100-trillion-dollar note couldn't buy a single loaf of bread. He reduced a globally respected national currency to literal garbage, forced his country to rely on foreign money, and presided over the systemic rot of Zimbabwe’s healthcare, electricity, and roads.
• The Fatal Firing: Mugabe’s ultimate "buffoon" moment occurred in November 2017. Blinded by the frailty of old age and the manipulative, dynastic ambitions of his politically toxic wife, "Gucci" Grace Mugabe, he completely miscalculated the loyalty of his own security apparatus. By firing his long-time enforcer, security chief, and protege—Emmerson Mnangagwa—Mugabe broke the unwritten pact with his military elite.
• Toppled by the Protege: His final political calculation was a disaster. Within days of Mnangagwa’s firing, the military rolled tanks into Harare. In a swift, bloodless coup, the very system Mugabe had spent 37 years building turned on its master. The "untouchable" dictator was placed under house arrest and forced into a humiliating, televised resignation while the streets of Zimbabwe erupted in celebration. He was completely outmaneuvered by the protege he thought he could easily discard.
• The Pan-Africanist Who Died in Singapore: Robert Mugabe's systematic neglect of Zimbabwe's healthcare system stands as a key argument for his legacy as an economic and administrative failure. While championing Pan-Africanism, Mugabe famously died in a Singaporean hospital rather than using the domestic medical infrastructure that collapsed under his rule, contrasting sharply with peers like Nelson Mandela and Julius Nyerere

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The Verdict: A Master of Power, a Buffoon of Governance

When history tallies the final ledger, the verdict is clear: Robert Mugabe was a brilliant mastermind at acquiring and retaining personal power, but an absolute buffoon when it came to using that power to build a sustainable nation.

His obsession with political survival blinded him to the structural ruin around him. He successfully outsmarted international empires and domestic rivals for decades, but his tragic flaw was the classic delusion of kings: he believed his own propaganda. By sacrificing Zimbabwe’s economy on the altar of his political survival, and by letting familial ambition blind him to a military coup right under his nose, he guaranteed his own downfall.

He did not leave behind a thriving, prosperous African superpower. Instead, he left behind a broken economy, a fractured population, and a militarized political blueprint that his former protege used to replace him. He lived like a king, but he died a deposed casualty of his own hubris.

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What do you think? Was Robert Mugabe a revolutionary hero who successfully fought imperialism, or a short-sighted dictator who ruined his own country? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

The Westies Season 1 Review

 

In an era of television plagued by bloated seasonal arcs, artificial padding, and preachy writing, finding a crime drama that respects your intelligence feels like an anomaly. Enter The Westies, a relentless, uncompromising MGM+ original series that strips away modern television fluff to deliver pure, unadulterated storytelling. If your gold standard for television includes legendary series like The Sopranos and Sons of Anarchy, The Westies deserves an immediate spot at the top of your watchlist. 

Pure Entertainment Over Documentary Rigidness

At its core, the show chronicles the violent, high-stakes battle for control of New York's Hell’s Kitchen during the lucrative construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center. While the series draws heavily from the blood-soaked history of the real-life Irish-American gang that terrorised the West Side, it never purports to be a dry, rigid documentary. Instead, it uses that history as a skeleton to build a highly entertaining, dramatised crime mythology. 

High Velocity Narrative and Lean Precision

What sets the show apart immediately is its exceptional narrative velocity. There are absolutely no fillers, no wasted episodes, and zero dull moments. The plot moves at a breakneck pace, packed with genuine twists where the unexpected always happens. Crucially, the series avoids the worst traps of modern prestige television. There is no senseless nudity or empty sex scenes used to fill time, and the violence—while brutal—is never gratuitous. Furthermore, the show completely bypasses the exhausting trend of shoehorning in forced LGBTQ+ or racial plotlines just to check boxes. It never feels like a lecture; it just tells a great story. 

Grounded Realism vs. Modern Clichés

This commitment to organic storytelling is perfectly illustrated by Jessica Frances Dukes’ fierce, grounded performance as FBI Special Agent Birdie Polk. At first glance, a modern audience conditioned to expect "diversity hires" and "DEI quotas" might look at a Black female federal agent leading an early-1980s mob investigation and assume she sticks out like a sore thumb. 

However, the reality is entirely historically accurate. The FBI appointed its first Black female Special Agent, Sylvia Mathis, in 1976 and assigned her straight to the New York Field Office's organized crime squad. By 1980, these trailblazing women were actively embedded in federal task forces. Instead of using Polk to deliver heavy-handed, anachronistic lectures on race, The Westies treats her as a sharp, hyper-competent operational asset. She earns her place in the narrative through raw competence and cold manipulation, making her inclusion feel earned rather than forced.

Powerhouse Performances and Human Characters

The rest of the ensemble is equally spectacular, anchored by flawless, three-dimensional characters who feel like flawed human beings rather than two-dimensional cartoons. J.K. Simmons dominates the screen as the calculated, menacing gang leader Eamon Sweeney, perfectly matched by Titus Welliver as Glenn Keenan, the deeply compromised dirty cop whose shifting loyalties provide the show with its moral complexity.

Joining this powerhouse lineup is Sarah Bolger, who turns in a spectacular performance as the fierce, independent Bridget Walsh. Bolger perfectly anchors the human stakes of the underworld, bringing a layer of raw survival instinct to the crew's inner circle. This hierarchy is further shaken up by Hamish Allan-Headley's portrayal of an ascendant John Gotti. By flawlessly capturing the Dapper Don's iconic raspy voice and magnetic, lethal screen presence, the performance stands firmly as the absolute best on-screen depiction of Gotti since Armand Assante’s legendary 1996 television movie. 

Evocative Visuals and Haunted Soundscapes

Visually and sonically, the series is a triumph of atmospheric world-building. The cinematography heavily utilizes dark, closed spaces, creating a suffocating, claustrophobic environment that mirrors the constant paranoia of the mob. This gritty visual style is perfectly paired with an authentic, period-accurate 1970s and 80s wardrobe that evokes the raw texture of the era. Tying the entire experience together is a haunting soundtrack steeped in Irish folktales, adding a melancholic, mythic weight to the urban warfare on screen.

A Masterful Finale Built on Suspense

Everything converges beautifully in the explosive Season 1 finale, "The Irish Goodbye". The final episode serves as a structurally perfect ending to the season's main conflict while simultaneously leaving the viewer hanging on a cliff of pure suspense. Rather than opting for predictable conclusions, the episode relies on a series of masterfully executed internal shifts and sudden chess moves that change the balance of power entirely. It builds an incredible level of tension, leaving every major player vulnerable and ensuring viewers will be desperately counting down the days until the show returns. 

The Verdict

Too many modern crime shows fall into the trap of overproduction and style over substance. Recent projects like Mobland and Gangs of London ultimately devolved into garbage by prioritizing flashy, unrealistic action over coherent storytelling and human depth. The Westies avoids these traps entirely. It is a lean, mean, and deeply gripping saga that honors the roots of classic mob cinema. Stop scrolling past endless streaming options and put this on immediately—it is the gritty masterpiece you have been waiting for. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

King Mzilikazi kaMashobane by Nthebe Molope

 

A book I have been meaning to read is King Mzilikazi kaMashobane by Nthebe Molope. I had read Path of Blood by Peter Becker before. Path of Blood is a great book and a must read for anyone interested in the life of King Mzilikazi. Path of Blood is well written, it doesnt feel like a text book and is very vivid. However, according to Nthebe Molope it isn't very accurate. Nthebe says Path of Blood depicts King Mzilikazi as a savage primitive. Thus he wrote King Mzilikazi to give an African perspective of the life of the great king. Molope said, 'If you do not write your own history, someone else will write it for you.' And so Nthebe travelled far and wide, researching and conducting interviews as he followed King Mzilikazi's journey. I wish Nthebe had recorded his journeys and made it into a documentary. It would make very interesting viewing. I have watched many of his interviews and I highly recommend them.

https://www.youtube.com/live/v33ZgqxfR0s?si=WZWV1GgHzPj0cR-I

King Mzilikazi was undoubtedly a great man. He was a formidable warrior, visionary nation builder and an explorer. He is the founder of the Ndebele nation. He was a contemporary of Shaka Zulu, Moshoeshoe, Sebituane, Soshangane, Zwangendaba and all the other great African kings. So it is a travesty that there is no movie, TV series or documentary about Mzilikazi. Whilst South Africans have the Shaka Zulu TV series from the 80s and currently Shaka Ilembe, King Mzilikazi has no film or tv show about him. There is no photograph of the man so he will forever be an enigma to many. Like I said before Nthebe Molope should have created a documentary about his travels in search of the legend of King Mzilikazi. But it is never too late. Tomorrow is another day and there are always opportunities to tell the story of one of southern Africa's greatest sons. I hope one day there will be a movie, film or documentary about the great King Mzilikazi.

Fighting Ghosts in the Matopos : Why ZANU-PF Has Nothing to Fear from King Mzilikazi Day

In the landscape of Zimbabwean politics, history is frequently weaponised, and cultural identity remains a volatile fault line. For decades, the ruling ZANU-PF government has maintained a heavily centralised narrative of national heritage, often prioritising political triumphs over regional cultural recognition.

However, as the nation navigates a complex era of economic stagnation and unresolved historical trauma, a compelling case can be made for a radical policy shift: ZANU-PF should formally declare King Mzilikazi Day a public holiday. Whether implemented as a nationwide celebration or a regional public holiday in Matabeleland, honoring the founder of the Ndebele Kingdom is not just a culturally just move—it is an exceptionally astute piece of realpolitik.

Far from threatening the state, embracing King Mzilikazi offers a blueprint for national unity, political capital, and economic opportunity. The King is long dead and will not resurrect; it is time for the living to leverage his legacy for a better future.

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1. A Strategic Masterclass in Gaining Support and Votes

In politics, gestures of recognition are the ultimate form of low-cost, high-reward currency. ZANU-PF has traditionally struggled to capture a dominant, organic voter base in Bulawayo and the wider Matabeleland provinces. By formally gazetting Mzilikazi Day, the ruling party could achieve an instant political breakthrough.

Instead of being viewed through a lens of suspicion, ZANU-PF could position itself as a progressive patron of Ndebele heritage. This singular legislative act would disarm opposition narratives that accuse the central government of marginalising Western Zimbabwe. It is a pragmatic, peaceful mechanism to win hearts, minds, and critical votes in regions historically alienated from the capital.

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2. Transmuting Monoliths into Unity: The Heritage Day Model

Zimbabwe can look directly across the Limpopo River for a highly successful precedent. In South Africa, September 24th was originally celebrated in KwaZulu-Natal as Shaka Day, honoring the legendary Zulu King. Instead of banning the holiday out of fear of Zulu nationalism, the post-apartheid South African government brilliantly transformed it into Heritage Day. 

[Shaka Day / Mzilikazi Day] ──(State Integration)──> [National Heritage Day] ──> Civilisational Unity

By expanding the holiday's scope, South Africa allowed every ethnic group to celebrate their unique roots under a single, unified national banner. Transforming Mzilikazi Day into an official Zimbabwean Heritage Day would achieve the same result. It shifts the national conversation from competitive tribalism to mutual cultural respect. 

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3. Soothing the Bleeding Wounds of Gukurahundi

The unresolved trauma of the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s remains an open wound in the Zimbabwean psyche. While current state initiatives like the Gukurahundi Community Engagement Programme focus on village-level hearings, true transitional justice requires highly visible symbolic reparations.

Allowing the open, state-sanctioned celebration of King Mzilikazi would serve as a powerful psychological balm. It sends an unmistakable signal to the people of Matabeleland that their history is valued, their identity is protected, and their foundational monarch is respected by the state. This cultural validation would do more to soothe generational grievances than decades of managed political rhetoric.

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4. Universal Cultural Celebration: Mutapa, Rozvi, and Beyond

A National Heritage Day framework ensures that no one is left behind. It would not merely be an Ndebele holiday; it would provide a dedicated annual space for all Zimbabweans to honor their distinct histories:

• The Shona Majority could use the day to celebrate the sophisticated legacy of the Mutapa and Rozvi Empires, mapping out cultural festivals from Great Zimbabwe to Khami Ruins.
• The White and Minority Communities could openly celebrate their unique contributions to the country’s agricultural, industrial, and architectural landscapes.
• Other Minority Groups, including the Venda, Tonga, Shangani, and Kalanga, would gain an equitable platform to showcase their traditions, ensuring a rich, multi-faceted national identity.

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5. The Heritage Cup and Concert: A Lucrative Revenue Engine

Beyond politics and psychology, a heritage holiday is an open invitation for economic innovation. Cultural tourism and sports entertainment are highly profitable, self-sustaining industries.

[Public Holiday] ──> [High-Stakes Heritage Cup Match] + [Music Festival] ──> Massive Economic Injection

• The Heritage Cup: The government could sponsor an annual high-stakes football tournament featuring the country’s two oldest and most supported clubs, Highlanders FC (representing Bulawayo and Ndebele heritage) and Dynamos FC (representing Harare). A showpiece match on this day would pack stadiums, generate massive broadcasting revenue, and stimulate local hospitality industries.
• The Heritage Concert: Following the sports matches, state-backed cultural concerts featuring top Shona, Ndebele, and international artists would drive ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, and tourism, turning a day of remembrance into a vibrant, money-making festival.

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Why the Shona Majority Rejects King Mzilikazi Day (Generational Trauma, the Settler Parallel, and Cultural Divestment)

The institutional and social resistance to King Mzilikazi Day extends far beyond modern partisan politics. It is deeply rooted in the collective Shona psyche, driven by historical trauma, structural parallels to colonial occupation, and a profound divergence in how both groups evolved culturally under Western influence.

1. The Shadow of the Madzviti: Raids, Vassalage, and the Rhodes Parallel

The primary psychological barrier to honoring King Mzilikazi in Mashonaland is the heavy burden of 19th-century history. In Shona collective memory, the expansion of the Ndebele state is not remembered as a glorious era of nation-building, but as a period of devastating subjugation.

• The Trauma of the Madzviti: Shona oral histories explicitly label the incoming Ndebele warriors as Madzviti—a term synonymous with fierce raiders, plunderers, and conquerors. For decades, Shona polities were subjected to violent raids, loss of cattle, and forced assimilation. Entire chiefdoms were reduced to tributary vassals, creating a historical narrative where the Shona were effectively treated as lower-class subjects or slaves to the Ndebele military machine.
• The Settler Equivalence: Because of this history of conquest, many Shonas view the formal celebration of King Mzilikazi with the same revulsion they would accord to celebrating Cecil John Rhodes. To the Shona nationalist mind, both men were aggressive external forces who invaded the plateau, violently disrupted local agrarian societies, and established ethnically stratified kingdoms.
• The Matobo Metaphor: This parallel is physically immortalized in the landscape. Both King Mzilikazi and Cecil Rhodes chose the sacred granite landscape of the Matobo Hills as their final resting places. To state-backed Shona historians, elevating Mzilikazi to a national hero while condemning Rhodes feels like an ideological contradiction. Celebrating the man who initiated the 19th-century conquest of the Shona is viewed as an insult to generational memory.

2. The Cultural Trade: African Culture For Christianity and Politics

This historical friction fuels a persistent, highly charged critique from Ndebele cultural activists: the claim that the Shona majority opposes Mzilikazi Day out of pure jealousy because they lack a comparable history, great military generals, or a vibrant culture of their own.

This accusation misreads the nature of Shona history, which is immensely rich but structurally distinct. The Shona did not lack civilisational greatness; they built the monumental dry-stone architecture of Great Zimbabwe and managed sophisticated global trade networks through the Mutapa and Rozvi Empires. Their military capabilities were formidable, evidenced by leaders like Changamire Dombo, who decisively defeated Portuguese armies in the 1690s.

However, the tragic reality of modern Zimbabwe is that the Shona majority largely traded their rich history and traditional culture for Western Christianity and partisan politics.

• The Christian Conversion: During the colonial era, Mashonaland experienced deep, institutionalized missionary penetration. Formal education and economic advancement became strictly gatekept by Christian conversion. To adapt and survive, mainstream Shona society aggressively embraced European values, systematically discarding traditional ancestral rites (Kurova Guva) and ancient customs as "heathen."
• The Political Monopolization: Following independence in 1980, ZANU-PF actively replaced deep pre-colonial Shona heritage with the secular religion of the liberation struggle (the Chimurengas). Guerrilla fighters, political elites, and ruling party structures became the new "kings" and "ancestors" of Mashonaland. Deep historical memory was flattened into a tool for winning elections and maintaining state power.

3. The Derision of the Traditional Sanctum

This profound cultural divestment explains why modern Shona society often views contemporary Ndebele cultural festivals with open disdain. Having traded their own indigenous customs for church suits, respectability politics, and Western concepts of modernity, many Shonas look down upon the vibrant, unapologetic displays of heritage at Ndebele commemorations.

When Ndebele youths proudly don animal skins (amabheshu) and young girls dance bare-breasted in accordance with ancient, sacred customs, it triggers a knee-jerk reaction from the thoroughly Westernized, Christianized Shona majority. Rather than recognizing these acts as powerful symbols of an unbroken, un-colonized heritage that resisted total erasure, they dismiss them through a Victorian lens as backward, primitive, or indecent.

Ultimately, the rejection of Mzilikazi Day is driven by this toxic combination: a deeply internalized historical trauma that equates the Ndebele king with a colonial oppressor, and a modern cultural amnesia that mocks the very traditional pride the Shona people themselves gave up.

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Conclusion: Nothing to Fear from the Past

The primary reason governments ban historical celebrations is fear—fear that an ancient symbol will ignite a modern secessionist fire. But ZANU-PF has nothing to fear from King Mzilikazi. The King rests peacefully in the Matobo Hills; his spears are long silent, and he poses no threat to the modern state apparatus.

By keeping Mzilikazi Day unofficial, the state inadvertently keeps it potent, transforming it into a symbol of quiet defiance. By legalising it, celebrating it, and funding it, ZANU-PF can defuse the tension, monetize the culture, and foster a genuine, high-trust Zimbabwean identity. True power lies not in suppressing the history of your people, but in having the confidence to celebrate it.