AT the dawn of independence in 1980, Zimbabwean revolutionary Joshua Nkomo confronted a nightmare vision of the country’s future trajectory.
Nkomo — the towering leader of Zapu and former vice-president — remains immortalised in Zimbabwe’s history for his selfless service. Fondly remembered as Umdala Wethu (Father Zimbabwe), his legacy stands in stark contrast to the nation’s subsequent descent into turmoil.
Within years of independence, Africa’s newest state plunged into civil conflict as Robert Mugabe moved ruthlessly to crush Nkomo’s support base.
Through the Gukurahundi campaign, Mugabe deployed the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade across Matabeleland, systematically targeting Nkomo’s supporters. The Zimbabwe Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace estimates that nearly 20 000 perished in these massacres.
This brutal repression marked a bitter irony: a government that had dismantled Ian Smith’s racist regime through the promise of “one man, one vote” now pursued single-party authoritarianism.
Reflecting on this period, Nkomo observed with tragic prescience: “The hardest lesson of my life has come to me late. It is that a nation can win freedom without its people becoming free.”
Forced into exile as Mugabe’s forces hunted his allies, Nkomo watched as trusted lieutenants like Zipra commander Lookout Masuku and intelligence chief Dumiso Dabengwa were imprisoned. The democratic aspirations of 1980 had curdled into dictatorship.
As Zimbabwe marks 45 years of independence this week, Nkomo’s nightmares endure. The ruling Zanu PF party has institutionalised the suppression of dissent while presiding over a kleptocratic state.
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Under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, power remains concentrated among a narrow ethnic clique — perpetuating Mugabe’s corrosive legacy of tribal favouritism over meritocracy.
Twenty-six years after Nkomo’s death, Zimbabwe remains shackled to authoritarianism and economic collapse.
Rampant poverty, shattered industries and mass unemployment testify to systemic failure.
Recent developments such as Mnangagwa’s signing of the repressive Private Voluntary Organisations Bill — which jeopardises Zimbabwe’s efforts to resolve its US$21 billion debt — demonstrate continued democratic backsliding.
Zimbabwe’s history, to borrow from James Joyce, remains “a nightmare from which (it) is trying to awake.”
While the Second Republic has made limited progress in some areas, its failure to establish genuine democracy has been categorical.
The golden dream of 1980 — of freedom, prosperity and unity — remains painfully elusive. For all who shared Nkomo’s vision, the struggle continues.
