TOMORROW IS BUILT TODAY BY ANDREW NYATHI WITH JOHN HOFFMAN S S E R ANVIL P First published in 1990 By ANVIL Press PO BOX 4209 HARARE, ZIMBAWE Andrew Nyathi AND John Hoffman Origination by Laser print, Harare Printed by Mazongororo Paper Converters, Harare Second Publication Printed by TM Graphics& Printing, South Africa Pictures by Biddy Partridge and John Hoffman Cover Design by Mike Glen-Williamson Picture cover‟ Liberation 2‟, posterprint by George Nene (Courtesy of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe) ISBN 0-7974-0934-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission from the publisher 2 CONTENTS Preface 5 Acknowledgements 6 John Hoffman introduces Andrew Nyathi and Simukai 7 1 „You are on Your Own‟ 10 2 „I Have Vanished‟ 18 3 Into Exile 26 4 To the Front! 33 5 Cease – fire and the Assembly Points 41 6 Demobilisation and My Step –father‟s Riddle 50 7 High Hopes, Harsh Reality 58 8 The Darkest Hour IS Just Before Dawn 67 9 ZIMPRO and OCCZIM 76 10 Surviving the System 94 11 The Struggle Continues: the New Simukai 103 12 Crisis and Development 112 13 Success, Sacrifice and Solidarity 122 14 New Generations 131 3 PREFACE 4 Deep individual determination and collective action for the common good which characterised the essential core of the liberation struggle, and which are so necessary in the Zimbabwe of today and tomorrow, lie at the heart of this story. It is the story of how Andrew Nyathi and other members of Simukai Co- operative Participated in that struggle and captured their right to work the land – the land for which the war was fought. The story of Simukai is the story in miniature of Zimbabwe-the sacrifice through war for freedom and the continuing struggle for democracy and development, for joy, for peace and for fun. Here, for you, is the story. Judith Todd Reg.Austin Zimbabwe Project Faculty of Law University of Zimbabwe Harare, February 1990 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 Nkosana Mavule assisted in writing the first draft of this book. The Zimbabwe Project Trust has played a key role in making this book possible. Their staff Xeroxed drafts made phone calls and assisted us in any way we asked. Robin Wild spent many hours discussing, transporting and advising. Judy Todd and Paul Temba Nyathi provided valuable background information. Anvil Press has been immensely encouraging. Jackie Cahi. Mergie Robertson and Pat Brickhill all helped with comments and encouragement. Ishmail Kabaira provided us with fascinating reminiscences both of the war and the immediate post war period. Akwe Amosu and Tim Oshodi willingly shared their experiences of Simukai with us. Jeremy Brick hill gave advice about the bookend proved to be a mine of information on OCCZIM. Albert „Sekuru‟ Ndinah talked to us about OCCIM and his educational work in the GDR during the war. The Nyathis at Tsholotsho, Keni Ndlovu, Mr. Mazalu (the headmaster at Dinyane school), and Fanethola and Makhathini Guduza all shared memories with us. Dumiso Dabengwa provided valuable insights into the Operation Seed and Alwyn Bizure, a librarian at the Herald, helped to trace important press material. Chris Hurst talked to us about the Simukai Drama. It is when we turn to acknowledge our debts to the members of Simukai that the list of names threatens to stretch to infinity. The comrades who were particularly able to help (often because they were around) were Sydney Malinga; Kennias Maplanka; Nkosana Mavule; Butholezwe Mavule; Joyce Mbothswa, Christopher Moyo; Iyifani Moyo; Otress Moyo; Thenjiwe Moyo; Thulani Moyo; Tymon Moyo, Cristopher Munhungaperi; Agenia Ncube; Job Ncube; Mandla Ncube; Senzeni Ncube; Star Ncube; David Ndlovu; Rabson Ndlovu; Rumbidazai Ndlovu; Richman Nkolomi; Aleck Nkonkoni, Mavis Ntini; Andrew Nyathi jnr; Barbra Phiri; Evernice Shambira; John Tshabangu, and Mike Zhou. A special thanks toTalent Nyathi and Rowan Roenish for their support and encouragement and to young Antony Nyathi who enthusiastically accompanied us on our trip to Bulawayo and Tsholotsho in July 1989. Andrew Nyathi John Hoffman October 1989 6 John Hoffman Introduces Andrew Nyathi and Simukai I stand with the children as they watch attentively, their faces creased with excitement and anticipation. Perched precariously on the edge of a sorting table in large tobacco barn, they applaud and shout as the drama unfolds in front of them. „Now as the comrades come to hit you, you must keep an eye contact, keep eye contact, and then throw your head like this!‟ Chris Hurts, their enthusiastic instructor, gestures vigorously to emphasise the point. The actors standing beneath the thermometers and production schedules nod in agreement. This is one of the high points of the play. Conflict has broken out in the co-operative by making accusations about the misappropriation of the funds. It is one of the many episodes of the play which have to be perfected b the time the anniversary celebrations takes place – when the Simukai Collective Farming Co-operative will mark eight years of existence. __________________________________ Anyone who knows anything about co-operatives in Zimbabwe will have heard Simukai. Read any report or article about co-ops in this country and Simukai will be mentioned. It is one of Zimbabwe „s success stories, but it is impossible to grasp Simukai‟s achievements merely from the statistics its hectares of irrigated wheat, export quality cattle, pigs maize, soya and sugar beans or its tobacco-impressive as these are. For Simukai is not simply about cattle and mealies, wheat and tobacco .Simukai is about people and the drama which is being re-enacted in the barn is the drama of its people and their determination to succeed. Visit Simukai and the experience will stay with you for the rest of your life. The co-op certainly made an indelible impression upon me as my partner and I were driven through its dusty entrance with its message of welcome and its striking emblem–a ram‟s head encased within a machine cog and flanked by sheaves of wheat and maize cobs. It was a crisp winter‟s day in 1986 and I had returned to my native Zimbabwe after an absence of almost twenty years. My English born- wife, Rowan Roenish, was keen to visit the country which had so obviously shaped my own beliefs and personality. The Zimbabwe Project Trust, the energetic and dedicated welfare organization which features so prominently in this book, had invited us to see their training centre at the Adelaide Acres, not far from Harare, before taking us on to Simukai- about another twenty kilometres away. At Adelaide Acres we had sat in on a training session on co- operative management. Taking the class was a small man, with a soft but intense voice which would rise sharply every time his finger poked the blackboard to reinforce a point. Although we could not understand his words spoken in both Shona and Ndebele he seemed to be speaking with great coherence and clarity. It was my first encounter with Andrew Nyathi. I had no idea that this intense instructor with the furrowed brow was linked to Simukai. All we knew as we drove through the entrance that there was something special about this co- 7 operative – an electricity and excitement was pulsing through the place which no visitor could ignore. This was the home of freedom fighters who had sacrificed so much for Zimbabwe and who were now building a new life on a farm on which livestock and crops matched the best in the land . A brisk walks through the piggery and the curing barns–in those days filled with groundnuts rather than tobacco-led us onto a site where a building was under construction. This were told proudly, was to be the crèche and infant school which today caters for some 40 children, ten hours a day, seven days a week. It provided even then a revealing glimpse into the future of a community determined to manage its affairs in a spirit of comradeship and equality. ________________________ The visit to Simukai and the trip to Adelaide Acre aroused my interest in Zimbabwean co-ops. When I returned to Zimbabwe in 1988- this time to show our two children something of the country about which their father spoke so incessantly- a novel proposition was put to me. Would I be willing to work on a manuscript by Andrew Nyathi? Everyone who had read the work was convinced that here was a book of great power and potential, but someone was needed to spend time working through its material with the author. I was delighted to assist. During my trip in 1988 I was handed the manuscript by the publishers, and a meeting was arranged with Andrew and Simukai. It was to be the most memorable day of my stay. Andrew was, I think curious, perhaps even anxious, to meet a strange academic from abroad whose knowledge of co-operatives was, he rightly suspected, of a wholly bookish kind. For my part, it took quite some time to communicate comfortably with a soft– spoken man whose sentences were often cryptic and always pithy, and whose short stature seemed to concentrate all the more forcefully his commitment to co-operatives. After a statistical briefing in the office and lunch with his wife Talent, the two of us retreated to the bottom of a newly-excavated earthen dam which is today periodically harvested for its bream. For over three hours in the blazing winter sunshine, the tape-recorder ran as Andrew began to tell his story.