Zimbabwe: Top Historian Diana Mitchell Dismisses Baba Jukwa Uprising
18 August 2013
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A senior Zimbabwean historian, Diana Mitchell who alone foretold the downfall of the former Ian Smith Rhodesian government way back in 1977 has spoken against thoughts in the wait for an uprising that is being engineered on social networking website Facebook by the faceless MDC character and Zanu PF de-filer, Baba Jukwa.

Opposed by Historian...Baba Jukwa
Dismissed by Historian…Baba Jukwa

Mitchell signalled that an Egyptian style revolution is not possible in Zimbabwe where she has had a wealth of experience analysing complex political forces for the past 40 years.
The statement comes after the faceless character began coordinating a campaign known as Vapanduki (insurgents) on the website. The campaign is a grouping of people who are all opposed to Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF party.
Mitchell is credited for her outstanding work in canonising Zimbabwe’s liberation war heroes at a time when they were internationally regarded as terrorists in the 70s.
Below was her full argument:
Any Zimbabwean, at home and abroad could or should have predicted with absolute certainty that Robert Mugabe and his acolytes would never allow power to slip from their hands. One wonders if the masses of red-clad MDC supporters seen at rallies in the major cities truly believed that their visible numbers and their wishful thinking could somehow vanquish the old dictator. They have learned, once more, as we former `white liberals’ learned in our past, anti-Rhodesian Front struggles, that a `level playing field’ is the first requisite for electoral success in a developing country.
Ian Smith taught Robert Mugabe that control of all the institutions of government – which included the incorporation of the national media – was all that was needed to ensure perpetual rule for the incumbent government. It was the horrific deaths among a relatively few civilians and a miniscule, white-led military, along with a lot of external support for African nationalist freedom fighters, which succeeded in overturning 88 years of white minority rule.
Without weapons or powerful external support, how could free Zimbabweans in the MDC or its leadership have forgotten those lessons of the recent past? So recent are those lessons for now, Zimbabweans will cling to peace as a preferred option. The flames of the Arab Spring’s violent revolutions are not an attractive model for change right now.

23 Replies to “Zimbabwe: Top Historian Diana Mitchell Dismisses Baba Jukwa Uprising”

  1. If our above mentioned esteemed historian knew the course this poll thing would take why didnt she write the publication before the results?

  2. Lybia (Gaddafi), Egypt (Mubarak), Iraqi (Saddam) when these leaders were in power in these countries it was safe to travel there, there was water and food for the people, people could go to sleep and wake-up in one piece, but after making that mistake which is always driven by people in the west today there is no peace in these countries. To hell with Baba Jukwa the fool.

  3. The other side of the coin
    August 20, 2013 Wenceslaus Murape Opinion & Analysis
    Udo Froese The global north is unable to feed itself. This explains the “land acquisition” (sounds better than land grab) for food crops in Africa. The UN body, the ‘Food and Agricultural Organisation’ (FAO) published a report on this trend in December 2009.The writer/researcher, Thembi Mutch from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, documented in the London…
    Udo Froese
    The global north is unable to feed itself. This explains the “land acquisition” (sounds better than land grab) for food crops in Africa. The UN body, the ‘Food and Agricultural Organisation’ (FAO) published a report on this trend in December 2009.The writer/researcher, Thembi Mutch from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, documented in the London based news magazine, NewAfrican, “Rural land grabs in sub-Saharan Africa force peasant farmers into ghettos in cities where jobs are scarce — which will only contribute to further food shortages and crisis in the future.”
    Such ruthless foreign land grabs cause imminent abject poverty and starvation of continental proportions.
    Mutch observes further, “In many African countries there are no mechanisms to monitor land appropriation. Although there are public protectors, an auditor general, anti-corruption units and other controlling mechanisms in place, it is easy to bypass them: they monitor only government and donor money, not private investment.”
    It means, the purchase of land in sub-Saharan Africa will not end. This will lead to further disenfranchisement of already disadvantaged indigenous Africans in their own land on their own continent. They remain hopeless, starving third-class citizens.
    In her article on “land grabbing” in Africa in NewAfrican, Mutch writes, “A whole new industry has sprung up, including commodities and futures trading on African land and water rights, and with it, there has been a concomitant rise in investment firms, many based in the UK, who actively promote partnerships between private companies and brokers based in sub-Saharan Africa.”
    “The British firm, Silverstreet Capital, boasts about its ability to buy up African farms and ‘boost productivity’ by, among other things, abandoning ‘till’ farming — i.e., farming by hand. Smallholding African farmers are at the bottom of the pile. Land acquisition is attracting new players. For example, the Rockefeller/Gates Foundation/USAID partnership is working with Monsanto — US$150 million will be invested by them into an ‘Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’ (AGRA) project,” Mutch explains.
    Global land grabbers of huge tracts of African soil include the likes of US, British and European billionaires, the Saudi Arabian government and the Sultan of Brunei for their private use only and without access for the local population. They do not carry Africa’s interests. Those well-heeled foreigners arrange themselves through their elites on the ground.
    They receive tax breaks and exemptions, repatriations of profits, additional free land and water concessions.
    As Mutch documents in her research, “The issue is not necessarily the purchasing. It is the levels of secrecy, the lack of templates or agencies monitoring how the (indigenous) people who already live on the land, will be dealt with.”
    It gets worse. “Numerous ‘pioneering’ Dutch and Swedish farmers are keen to use areas in Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda for biofuels experimentation. The needs of smallholders are sidelined. They are viewed only as potential cultivators for an industry that is still trying out seeds, growing methods and approaches,” as observed by Thembi Mutch.
    The above documented research should be one of the priorities of the African Union (AU), Ecowas and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) in order to stem the resultant high unemployment, abject poverty, starvation and the destabilisation of a whole continent.
    Farayi Nziramasanga in Harare, Zimbabwe, summed up the actions of the new breed of African leadership writing in NewAfrican, “Over the past couple of decades, nationalist leadership with a pan-African, perspective has been replaced by ‘new democrats’ supported by the (international) West.
    These donor-funded client-leaders have a local focus and dare not annoy their funders. They owe their elevation and sustenance to foreign interests, who in turn dictate policy.”
    Addressing the role of the AU, Nziramasanga, writes, “Our power as a continent lies in us being able to speak with one voice and act in unison on issues of (African) continental interest. And, Nigeria and South Africa have to shed the illusion of continental giants — they are not and never will be.”
    It is important for Africa to understand its position and the foreign interests, the real role, for example, of the US’s continental Africa Command (Africom) and its proxies. This should also mean, the role of South Africa’s former cabinet minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma occupying the chair of the African Union, is to understand and accept it as her primary task “to pull the Africa-wide power into a continental force for the advancement of Africa-wide interests.”
    Leaders, who secretly sell the birthright of their supporters for a bowl of soup, commit the serious crime of high treason and should be held accountable by the structures of their countries, their regions and finally, the AU. Africa should view the outsourcing of its land as a criminal offense.
    “Western capitalism arose through strong government for the economy and for accessing the resources in the global South (which continuous to this day),” are the final words of Mutch.
    Forget the European ICC in the Netherlands. Cut ties with it. Africa has no option, but to re-establish itself, its land, its wealth and its own souvereign courts.
    Udo W. Froese is an independent political and socio-economic analyst and columnist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

  4. Zvichapera kana vamwe vakaona ruoko ruchinyora pachidziro Zvichaitika kana kwauri Mugabe chisingakwani imari nguva inokwana

  5. This rubbish about an uprising will not work here in Zimbabwe, neither is it the best to move forward. Mugabe is a governance artist – he knows how to rule thoroughly. Ko kutonga kuita sei?
    Never forget that the Arab uprising succeded in toppling sitting governments mainly because of religious teaching of the Arabs (Moslem). Religion opiated people to believe that if they die doing what they thought was right, they would then see Allah. You can’t tell Zimbabweans to volunteer to die – they would rather go overseas in search of greener pastures than fight.
    And what does Mitchell mean in that paragraph by saying the MDC-T needed “weapons” or “powerful external support”. Is this trying to vanguish any doubt that Morgan and his outfit are tools in the hands of the Master?

  6. The dark continent Africa. This is where satan (the devil) resides. Satan wants to see people ever suffering. The economic meltdown does not spare anyone. Whether you voted for Zanu PF of MDC. We shall all feel the effects of the economic contraction – period. The barometer for measuring the performance of the country economically is its people. Their standard of living spells the level of economic activity. Be it per capita income, GDP- all are measured from people. So its the economy- stupid!!!!. A spontenous uprise will be caused by the economic fundamentals not by Baba Jukwa.Lets wait and see.

  7. The dark continent Africa. This is where satan (the devil) resides. Satan wants to see people ever suffering. The economic meltdown does not spare anyone. Whether you voted for Zanu PF of MDC. We shall all feel the effects of the economic contraction – period. The barometer for measuring the performance of the country economically is its people. Their standard of living spells the level of economic activity. Be it per capita income, GDP- all are measured from people. So its the economy- stupid!!!!. A spontenous uprise will be caused by the economic fundamentals not by Baba Jukwa.

  8. People with good analytical minds shouls have seen the demise of MDCs. I don’t understand why this noise about the elections having been rigged when it was so clear that majority of people had seen the light – even western commentators! So revoulution to install a reject? Jukwa’s head must be full of dog s***t

  9. Mugabe dies and goes to heaven. St Peter tells him that he is not welcome in Heaven as he will corrupt the saintly souls there and sends him to the other place below.
    On arrival in Hell,the Devil says he is not welcome here either as he will corrupt the others in Hell and sends him back upstairs only to be sent below again. After several trips up and down the Devil and St Peter
    come to the conclusion that there is only one place to send him where he may be welcome —–—– so the send him back to Zimbabwe.

  10. ZIMBABWE / HISTORY IN / MAKING
    Remains of early hominids have been found in Zimbabwe. About 50,000 years ago the plateau area between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers was inhabited by Khoisan-speaking peoples, the ancestors of the modern San of the Kalahari who left many cave paintings in Zimbabwe, some dating back 30,000 years.
    About 2,000 years ago, Bantu-speaking peoples began crossing the Zambezi, moving into the plateau area. These Iron Age people included the ancestors of the Shona, who were the main occupants of Zimbabwe until the 1830s, when the Ndebele (descended from Iron Age people who had continued further south) moved into the country during the troubles of the menace.
    The development of states from about the early 10th century AD, appears to be linked to the establishment of trading contacts with Muslim merchants on the Mozambique coast, who offered to exchange glass beads and cloth for gold, ivory, and copper (which initially had no economic value to the Shona).
    The first of the trading states was Mapungubwe, centred near the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers. It traded initially mainly in ivory; a gold trade was first developed from panning for stream deposits. Gold-mining began probably during the 11th century, and there are today more than 4,000 pre-colonial working gold sites in modern Zimbabwe.
    A Great Zimbabwe
    The trading state which was based at Great Zimbabwe began to develop in the 11th century, taking over from Mapungubwe in the 13th, and reaching its peak in the 14th—when it extended from Botswana to the coast of Mozambique. The state produced cotton cloth, and smelted and manufactured gold, copper, and iron.
    Great Zimbabwe, whose monumental ruins can still be seen near the River Mutirikwe in the south-east, became a city of some 10,000 people. It ceased to be the centre of the Zimbabwe state and culture in the mid-15th century, possibly because it had outgrown the ability of the surrounding countryside to support such a large settlement.
    New Shona states, such as that of the Torwa, the Mutapa, and the Changamire, succeeded the Zimbabwe state.
    At the beginning of the 14th century the large centralized state, later known as the Mwene Mutapa Empire, came into being. After a rapid territorial expansion in the 15th century, this polity split, and the southern kingdom of Changamire was established.
    B White Settlement
    The Portuguese, who gained a toehold on the Mozambique coast shortly after 1500, sent missionaries to Mwene Mutapa, and by 1629 they had reduced the once-powerful empire to a vassal state, though they were forced out by an alliance of Mutapa and Changamire in 1693. Changamire conquered most of the Mutapa Empire at the end of the 17th century.
    During the mfecane, the great migrations of the 1830s, the Ngoni, on their march north, destroyed Changamire, and the Ndebele soon after settled in the western part of the country. In 1888 King Lobengula of the Ndebele granted mining rights to the British colonialist Cecil Rhodes, and the following year Rhodes obtained a charter for his British South Africa Company. Subsequent white settlement and encroachment on native lands under company auspices brought warfare with both the Ndebele and the Shona that continued until 1897.
    C Rhodesian Self-Government and UDI
    Before World War I the white settlers had begun to demand self-government. These demands were renewed after the war, and in 1923 the British proclaimed Southern Rhodesia, as the country had become known, a self-governing British colony. From 1953 to 1963 it was a member of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. African nationalists, led notably by Joshua Nkomo in Zimbabwe and Hastings Kamuzu Banda in Nyasaland (Malawi), opposed the federation, but their movements were banned by the colonial authorities.
    By as early 1964 Malawi got its independent from Britain.
    When the federation was dissolved in 1963, the white settlers pressed for independence, which the British government refused to grant without safeguards for ultimate African control. After two years of abortive negotiations, the white government, led by Ian Smith, declared unilateral independence on November 11, 1965.
    The United Kingdom immediately imposed economic sanctions, and the UN later imposed a total embargo on trade with the country. If the British had remained silent Zimbabwe would not have obtained its freedom. Zanla and Zapu fighters never fought the British, but rather they the IAN Smith regime that had unilaterally declared independence, instead the British were on their defence
    However, Rhodesia—which in 1970 declared itself a republic—was never recognized either by the United Kingdom or by any other nation, and negotiations with the British government continued. One settlement proposal, drawn up in November 1971, was abandoned the following May when a British commission found it “not acceptable to the people of Rhodesia as a whole”. It is absolutely pointless the for leaders in Zimbabwe to remain insulting the British government for their economy melt down.
    D Growing Isolation
    In the mid-1970s the dissolution of Portugal’s empire in Africa left Rhodesia in an increasingly isolated position. Pressured by South Africa to take a more conciliatory stance, Smith then initiated talks with black leaders. Nkomo and other nationalists, including Robert Mugabe, were released from detention in 1974, but negotiations during the next two years brought no accord.
    Guerrilla activities intensified. In late 1976 Nkomo and Mugabe, both of whom lived in exile, formed the Patriotic Front between their respective forces of ZAPU and ZANU, which in 1977 and 1978 intensified the guerrilla campaign from bases in Mozambique to overthrow the Smith regime. The history is endless. The question is, what the purpose of liberation struggle if the people are not benefiting.

  11. zimbos are not north africans who sacrifice to die we will die at our time we cant wait for somebody to decide for us baba jukwa must do it alone

  12. Baba Jukwa, honesty who in their right mind is still listening to this character, a true warrior won’t hide behind a computer screen. This guy has given people of Zimbabwe false hope before, during and now after the elections, it’s time for people to think about their families.

  13. ARE YOU A BLIEVER OR A SINER
    Religion is manmade. It is practiced by man and believed by man. Nothing becomes a fact until it is believed to be true. Some people believe that a goat has mystical powers whilst others believe that a virgin became pregnant. This belief makes it true and whatever is believed becomes the believer’s reality. The saying mind over matter comes to mind.
    We live in a very complex world. This world is governed by what we perceive as right or wrong, good or bad, just or unjust, righteousness or evil. The question arises as to who has the authority to set these standards and set these boundaries. Regardless of whether you and I have an input or not these rules exist and they change all the time. Again the question arises who changes these rules and why? The point must be made that when something exists the only question is whether we believe it and thus will support it.
    Humans are just as complex. We support many things that we do not believe and become like sheep. (Follow without reasoning) Others question everything and reasons before accepting whilst some don’t support the idea yet conform in order to fit in. Lastly there are those of us who do not like upsetting anybody so we conform to keep the peace or not to rock the boat.
    Religion is one of the most powerful tools of manipulation ever thought of. As a child we learn and come to believe many things. It is round this time that religion makes its initial impact on our lives. Many of our guardians use religion to discipline us by telling us the great evils that will befall us if we do not comply. It is thus at this point that we differentiate between good and evil and consider our lives as not really our own but controlled by a higher being or deity. Suddenly boundaries are set and our way of life is predetermined.
    Is it fair (and when I say “fair”, by whose standards am I making the comparison); that someone born in a remote part of the world is exempt from the privileges that we will enjoy because of our religion? They may never have heard of it. Are we to believe then that religion is the right of only those who are literate?
    What separates us as mankind? Does a person born in Iraq or South Africa have the same opportunities in life as a person born in the United States of America? Is one nation more important than the other? For those of us with children or parents; is our loved measured towards each of them? Why does it seem that we hurt the ones we love yet are tolerant of outsiders?
    I believe that the one person you cannot lie to is yourself. As humans we have a need to be loved and to be accepted. We need to feel that belong to a group or have roots somewhere. Yet we find our interaction with people is governed by our religion. That is what I have a problem with. If asked what religion you belong to I state: “Christian” of course. I know all about the religion and can quote passages from the source that I was taught to believe in. Do I really believe? To be honest I have many doubts. I have too many unanswered questions. If people begin to compare Jesus and god, then all shall fall.
    I believe that the same questions I ask are asked by other people about their religions and as long as there is doubt we don’t truly believe. And if we don’t believe then it is not completely true. I must conclude that any religion is therefore not completely the absolute truth. Man writes religion for man using mans limited imagination. With these limitations he sets the standards for mankind TO BELIEVE IN WITHOUT QUESTION. We need to question the author’s agendas and mindset when a religion is set out.
    I believe that we are not all equal. We are all born. We all breathe the air around us. In some parts of the world the air is cleaner than others. Some of our parents have defective genes and as result some of us are born less healthy than others. Some parents are wealthy whilst others poor as paupers. Now I ask how equal are we all? What I can say is that at some point in time we are all born.
    At infancy we are all like a sponge sucking information that is passed on to us by people surrounding us. It is around this time that we are shaped. Our biggest influence is our guardians. We tend to be an extension of their beliefs. If they believe in satanic worship then the infant sees human sacrifice as normal. Strange sexual practices and body piercing is also seen as normal. When the infant comes into contact with people with similar beliefs that perception is strengthened.
    However humans do not live in a vacuum. When this infant is exposed to other beliefs their reality becomes blurred and is questioned. A test of their reality results and may result in a new reality been formed or not. However, it is not forgotten and will trouble the infant as their powers of reasoning develop later in life. Infancy as the development stage of all of us is so strong that many psychologists still examine an adult’s childhood for problems with conceived realities.
    When we grow up we often question what we believed to be true as we come into contact with many outside influences. However the way we are shaped as a child is very difficult to alter. This is why I stated that that religion is one of the most powerful tools of manipulation. The power money and control generated by it profits people like you and me.
    People who do not subscribe to any of the beliefs we may hold as true manipulate us into doing things that benefit them and their organizations by questioning us when we digress from what our religion instructs us to do. Still other people manipulate the wording of our doctrines to suit themselves and in the process control our very actions to some degree.
    We all have different governments ruling the land we live in. Some are autocratic whilst others are democratic. The idea of religion transcends all these boundaries. It is the idea of sharing a common belief, a common reality. People from different backgrounds are mobilized to spread a doctrine, a man made belief that promises more than an earthly explanation for our existence. It seems to answer all the questions that we cannot answer and has an air of the supernatural about it.
    Everyday we watch people die in the name of these various religions; we watch people murder, steal rape and plunder whilst professing to be doing good. We hear of Holy wars and human sacrifices and yet we still believe… The most powerful government is not an elected one rather the spiritual one. Good examples being the Islamic government and the Catholic Government to name but two of the giants.
    These governments do not answer to an audit of citizens or even a race or individual. They are larger than life and do not allow for questioning of their prescribed doctrines. Some claim to be a way of life yet do not allow for freedom of expression.
    Clever manipulation of what they perceive to be logically and morally correct often has custodians of religious orders distort principles to suit external agendas. As times change so does religion to accommodate different cultures new ideas and principles. We hear what was then is now and will be forever but on the other hand if we hear that in these modern times we need to adapt or die. So then when we examine all of this I need to ask the question. How pure is religion?
    I work in a building with more than three hundred different people. Each an individual, each with his or her own life to lead or is it so? So many of my colleagues are really not living their own lives. Their decisions seem to be tainted by what other people think. They don’t want to appear stupid or too clever or perhaps they just want to fit in. They do not question many situations or give comment and rather bottle up their opinions.
    What is the point of me writing this you may ask? You decide. I can only express my viewpoint, my conceived reality.

  14. Look let zim move is it bad to support those who are in power pliz uprising for what you will get killed try it

  15. The best we have
    known Mugabe for
    the past 33years is
    HATE, Economic
    failure, grandstanding
    against the western countries
    and severe hunger. Mugabe is
    nothing other than a stooge who
    at Zanu PF funerals, Heroes Day
    and Independence he gets to the
    podium with speeches which
    castigates the west. NEVER have I
    heard Mugabe talking on how
    Electricity generation will be
    improved or how pre-schools
    will be improved. Even prison life
    where he obtained his degrees
    over ten years during Rhodesia is
    now a death trap Mugabe never
    tells us how he is going to
    improve those. People are dying
    in prison like rats Mugabe was
    much healthier when Ian Smith
    incarcerated him for 10 years.
    Mugabe being selfish; no one in
    prison can expect to be
    educated like him. This current
    vote rigging is a way of avoiding
    the very prison service Mugabe
    has destroyed.

  16. unonyepa iwe, peace yejuita mahwindi nekutengesa ma juice card wait,murikutiiko imi.

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