Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) has reacted angrily to a banner by Zanu PF appendage group, Masvikiro4ED which portrayed Ndebele kings Mzilikazi and Lobengula as spirit mediums.
The banner by the religious outfit pictured the two pre-colonial Ndebele nation founding kings beside religious figures Sekuru Kaguvi and Mbuya Nehanda accompanied with inscriptions “Amadlozi Elizwe, Spirit Mediums For ED”.
In an interview, Mqondisi Moyo, the MRP leader, slammed Mnangagwa and Masvikiro4ED for portraying Kings Mzilikazi and Lobengula as religious figures, calling it a misrepresentation of ancestral and historical facts.
“Kings Mzilikazi and Lobengula are revered among Mthwakazi peoples.
“Reducing them to being associated with Mnangagwa is an insult of the highest order. Mnangagwa’s Amadlozi (ancestors) are Kaguvi and Nehanda, the spirit mediums.
“Mnangagwa cannot, and no one can claim for him, a spiritual relationship with Mzilikazi and Lobengula,” said Moyo.
“I urge the people who made the banner and Mnangagwa himself to shun reducing our departed heroes to nonentities.
“Kings Mzilikazi and Lobengula were not spirit mediums. They were real, true fighters.
“They were physical military men, commanders who physically trained armies which challenged colonialism in an unprecedented manner.
“Hands off our ancestors. They are sacred,” Moyo said.
MRP is a firebrand pro-Ndebele party which has been advocating the establishment of a separate Ndebele state that is separate from Mashonaland up north.
The party claims Ndebeles are not afforded equal opportunities in the country by the Zanu PF led government.
Moyo torched a storm in 2020 after he said that his party would not take part in the foiled 31 July national protests against poor governance and corruption insisting the party would only be involved in demonstrations related to the separation of Matabeleland from the rest of the country.
“MRP will only participate in a demonstration for self-determination, that is to separate with Zimbabwe,” he thundered back then.
— ZimLive
