DON'T you think it would be far more beneficial for Kate Hoey’s own constituents in Camberwell if she were to focus her energies into homes for the homeless, unemployment, the gun culture and drugs, instead of situations 6,000 miles away in which she has no stake?
She is probably still wearing her faded red poppy, as many do, months after the event. After Black History month, red poppy wreaths and poppy buttonholes were blossoming throughout Britain, heralding the heroes who fought and died for the country during WW2.
Although I was born in Gweru, Zimbabwe, (which in 1942 was then Gwelo, Rhodesia), my Balham-born father was an RAF pilot during that period, but despite this affiliation with the RAF, I refrain from contributing to the poppy brigade and wonder why other Blacks proudly flaunt this emblem, regardless.
One of my modern day heroes is Zimbabwean Raphael Chikukwa, who was a curator at the Imperial War Museum North, in Manchester. Inspired by the campfire stories told him by his father when he was a boy, Raphael began a journey of discovery across eastern and southern Africa, uncovering the forgotten stories of the “Afrikan Heroes” in WW2. During Black History Month 2006, his exhibition “Afrikan Heroes” displayed stunning portraits and personal stories of Black war veterans from East and southern Africa who fought in far off places such as Burma.
He met some of those men who, enlisted into those familiar khaki uniforms, travelled from Southern Rhodesia, (now Zimbabwe) to Elizabethville via Northern Rhodesia, Nairobi, Moshi near Kilimanjaro until they eventually sailed on the Queen Mary from Mombassa to Ceylon, and then onto Burma. But Kate Hoey knows all this, because I brought it to her attention in November 2007 and, as far as I am aware, has done nothing about it.
Some may not even know that so feared by the Japanese were our own Black soldiers fighting for the British, that whenever the Japanese killed an African, they dismembered his body and flung the head, arms and legs in different directions so that they would never be able to come back to life and face the Japanese again.
Today a handful of those war veterans remain including Andrew Gengesha, who joined the 1st Battalion of the Royal African Rifles. Andrew is now totally blind. In Burma a hand grenade blew up in his face, and he lost one eye. Today, almost 90, he is still awaiting compensation from the British. Subsequently, his other eye has deteriorated and that too, is now without sight. Yet, Andrew considers himself to be one of the lucky ones. At least he arrived back in Rhodesia alive – albeit with a final payment of £10 in his pocket, and empty promises of more to come.
After fighting for the British in Burma as a soldier, wearing the British uniform and fighting alongside the British soldiers, in which many black Rhodesians (now Zimbabweans) died, what happened when he got back to colonial-ruled Rhodesia?
Well, there was this colonial rule passed by the British in 1934 that forbid him and his comrades, or any black person for that matter, to take up any trade apprenticeship – and this was in the land of their birth, the land of their Ancestors! They were simply sidelined because of their colour. As a white I cringe with embarrassment that this was all done in my name – there are many of the white tribe of Zimbabweans who, I know, feel exactly as I do, and so I speak for them as well. We are embarrassed because our white skins represent the deeds of the white colonials, of which we were no part. And we are certainly no part of what Kate Hoey is on about!
When Raphael made his documentary, other Black Rhodesian war veterans were still alive, averaging between 80-90 years old, amongst them Sa-Tarambwa Kutsanza, Richard Chandavengerwa and John Chikowore – Benson Chiurawa, Maziwawani Makanza but these forgotten heroes who fought for the British are still destitute, if they have not died penniless, so we know the meaning of empty promises from the British realm.
They were given no health medical aid, no pension - only their memories they shared with the East Africans. Their war wounds remind them of those chaotic years, in khaki uniforms, far across the Indian Ocean, but they are now forgotten heroes forgotten by Britain, forgotten by the world.
Surely, this would be a really worthy cause for Kate Hoey to get her vicious fangs into if she could only see past her innate hatred for President Mugabe and channel her energies into it? Andrew is an example of one who has waited in vain for compensation from the British, and still, now almost 90 years old, he still waits.
Why has it been so easy for the British Government to turn its back on those prodigal stepchildren of Africa, Black stepchildren that it coerced into WW2, who fought so bravely under its Union flag?
Look at what is happening to the Ghurkas now? Same thing, except it has taken a while for them to see past the empty pink promises.
Kate Hoey always appears to be poking her little pink nose into our business? Now she is up in arms about Abramovich? Its none of her business what our Government decides to do with the Russians. Her own government had its chance, but because they have never bothered to truly understand our culture, have blown themselves right out of the water.
Why doesn’t Kate Hoey just give up making a noise, and submit the case for our WWII warvets who fought in Burma for the British to her Parliament and make a difference. It is not what she is doing that is making a din outside the Zimbabwe Embassy on Saturdays, it is what she is not doing that is making that continuous roar of confused noises, and so, because of her lack of vision, she has little or no credibility in Zimbabwe.
Another woman who clearly has no understanding of Zimbabwe, is the BBC journalist, Christina Lamb. After sneaking into Zimbabwe, she wrote a book on it. She made history by being in the right place at the right time when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Where is she now?
Is she planning another surreptitious visit into the Zimbabwe, hoping to get back in just in case President Mugabe is assassinated? Although many may wish to see him dethroned, it is doubtful he will be assassinated. Many British nationals want to see the British Royal Family disbanded, but you don’t see this woman hanging around Buckingham Palace for a news-breaking story, do you?
Donette Read Kruger is a stringer for The Zimbabwe Guardian specialising on Africa
