The late King of Reggae had a song entitled “Africa Unite”. Like most of Marley’s songs the lyrics were deep and moving. “Africa unite, cause we are moving out of Babylon. And we are going to our father’s land”. Another verse says “how good and how pleasant it would be before God and man to see the unification of all Africa”
To this very day, Marley’s death in Miami in 1981 en-route to his father land remains a mystery. The official cause is cancer, but an article in the Times magazine of 2002 suggested he was a victim of a CIA plot. The CIA spiked his football boots with a radioactive wire, which pierced his skin during a game. (The link to the Times magazine article is at the bottom). But why would the CIA have assassinated Bob Marley?
Bob Marley was a powerful voice for Africans. The organization had secret files about him and his group. In 1976 the CIA sent in a death squad to assassinate him in his Kingston home. The attack left Rita Marley, his manager and a band member with serious gunshot wounds. Bob Marley was lucky to escape with a bullet wound to the arm. A week later Marley was in concert to sing “Until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that now hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique, South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled, utterly destroyed, everywhere is war”.
Bob Marley was one of the most powerful voices for blacks. Sadly like a lot of other gallant black rights’ activists he was silenced. The list is long. Today we have the whole world against President Mugabe. Poverty is Africa’s biggest problem. Many leaders are aware of it, many talk about it, but Mugabe is the only one to do something about it. Maybe he did it the wrong way, but that is secondary. What stands out is-he did something. He took land and gave it to the poor. Thousands of people died in Kenya after elections in December 2007. Did anyone from America or the West impose sanctions on any Kenyan official? There are several trouble spots in Africa like Madagascar, Mali, Egypt and Sudan to mention a few. Have any of them been sanctioned? Mugabe did something for the marginalized. He has refused to be silenced and this is why he is under attack.
I was shocked to read that the NPA plans to question Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela Mandela. Growing up in Zimbabwe, we heard a lot about the bush war in South Africa. Believe you me, the only woman we knew back then to be involved in the struggle was umama Winnie. Later we got to know that there were other women involved too, but as kids Winnie was our heroine. Her fiery speeches motivated many a freedom fighter. She struck fear in the heart of her enemies and for me she is as big an icon as utata himself. The NPA believes she had a hand in the deaths of some youths.
One of the deadliest weapons that the apartheid regime used was the use of sellouts. A sellout in your midst could contribute to your group losing a battle and the loss of thousands of lives. Sellouts contributed too to the capture of several activists, some of whom were put to death. There was no room for sellouts. I am not saying the youths in question were sellouts, but there are suspicions that they were. Winnie Madikizela Mandela remains one of the few South African politicians who still remember the majority. When was the last time you heard a Government Minister speak about alleviating poverty? This case of the NPA is drummed up to silence her. They silenced Julius Malema who dreamed of economic freedom.
The case against Winnie Madikizela Mandela must not go ahead. For if it does another voice that still fights for the people would have gone silent. South Africans must unite to stop this!
Apartheid was a very powerful system. Of all colonial struggles, South Africa’s must have been the most brutal. The evil forces of apartheid killed thousands of innocents. Remember June 16? Those who benefitted from the regime still dream of a system similar to apartheid but run by their puppets so they can still benefit. This is why, the DA will employ a young girl to call President Zuma names, and this is why foreign embassies and NGOs will give support to MDC. Is it not time for South Africans to unite once more and recall the very principles that founded the ANC?
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