Vesta Sithole Publishes Book On Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle
‘’My Life With An Unsung Hero:’’
The Book
The purpose of the book is to educate the people about how the armed struggle was started and who participated in the beginning. The author seeks to clarify some misrepresentations of events as they have been described. The book tries to show the foresighted thinking of Rev. Sithole.
The Author
The author was born Vesta Zvemwaida Sithole in 1942 in the Eastern Highlands area of Melseter (Chimanimani) in Zimbabwe. At the young age of 19, the author left her beloved home for Tanzania, ending her nursing career mid-way, to contribute to the liberation struggle. She crossed the Zambezi River with the political party ZAPU which was going to form a government in exile.
As a result of her direct involvement in the struggle she witnessed the break up of ZAPU and formation of ZANU and other subsequent parties. The author witnessed first hand Zimbabwe’s journey to freedom by being present at various forums discussing the hand over from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. As a result of her quest for Zimbabwe’s freedom, she was harassed, jailed and subjected to sub-verse treatment by both the Rhodesian forces as well as her fellow citizens. In 1967, the author married Tanzanian banker and economist Jackson Mwakalyelye, with whom she has four children. She was widowed in 1972 when her husband died at the
very young age of 36.
In 1984 the author married the liberation fighter and founder of ZANU the late Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole. To this day, the author is committed to speaking out against the injustices of her fellow citizens by the government of Robert Mugabe. Having sacrificed her life to the struggle to free Zimbabwe, the author still feels Zimbabwe people deserve more freedom.
Want to buy the book go to www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~34848.aspx
1 comment:
George Ayittey`s seems to have misunderstood Zimbabwe and its Trades Union movement in his comments on the recent ZCTU action. He says the demonstration was against high levels of taxation – is he right? I understood that it was against low wages and the fact that 80% of workers in Zimbabwe earn below the poverty datum line. He recommends stay aways rather than marches but does he know that stay aways have been tried before and that, with 80% of the population unemployed most have nothing to stay away from. .He says marches are a waste of time unless the security forces are neutral and professional or are on your side; does he know about the success of the WOZA marches – their aim is not regime change but empowerment of ordinary people and they are most definitely achieving their aim.
Ayittey is certainly right about the need for alliances and joint efforts and his points about what Civil Service unions can do are worth noting but to call the ZCTU dumb is counter productive and wrong. Their action has gone a long way to discredit Mugabe`s claims that all opposition to his misrule is a result of western meddling. They will make it harder for South Africa to maintain its quiet diplomacy, harder for the AU to ignore the crisis in its midst and harder for other African leaders to support their so called liberation hero.
Ayittey should recognise that `regime change` doesn’t work – it may consolidate the power of aggressive states like America (engineers of dozens regime changes all over the world) but it doesn’t make much difference to the people. What Zimbabweans need is the right to earn a living wage and other basic human rights including freedom of association and freedom of speech. These rights have only ever been won by ordinary people gathering together to demand them through trades unions and other civic organisations.
Keep marching Zimbabwe – and soon the government won`t be able to cope and our neighbours will no longer be able to ignore our plight.
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