TANZIA Ex-Rhodesia leader Ian Smith dies

Waziri Mkuu wa zamani wa Rhodesia- Ian Smith amefariki dunia! Hali ya Zimbabwe kwa sasa ni tete na ngumu kwa watu wengi. Je huyu Mzungu atakumbukwa Zimbabwe kwa lipi? Smith never believed Africans can rule themselves in 1000 years to come!

The former prime minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith, has died aged 88.
The cause of his death is unknown but he had been ill for some time at a residential home in South Africa.
He illegally declared independence from Britain in 1965 and his white minority government led the country for 14 years amid international scorn and sanctions.

Following a bitter bush war with black nationalists, his government gave way to a new administration in 1979, leading to the creation of Zimbabwe.

Ian Smith's supporters continued to laud him as a political visionary and a man who understood the uncomfortable truths of Africa.

To his detractors, however, he was an unrepentant racist.

Mr Mugabe's deputy information minister, Bright Matonga, described Ian Smith as a man who brought untold suffering to millions of Zimbabweans.

"We offered him the hand of reconciliation which he never accepted. Good riddance," Mr Matonga was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

The BBC's James Robbins says that to the end of his days Ian Smith was convinced that Rhodesians, black and white, would have fared better under his leadership than that of Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party.
He died believing he had been vindicated by Zimbabwe's current crisis, with its massive inflation and unemployment.

Sidelined
Steeped in the colonial values of his Scottish immigrant father, Mr Smith was a born leader with a distinguished war record as an RAF fighter pilot, says our correspondent.

He helped to found the right-wing Rhodesian Front, which came to power in 1962, and when the-then prime minister, Winston Field, baulked at the prospect of seizing independence, the party turned to Mr Smith, who gave them what they wanted.

He became prime minister of the then self-governing British colony of Rhodesia in 1964. The following year he made his Unilateral Declaration of Independence and years of civil war ensued.

Ian Smith denied this was caused by the actions of his regime and insisted there was nothing wrong with five million blacks being ruled by 200,000 whites.

In the end, Mr Smith maintained, it was not his enemies who beat him, but apartheid South Africa's threat to cut Rhodesia's lifeline.

Margaret Thatcher's UK government brokered a peace deal in the Lancaster House talks in 1979 and a black-majority government took over Zimbabwe.

Ian Smith remained a key player in Zimbabwean politics until seats reserved for whites were abolished in 1987.

In retirement, Mr Smith was finally relegated to the sidelines.

Obituary: Ian Smith

Ian Smith was prime minister of Rhodesia for 15 turbulent years. During that period, his government illegally declared independence from British rule and fought a guerrilla war against factions of the majority black population.


Ian Smith: Rhodesia's unrepentant
leader

It was a struggle he eventually lost, paving the way for the country's independence as Zimbabwe. His supporters considered him a political visionary. His detractors called him a racist who stayed in power for too long.

Behind enemy lines

Born in the then British colony of Rhodesia in 1919, Ian Douglas Smith was educated at Rhodes University in South Africa, a real son of the soil and a crack sportsman. The colony of Southern Rhodesia was still ruled by a tightly knit white community of fewer that 250,000. The country's black population, numbering some five million, had no say in its political or economic life. Most white Rhodesians could claim British descent and Rhodesia looked to "the Mother Country" with reverence.

During World War II, Ian Smith served as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force. Shot down over the Western Desert, he underwent plastic surgery to his face, which some later believed was responsible for his unsmiling demeanour as a politician. Later in the war he was shot down again, this time over Italy and, for five months, fought alongside the Italian partisans behind German lines.

Rhodesia's independence

At the war's end, Ian Smith returned home and rose to become a government minister in the right-wing Rhodesian Front administration of Winston Field.


Ian Smith declaring Rhodesian
independence in 1965

By the early 1960s, following Harold Macmillan's watershed speech on the "winds of change" in Africa which presaged Britain's withdrawal from the continent, white Rhodesians thought their hold on their country need never loosen.
So-called "Rhodies" wanted their nation to be granted independence, but without any promise that black leaders would take over. In April 1964, Ian Smith came to power and pledged to fulfil their wish.

On 11 November 1965, he made his Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Rhodesia had cast itself adrift from Britain and the Commonwealth. The British response was to dismiss the PM and his cabinet, but the illegal regime did not seem to care.

Negotiations in London

The world community refused to recognise Rhodesia and the United Nations applied economic sanctions, but many international companies secretly broke them - and apartheid South Africa seemed especially keen to chip in. Rhodesia's economy actually strengthened in parts during this time of isolation, and Ian Smith appeared to relish his position.

"I don't believe in black majority rule over Rhodesia," he defiantly proclaimed at the time, "not in a thousand years."
In the end he had to. But it was not British diplomacy which eventually wore him down but armed black opposition and, decisively, Pretoria's decision to withdraw support for his government.


Harold Wilson tried to dissuade
Smith from his illegal course

Attacks on white border farms started in 1972. Five years later, the guerrilla war was costing Rhodesia an estimated half a million pounds a day. John Vorster's South African government, distracted by this expensive sideshow, pulled the financial plug on its neighbour.


White Rhodesians believed
they were in power forever

Forced to the negotiating table, Ian Smith took part in the talks at Lancaster House in London which were to set a new path for what would become Zimbabwe.

Pride in Rhodesia's achievements

Following independence in 1980, Ian Smith remained a key player in Zimbabwean politics. His presence in parliament, which only ended with the scrapping of white-reserved seats in 1987, was a comfort to the white minority and a source of constant irritation to the government of Robert Mugabe. During the crisis surrounding Zimbabwe's general election in June 2000, in which a number of white farmers were murdered in a bloody dispute over land rights, Ian Smith remained unbowed. His farm was invaded by squatters, in an incident which he described as "not serious".


The 1979 Lancaster House talks
sealed Rhodesia's fate

When Robert Mugabe threatened to put Smith on trial for genocide, the former Prime Minister welcomed the move. "We had no atrocities," he claimed. Ian Smith himself felt betrayed, by Britain, by South Africa, by the Commonwealth. And, as Zimbabwe staggered into economic and political crisis, he honestly believed his way was best. "We had the highest standard of health and education and housing for our black people than any other country on the African continent," he reflected.
"That was what Rhodesians did. I wonder if we shouldn't be given credit for doing that."

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more from the Times

.......................Ian Smith, the last leader of white Rhodesia who defied the world by declaring independence from Britain, has died at the age of 88.

Smith, who frequently claimed to enjoy more popularity among blacks than President Robert Mugabe, left Zimbabwe in 2005 and moved to a retirement home in Cape Town. His eldest stepson, Robert, said: "It is finally over for him. His was a life of service to Africa. Whatever came by him, he at least tried."

Smith died at about 7pm on Tuesday night after several weeks of illness. His widowed stepdaughter, Jean Tholet, was with him. Both she and her brother had been caring for him in the retirement home overlooking the sea in the St James area of Cape Town.

Smith leaves six grandchildren. Another son, Alec, died last year. His two stepchildren, Jean and Robert, were children of his late wife, Janet. Her first husband was killed in action in the Second World War. Until his last days, Smith was brimming with opinions on current affairs and obsessed with criticising Mr Mugabe, who he branded a "mentally unstable gangster running a one-party Communist dictatorship".

Smith accused Mr Mugabe of "ruining a wonderful country" and forcing "ordinary black children" to "go to bed hungry". Under his rule, by contrast, Smith claimed that Rhodesia had displayed the "happiest black faces in the world".

He always claimed that Mr Mugabe's record in power had vindicated his opposition to black majority rule. The former Spitfire pilot, who was shot down over Italy in 1944 and spent three months fighting with the Partisans, served as prime minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1964 until 1979.

Smith caused one of the great political crises of the post-war era by unilaterally declaring Rhodesia's independence from Britain in 1965. This move, designed to prevent Britain from imposing majority rule on the colony, was the first revolt by white settlers against the Crown since America's declaration of independence in 1776.

Under Smith's leadership, white settlers, comprising only four per cent of the population, set out to guarantee their dominance. "I don't believe in black majority rule ever for Rhodesia, not in a thousand years," he declared. But Smith's UDI radicalised the black opposition, helped Mr Mugabe to seize control of the largest liberation movement and caused the outbreak of guerrilla war in 1972.

Britain imposed sanctions and ensured that Smith's Rhodesia was a renegade, pariah state. In the end, Smith could not withstand this combination of pressure from without and war from within.
He witnessed the handover of power to independent Zimbabwe under Mr Mugabe's leadership in 1980. But Mr Mugabe treated Smith with great magnanimity, allowing him to stay in Parliament until 1987 and keep his farm.

Later, Smith enjoyed a quiet retirement in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, and was free to attack Mr Mugabe with impunity.

When he eventually left Zimbabwe, he did so voluntarily. Almost uniquely among white landowners, Smith kept most of his cattle ranch until his death.

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Huyu ni mzungu aliyehakikisha wazungu wenzake wanaishi kwa jasho la waafrika wa Zimbabwe na kuendeleza dhuluma kwa kujiona wao ni bora kuliko binadamu mwingine yoyote.

Viongozi wetu wa kiafrika wanaona sifa kujipendekeza kama malaya kwa wazungu na kuendelea kuwapigia magoti na kuwaona wao ni bora kuliko sisi waswahili. Wanakubali kutumia rasilimali zetu kwa sababu ya peremende wanazopewa na kuingia mikataba ambayo inaendelea kuwanufaisha hawa vibaka. Ukuwadi wao inabidi tuupigie kelele.

Je, wanaweza kuiga mfano wa huyu mzungu na kuwawezesha waafrika wenzao?

Acha UPUUZI, huyu alikuwa BORA na bado ni bora hata akiwa amekufa kuliko MUGABE!

ahhh bana wee acheni aende akasalimie akina nyerere, iddi amini huko !

Jamani let him go in peace regardless of whatever bad he has done but he was in power by that time.

In deed he has done nothing good to be recalled by all africans apart from Zimbabwe people at large

FD said:

Acha UPUUZI, huyu alikuwa BORA na bado ni bora hata akiwa amekufa kuliko MUGABE!

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Kweli ni lazima tuelimishane, tusiwe wapuuzi wa kuchukia watu kutokana na rangi zao, racism is stupid. Smith ni binaadamu alikuwa na ushenzi wake, hata leo fanya Smith, lakini huwezi kumlinganisha Smith na Mugabe hata tone, Rhodesia ya Smith ilikuwa inazalisha chakula kilichokuwa kinaliwa na watu wa nchi nyingi tu za Afrika hata Ulaya kwenyewe, na Zimbabwe ya Mugabe watu wake wanakula Panya na haina chakula cha kutosha, export yake kubwa kwa sasa ni wakimbizi. Zimbabwes economy has been brought to its knees by ujinga wa Mugabe, watu wanasingizia Vikwazo vya uchumi(ukweli ni targeted sanctions), wanasahau kuwa hata Smith alikuwa kwenye vikwazo vya kweli na kwenye vita vya ndani, lakini he deliverd the goods. Let us be fair. Rest in peace Ian, God will bless you!

Huyu alikuwa bora kuliko huyu mmachinga Mugabe na lip service zake kwa wamandingo wa zimbabwe anawaambia wako huru huku hawana chakula na wakijikuta wakimbizi,Zimbabwe ilikuwa kama nchi nyingine tuu za Ulaya ingawaje ubaguzi ulikuwepo lakini naamini ubaguzi ungepigwa vita kwa style ya America(civil rights movements) na kushare madaraka Zimbabwe ingekuwa mbali sana na ubaguzi ungeisha tuu...South Africa iko vile kwa ajiri ya hao hao makaburu na ubaguzi unaishia!

Mzalendohalisi said:

Waziri Mkuu wa zamani wa Rhodesia- Ian Smith amefariki dunia! Hali ya Zimbabwe kwa sasa ni tete na ngumu kwa watu wengi. Je huyu Mzungu atakumbukwa Zimbabwe kwa lipi? Smith never believed Africans can rule themselves in 1000 years to come!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7104552.stm

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Atakumbukwa kwa hizi quotes
"In 1976 declared he didn't believe in black majority rule, "not in a thousand years"

"There will be no black rule in my lifetime,"

He may be right... Look at Mugabe... The guy is not too black to feel the pain of his people... Inflation, hunger, starvation, all in modern Zimbabwe... People remember having enough food when this Ian Right was in power... Mugabe should move out and retire for good. Hapa TZ napo ndipo panapoelekea, yaani uzungu umetawala... Look at the president; he can hardly sit and feel our pain. He is handsome in person and ugly at work! Lowassa, you're just another scumbag! Shein is OK so far!

Tangu niwe mtu mzima, kuna kitu kimoja nimejifunza: Ukishakuwa kiongozi wa nchi, no matter what you will do, expect criticism. Kuna wakati hua najiuliza kama kuna kiongozi anaweza kurest in peace bila lawama pamoja na kujitoa kwa ajili ya nchi yake. Simaanishi huyu Smith kwa sababu sijui mengi kumhusu, ni wazo tu.

1. Yaani Judy umeongea ukweli tupu! Hata unfanye nini wanadamu watakulaumu tu! I think it is a human nature to critisize viongozi- ni vigumu kweli kutaja jina 1 la kiongozi ambae halaumiwi!

2. Mugabe kweli ana makosa yake, Smith pia alikuwa na makosa yake.

3.Leo hata akichunkua Changivrai wa upinzani watu watamlaumu tu!

Pumzika kwa amani Ian

Zimbabwean: 'We were the enemy'

Zimbabwean Richard Donald Munsaka, 53, told the BBC News website, via telephone from his home in the north-western town of Hwange, how he felt after hearing that the ex-Rhodesia leader Ian Smith had died. Ian Smith was a sick old man. I don't begrudge him for what he did - I think he felt he was doing right. He was just an old Zimbabwean man.

But life under Ian Smith wasn't better than it is now.
I have lived under a cruel regime and I am old enough to know the difference between the two. When he was prime minister most of us [black] Africans used to live in what were then called tribal trust [communal] lands.

But my father worked on the railways so I lived in town - in the country's second city, Bulawayo.

Little change left over

In those days, things like bread, although it was there on the shelves, for us it was a luxury. Our staple food was sadza [maize meal cooked with water and a little salt]. We had a desire for bread but didn't have money to buy it. I remember always smelling bread if I was walking near to the area where the whites lived and shopped - I loved its smell and wished I could taste it.

But I never did for many years!
Working on the railways until 1978-79, my father's wages enabled him to buy two 50kg bags of meilie [maize] meal and have a little change left over. My father worked as an assistant grinder - a white or a coloured [mixed race] man would weld the tracks and then my father would grind. The most an African could aspire to be, working on the railways, was a stoker on one of the locomotives and even then that was more for coloureds.
Blacks only got the menial jobs. But if you were an educated African you could be either a teacher or a nurse.

Blacks weren't allowed Under Ian Smith the job that I do now - I am an operating superintendent at Hwange power station - would have been a job for a white man. Even train drivers were white - blacks weren't allowed. People like me weren't trained to learn skills. When my dad set off to work in the morning, my mother would follow him along the railway line to look for shrubs and any wild vegetables that were growing. She would return home and cook them - without cooking oil - so we had something to eat with our sadza.

That was the life of my mother; to make sure we had a meal on the table. And there was no tea either because there was no money for sugar. In those days there were many silly taxes that blacks had to pay. You had to pay a sum to be able to own a dog, even a bicycle.

Goodbye

And if you so happened to have a few cattle to your name and if a white person came along and wanted them, they could just take them. You would just be told: "You see that bull over there, that is for the boss." That was it. Goodbye. There was nothing you could do. I had a cousin who left in 1978 for Angola to become a fighter. He went to war because his late father's nine cattle had been taken away from him by a white cattle rancher. At independence he went and took his cattle back. But I lost another of my uncles to that same white rancher. He was fishing with a few of my other uncles when they were used for target practice. I was still a young man but I have never forgotten, up to this day.

My parents had to pay for our school fees. My two younger brothers lived with one of my uncles in the so-called tribal trust area so they could attend school.

War

When I visited them, I remember the soldiers - Selous Scouts and forces from the Rhodesian Light Infantry. We even knew some of the notorious ones by name. They used to come and ask: "Where are the terrorists?" They used to beat up the women and children if no-one answered. I remember in 1978 there was a fight between the Rhodesian forces and the guerrillas. We all had to run and hide for a long time because the next day Ian Smith's soldiers came, as they always did, to take all the young men away. It was war then.

I stayed and hid at an uncle's home. There were 20 of us in a three-roomed house. We survived on cabbage leaves cooked in plain water with some salt (no cooking oil or tomatoes!) and sadza when it was there. I never actually joined the struggle as a fighter because by the time I wanted to fight, we were told to stay as it was said that there was so many in Zambia, Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania.

We were the enemy

The things we see now, like the bad shortages and everything, you still can't compare. Us Africans, we had to fend for ourselves. We were the enemy. In those days, though, people in tribal trust lands did not suffer like those in the towns because they made sure they were self-sufficient despite that the land the blacks had to live on was not so fertile.
The whites took the best for themselves. Then my father used to point to this land in the distance and tell me that was where our family belonged... but now since the land reform programme, our family have got a portion of our land back.

I never saw a time when I thought that Ian Smith was helping the African people.

Tough nowadays

The comparing reasons that people are making now is not right.
After 1980 and up to the 1990s, life in Zimbabwe was so good.
It was only after the 1980s that blacks could afford to buy cars, televisions, radios, furniture and houses. And everyone went to school, right up to university. Right now I own a motor vehicle - a Toyota Hilux [4x4]. I live in a nice suburban house - three bedrooms, two adjoining lounges, two bathrooms each with a toilet, TV with satellite and I have the internet. You are phoning me on my mobile phone and I also have a landline.
And I although I am a Zanu-PF member, I am not an official. I have worked for everything I own. Apart from the land that was returned to my family.

I own property in Victoria Falls that I acquired myself, without a loan. I am having a house and guesthouse built but these days it is difficult. Getting building materials, even cement is a challenge.

Yes life is tough nowadays here. But when I say that I am comparing it to life during the 1990s. Not to the those during Smith's time because about that, there is nothing to talk about - it was oppression.

Robert Mugabe is not the best leader that we can have. I want the president to leave - he has had his go, he has had his time. But never will Mugabe be worse than Smith.

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Kutoka jikoni.

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Huyu alikuwa bora kuliko huyu mmachinga Mugabe na lip service zake kwa wamandingo wa zimbabwe anawaambia wako huru huku hawana chakula na wakijikuta wakimbizi,Zimbabwe ilikuwa kama nchi nyingine tuu za Ulaya ingawaje ubaguzi ulikuwepo lakini naamini ubaguzi ungepigwa vita kwa style ya America(civil rights movements) na kushare madaraka Zimbabwe ingekuwa mbali sana na ubaguzi ungeisha tuu...South Africa iko vile kwa ajiri ya hao hao makaburu na ubaguzi unaishia!
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Du! Watu mna kumbukumbu ndogo kweli, hivi ni bora tuwe watumwa tulioshiba au huru wenye njaa?

Ndio Zimbabwe kuna na matatizo,lakini ikumbukwe kuwa Mugabe ndiye aliyeleta democrasia Zimbabwe.

Wafrika tuna kazi.

Rubabi said:

Du! Watu mna kumbukumbu ndogo kweli, hivi ni bora tuwe watumwa tulioshiba au huru wenye njaa?

Ndio Zimbabwe kuna na matatizo,lakini ikumbukwe kuwa Mugabe ndiye aliyeleta democrasia Zimbabwe.

Wafrika tuna kazi.

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Uhuru una maana gani kama umekufa na njaa? ukiwa mtumwa halafu umeshiba utaweza kufikiria jinsi ya kujikomboa, ukiwa huru lakini una njaa huwezi kufikiri chochote maana yake ata uhuru wako wakufikiria unachotaka unakuwa umenyang'anywa. Matatizo ambayo mnayatukuza eti mimi niko huru wakati mwanao amelala na njaa hivi waafrika tumelaaniwa nini? hivi wewe Rubabi unasuuzika roho vipi kuona watoto wadogo kule Zimbabwe wanalala na njaa? eti fahari yako anayeleta njaa hiyo ni mtu mweusi mwenzetu!

Si ndio hayo hayo mtu kule kwetu anatuingiza kwenye mikataba ya kutuua na watu wanafurahia kisa aliyefanya hivyo mwenzetu? Mimi bwana realistic kama mtu anaweza kutuendeleza tukasoma tukapata ajira na kuwa na maisha bora mimi nafuraia bila kujali rangi ya ngozi yake, na kama mtu anapora mchana kutwa ninakasirika na kuja juu hata kama huyu mtu ni mweusi mwenzangu.

Ushauri wa bure kuwashangilia washenzi eti kisa wana rangi nyeusi ya ngozi, upuuzi mtupu huu.

Halafu eti Mugabe ndie aliyeleta demokrasia Zimbabwe!? hivi unajua demokrasia wewe? kuna democrasia Zimbabwe?

FD,

Acha UPUUZI, huyu alikuwa BORA na bado ni bora hata akiwa amekufa kuliko MUGABE!

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Kumbe unakubaliana na maneno ya Mbowe aliposema afadhali ya Mkoloni! Tena basi, Mbowe alikuwa very specific kwa kitu gani - HUJUMA YA UCHUMI.

Wanabodi, pleease!

Kama mlikuwa hamfahamu mateso ya Wazimbabwe weusi chini ya utawala wa Kaburu Ian Smith, bora kukaa kimya kabisa.

Propaganda nyingi zimesemwa, kama zilivyokuwa zikisemwa chini ya utawala wa Kaburu huko South Africa, eti tangu Mandela kaingia, ujambazi umekuwa kwa asilimia 100 na nchi sio salama tena. Bahati tu Mandela hakubeba uchafu kama wa Mugabe.

Mugabe ni kiongozi aliye wasaliti wananchi wake, lakini napokluja sikia watu mkisifia Ian Smith kwa sababu kuna baadhi ya vijana wa Kizombabwe waliozaliwa miaka ya 70 wakimsifia... What do they know really?

Guys, hivi kweli ni afadhali mtu kuwa jela penye uhakika wa chakula kuliko kuwa huru lakini huna chakula!...

I mean, tusijaribu kabisa kulinganisha washenzi wawili ambao wote wanaua kwa njia tofauti. Nilikuwa mmoja kati ya Watanzania wa kwanza kwenda Zimbabwe siku ya Uhuru wao, na sidhani kama kulikuwa na mweusi hata mmoja aliyekuwa na madaraka/cheo ama nafasi kuongoza sehemu yoyote ile. Kifupi, hakuna mweusi aliyeweza kushop ktk maduka yao, iwe kwa uwezo ama ruksa!

Acheni jamani, hata kama hapakuwa na Apartheid kama South Africa, lakini huyu mshenzi aliua Waafrika vibaya sana, na dharau yake kwa mtu mweusi huwezi kuipa kipimo hata kidogo. Tena inasikitisha zaidi sifa zinapotoka kwa weusi wenyewe!

Mugabe ni mshenzi, na tutamhukumu kwa mabaya yake, lakini sio kwa kulinganisha na Simba mla nyama mwingine!

Nakuombeni isomeni hotuba ya Mugabe - UN. Ondoeni picha ya nani kayasema, bali chukueni ukweli aliozungumzwa.

Mkandara said:

FD,

Guys, Hivi kweli ni afadhali mtu kuwa jela penye Uhakika wa chakula kuliko kuwa huru lakini huna chakula!...
I mean, tusijaribu kabisa kulinganisha washenzi wawili ambao wote wanaua kwa njia tofauti. Nilikuwa mmoja kati ya Watanzania wa kwanza kwenda Zimbabwe siku ya Uhuru wao, na sidhani kama kulikuwa na mweusi hata mmoja aliyekuwa na madaraka/cheo ama nafasi kuongoza sehemu yoyote ile, kifupi hakuna mweusi aliyeweza ku shop ktk maduka yao iwe kwa uwezo ama ruksa!

Acheni jamani hata kama hapakuwa na Apartheid kama South Africa lakini huyu mshenzi aliua waafrika vibaya sana na dharau yake ya mtu mweusi huwezi kuipa kipimo hata kidogo tena inasikitisha zaidi sifa zinapotoka kwa weusi wenyewe!..
Mugabe ni mshenzi na tutamhukumu kwa mabaya yake lakini sio kwa kulinganisha na Simba mla nyama mwingine!
Nakuombeni isomeni Hotuba ya Mugabe - UN. Ondoeni picha ya nani kayasema bali chukueni ukweli aliozungumzwa.

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Mkandara hapa unatwist mambo, hakuna anayesema kuwa Smith alikuwa Mungu. Smith naye alikuwa na ushenzi wake. Alichokuwa akisema wakati ule kilikuwa na ukweli wake, japo hakukisema kwa njia inayostahili. Wazimbabwe wengi hawakuwa na uwezo wa kuchukua nchi na kuendeleza kama ilivyokuwa, na ukumbuke kuwa wakati ule ubaguzi wa rangi ulikuwa ni mtindo kwa watawala. Hakuna anayesema kuwa alikuwa sahihi kwa asilimia zote, na yeye naye alikuwa na ushenzi wake.

Lakini ukiangalia kipindi chake cha utawala cha miaka 15, na kipindi cha utawala cha Mugabe tangu nchi hiyo ipate uhuru, utaona tofauti kubwa. Usijidanganye na hotuba iliyosomwa na Mugabe kwenye UN. Mugabe amefilisika kisiasa na ana hofu kubwa ya kuhukumiwa anapoondoka madarakani, ndiyo maana anang'ang'ania madaraka.

Smith aliua watu takriban 30,000 kwenye mapambano na wafuasi wa Mugabe, wengi wao walikuwa Waafrika. Lakini Mugabe ameuua weusi wengi vilevile, karibu nusu ya idadi ya watu. Kwa maoni yangu, wote ni wauaji, lakini muuaji mmoja aliweza kuendeleza uchumi ambao uliwafaidi wote, weusi na weupe. Lakini uchumi wa sasa wa Mugabe unawanufaisha viongozi wenzake tu.

Mbowe alisema ni heri mkoloni, nadhani wakati wa ukoloni Watanganyika walikuwa na maisha bora kuliko sasa. Hata ukiangalia shule walizosoma, hospitali walizokwenda, na mishahara waliyopata Watanganyika wakati wa ukoloni, inaonesha kuwa kiuchumi walikuwa huru kutoka kwa serikali na umaskini kuliko sasa. Sasa hivi, Tanzania ina uhuru kutoka kwa utawala wa kisiasa, lakini uchumi unawanufaisha watu wachache sana. Kwa hiyo, Mbowe alikuwa na hoja, si mjinga. Ukumbuke anaongoza chama cha siasa, na waliomchagua hawakumchagua mjinga.

Bongolander,

Mkandara hapa unatwist mambo, hakuna anayesema kuwa Smith was God, Smith naye alikuwa na ushenzi wake. Alichokuwa akisema wakiti ule kilikuwa na ukweli wake japo hakukisema ina a civilized manner. Wazimbabwe wengi hawakuwa in a position ya kuchukua nchi na kuiendeleza kama ilivyokuwa, na ukumbuke kuwa wakatu ule racims ilikuwa ni fashion kwa watawala. Hakuna anayesema kuwa alikuwa sahihi kwa asilimia zote, na yeye alikuwa na ushenzi wake

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Nadhani sijaelewa ujumbe wako vizuri. Unataka kufafanua nini? Nimesema wapi kwamba mnafananisha Ian Smith na Mungu? Je, unajua maana ya "Uungu" na jinsi neno hilo linavyotumiwa?

Ndugu yangu, maelezo yako yanadhihirisha wazi kuwa wewe ni kijana mdogo, kufikiri kuwa ubaguzi wa rangi ulikuwa mtindo ni jambo la kusikitisha zaidi, hasa kutoka kwa mtu mweusi. Kwa ufupi, ninajaribu kuwa kama mpatanishi wa hoja zinazotolewa hapa ili tuweze kuheshimu umuhimu wa jiji hili. Naomba radhi sana, lakini tafadhali kumbuka kuwa watu wa kila aina hufuatilia mazungumzo yanayofanyika hapa na wengine wanaweza kuamini kuwa tunawakilisha fikra zetu kikamilifu. Nia na madhumuni yangu ni kuhimiza watu kuwa makini kidogo, hasa linapokuja suala kama hili. Si lazima uchangie ikiwa huna uhakika na yaliyotokea zamani.

Labda nijieleze kwa ufupi, ni kwamba tunapojaribu kulinganisha mambo, ni bora zaidi kutumia mfano wa mema dhidi ya mabaya. Ian Smith hawezi kamwe kuwa mfano mzuri hata kidogo, ingawa tunakubaliana kuwa Mugabe ni kiongozi mbaya. Ni mambo gani mazuri ambayo Wazimbabwe walikuwa nayo? Je, ni hadithi zinazosimuliwa na vijana waliozaliwa miaka ya 70 baada ya Mugabe kuwa madarakani? Sasa labda tuseme hata mateso ya Mugabe ni mtindo kwa sababu ndivyo ninavyoona kwa viongozi wengi wa Kiafrika.

Ni ajabu jinsi watu weusi wanavyotafuta njia za kuupamba utumwa au ukoloni hadi kufikia hatua ya kubadilisha historia ili kuficha aibu zetu. Ukitembelea Zanzibar leo, mahali ambapo watumwa walikuwa wakiuzwa, wamebadilisha kabisa na eneo hilo sasa lina mmiliki Mzungu ambaye ameondoa minyororo na vitu vyote vinavyohusiana na historia ya utumwa. Na sisi kwa kiburi tunajivunia kuonyesha majumba ya Sultani na jinsi alivyotawala nchi yetu, lakini hatuzungumzii utumwa, kwa sababu tunahisi ni aibu na siyo fahari.

Nina uhakika kuwa ni wachache humu ndani wanaofahamu kuhusu Vita ya Majimaji, viongozi wetu wa jadi, na jinsi walivyopinga ukoloni. Lakini haya yote tumeyafukia na badala yake tumekumbatia zaidi mambo kama yale aliyofanya David Livingston.

Kwa mtazamo huo, je, kizazi kijacho kitakuwa na kumbukumbu gani isipokuwa kumtukana kila mtawala anayekuja na kusifia wakoloni?

Mkandara,

Al in all ila mi naona UWEZO wa kujitawala hatuna. Tuna matatizo mengi mnnoo!

FD,

Al in all ila mi naona UWEZO wa kujitawala hatuna. Tuna matatizo mengi mnnoo!

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Nimekuelewa vizuri sana hapo kama hutatumia mfano ule pale nyuma. Kifupi kilichotufanmya kuombe Uhuru wetu ni kuondokana na Kutawaliwa, iwe na mzungu ama mtu mweusi lakini kwa bahati mbaya viongozi na wanasiasa wetu wametaka kuchukua pale alipoachia Mkoloni, Leadership kwao ni RULE... hakuna kabisa nafasi ya rule of law.
Hata hivyo bado nina matumaini na kizazi hiki kipya ikiwa wataweza kuipokea historia yetu na kuitazama mapungufu yake kisha kutafuta ufumbuzi badala ya kufungiwa elimu ktk pakacha bila kufahamu kilichomo.