Long Live Tongogara and Thomas Sankara

AS AFRICANS at home and abroad are gathered with loved ones and family celebrating either Kwanzaa, an expression aimed at embracing our indigenous cultural origins created by Maulana Karenga in 1966 and lasts from December 26th to January 1st, or Christmas which displays the undeniable footprints of settler colonialism and chattel slavery, let us end the year by remembering two fallen sons of Mother Africa that truly represent and exemplify the bravery, patriotism which best defines our collective fighting spirit and resolve, H.E. Comrade Thomas Sankara, Burkina Faso’s former President and the Commander of ZANLA’s guerilla army General Josiah Magama Tongogara.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of H.E. Sankara’s assassination, cowardly carried out by the neo-colonialist stooge and poor excuse for an African, Blaise Compaore.

Because Kwanzaa begins on the exact calendar day that Comrade Tongogara transitioned due to a fatal car crash in Mozambique (the exact date was December 26th 1979), we humbly request that Africans who partake in this festive and empowering occasion begin the libation (a ceremony where water is poured in tribute to our most fearless warriors on the battlefield as well as loved ones no longer with us in the physical world) in the diaspora and on our beloved continent of origin, begin each and every year by mentioning Comrade Tongogara as a way of showing appreciation not only for the exemplary manner he led Zimbabwe’s guerilla forces against British/Rhodesian Colonial Forces, but the countless drops of blood, sweat and sacrifice he personally gave to the liberation struggle.

General Tongogara also belonged to FRELIMO and UNIP, we must hail the Zimbabwean people, for sharing one of their greatest warriors with their extended family in the SADC region, in the spirit of Revolutionary Pan-Africanism.

This gesture will send the message that even though Zimbabwe’s former President and liberation icon Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, a living legend, we boldly reject any narrative that reduces the 2nd and 3rd Chimurenga to his autobiography exclusively, we instead opt for a revolutionary approach to Zimbabwe’s legacy that shines the light on all the key National Heroes like Comrade and General Tongogara, Comrade Herbert Chitepo, Comrade Leopold Takawira, late Vice Presidents Comrade Simon Muzenda, Comrade Joshua Nkomo, Comrade Joseph Msika Mbuya Nehanda, and Amai Sally Mugabe to name a few.

While it is commonly accepted that H.E. Comrade Sankara the first African Head of State 1984 recipient of the Jose Marti Award (Cuba’s Highest Political Honour), which is perhaps the reason many refer to this powerful warrior as the Che Guevara of Africa.

After we thoroughly examine the work of Comrade Tongogara we think our comrades in Vietnam would be both humbled and pleased if, we in the spirit of Revolutionary Solidarity begin to call him the General Giap of Africa, we also think everyday Zimbabweans who hold Comrade Tongogara in the highest regard would whole heartedly embrace him being compared to one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th Century.

When we trace Comrade and General Tongogara’s steps in Mozambique and Zambia it certainly compares in quality to General Giap’s strategic brilliance that was displayed in the First Indochina War, The Vietnam War, and other historical battles in Vietnamese history like Lang Son, Hoa Binh, Dien Bien Phu, the TET Offensive, the Easter Offensive, and the final Ho Chi Minh Campaign.

Prior to their frontline revolutionary involvement, both H.E. and Comrade Sankara and Comrade Tongogara had same rather unique experiences that began an ideological departure from the colonial and slave mentality, which every African must acknowledge and confront as the first step towards full decolonisation.

Full article on www.herald.co.zw