Revolution redux
TENDAI MUSIKAVANHU: My family's history of Zimbabwe revolution
The downfall of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and the swearing-in of Emmerson Mnangagwa spins us right back to where we were in 1980
In the country immediately north of SA, a black university student walked up to the tyrannical head of government and quoted a warning from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: "Beware the Ides of March." Predictably, that student was hurled into prison and not heard of again for three years. It’s the kind of story that emanated often from the regime of Robert Mugabe. Except this particular story isn’t about Zimbabwe under Mugabe; it’s about Rhodesia under Ian Smith in the mid-1960s. The story is about my late father, Herbert Musikavanhu. It is also the reason I was born in London, after he was exiled by Smith’s white supremacist government. The story of Zimbabwe affects SA more than many realise. This is not just because my family, like many others, straddles the Limpopo (my grandfather was South African), but because it is about African revolution, its complexity and its lessons. Revolution is "a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system". It is also, a...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.