Book Review: In Pursuit of Freedom and Justice - Paul Hubbard

Cephas G. Msipa. 2015. In Pursuit of Freedom and Justice: A Memoir. Harare: Weaver Press.
ISBN 978-1-77922-282-4. 185 pages. Price: US$20.

The history of the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe is a convoluted one, not least because so few of
the main players have given their side of the story. In the last decade that has begun to change
and we have been treated to various biographies and histories as well as the ongoing series of
interviews published in the Sunday Mail newspaper. Msipa’s autobiography is a welcome addition
to this list, not least because it deftly combines a personal narrative within a framework of national
and international events and illuminates how home life can influence the public persona and vice
versa. In 12 chapters followed by an epilogue Msipa invites us to experience aspects of his life told
in a clear and uncomplicated voice.

“A teacher by choice but a politician by circumstance” (p.19) are perhaps the best words to sum up
Msipa’s memoir. Having emerged from extreme poverty, Msipa, with the loving help of his parents,
qualified as a teacher at Dadaya Mission. Msipa generously credits Rhodesian Federation Prime
Minister Sir Garfield Todd with inspiring Msipa’s watchwords of “understanding, tolerance and
respect of other people” (p.6). These attitudes did not mean Msipa lacked a fighting spirit shown as
he relates the story of how he became politically aware, starting with his disdain for the racial
policies of the day, not least the fact that he could not work in certain schools because of his skin
colour. “While I was in Que Que, I was among people who felt that we were duty bound to fight for
our rights, and for our freedom and uk cialis super force dignity as Africans. It was a calling” (p.21).

Despite his activism and material support, by his own account Msipa only officially joined the
nationalist movement in 1961 as a founder member of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union
(ZAPU). Like so many others, he was detained and imprisoned, in this case from 1965 to 1970.
Amazingly he and two others escaped from Gonakudzingwa, the infamous prison camp in
Gonarezhou National Park, surrounded by wild animals. As he says, “the ancestral spirits were
with us and and we travelled through the National Park safely” (p.51). He was later captured at
Cold Comfort Farm and spent the rest of his time in Gwelo Prison before being released suddenly
in 1970. Msipa relates stories about the effects of such extended incarcerations on his family life in
a poignant manner.

The national press in Zimbabwe have focused on his discussion on the ethnic cleansing in
Matabeleland known locally as Gukuruhundi (p.111-125) - over 20,000 people were killed in the
south and west of Zimbabwe. It is little appreciated that it was Msipa, as Minister of Water
Resources who brought the matter of the mass killings to the attention of the public and cialis non prescription the
Zimbabwean Cabinet in 1984 and was fired for his efforts. The mass murders were only ended in
1987 with the merger of ZAPU and ZANU (PF), something else Msipa helped to initiate.

Msipa is rare amongst Zimbabwean politicians in that he developed an acute understanding and
appreciation of the business environment, fostered by his appointment to several boards of private
companies and banks in the years after independence. This sort of invaluable experience is
perhaps behind one of the most sincere sections in the book when he discusses the
“indigenisation” policy, whereby foreign and white-owned firms are being forced to cede 51% of
their shareholding to government-approved entities. His was a different vision: “it’s not about
grabbing companies that are already operating, it’s about helping our people to start their own new
companies” (p.152). Would that this vision had triumphed instead of the confused and incoherent
policies currently in force.

As Governor of Midlands Province, Msipa played a key role in implementing the controversial
post-2000 “land reform” process in his district. The story he relates is told compassionately,
juxtaposed with his own family’s stories of being evicted in the 1930s. One omission is that while
the author mentions the plight of the 300,000 farm workers across the country left unemployed
after this exercise, he fails to mention the plight of the nearly two million dependents alsonegatively affected by the wholesale seizure of properties. The displacement and destitution of
these people is perhaps the greatest failure of the government’s “land reform” actions. The
question of why these people could not have been turned into beneficiaries is a vexing one ignored
by many including Msipa. Minor condemnation of the chaotic and corrupt process is offered when
he says “We still have a lot to learn in order to regain our status as the breadbasket of the region.
The fact that we have to import maize and wheat from South Africa and Zambia... is an
embarrassment” (p.164). Nevertheless Msipa’s account is one of the most authentic and thoughtful
reviews of the entire process to come from a senior government official.

Some of the most fascinating paragraphs in the book, overlooked in the press reviews, are those
relating to President Robert Mugabe. Msipa has known Mugabe since 1960 and his descriptions of
Mugabe in the pioneering days in the liberation struggle humanise a man who has become an
international pariah, although throughout the book Msipa is careful never to condemn the man he
calls “Muzukuru” or “sister’s child” (they are not directly related but do share a totem). There is so
little known about the early life, motivations and desires of the President of Zimbabwe that these
brief sentences feel like a rare glimpse into Mugabe’s past indeed.

In general the book is well produced, although there a few spelling errors dotted throughout the
book. Most of the pictures lack clarity due to excessive pixellation. Perhaps this will be corrected in
a future edition - of which I am confident there will be.

Msipa’s book is all the more valuable because of its humble and honest voice, echoed in the
remarks he made during the book launch in late 2015: “I hope the message in my book gets to the
people because that is what is important. People died for freedom and we should promote it even
more. People want to be free, but there are times when you think that people are not free... Free to
think, free to act, free to express themselves. There is a lot of fear in Zimbabwe and I don’t know
why... Our system is such that people cannot express themselves freely”.

Paul Hubbard
12 Fortune’s Gate Road
Bulawayo