Title: 'Creatures At The Top' published in 2012, by Spiderwize,
259pages, isbn:978-1-908128-39-3
Authour: Stephen Mpofu
Stephen Mpofu has done justice to his memories. His new book,
Creatures At The Top will speak for Mpofu long after he is gone. His
grandchildren and their children’s children will be able to see Rhodesia and
newly independent Zimbabwe through his eyes and not through the eyes of Mpofu’s
enemies or even that of his friends!
He does not claim that he was right in whatever he did or omitted
but he leaves you with a feeling that life is a journey with a twisting path
and one’s enemies and friends are just sign posts on that road. What matters is
one’s own indefatigable ideals and principles and to know that at least one has
them.
Using a pen name, Sam, Stephen Mpofu writes about a black boy
from Mberengwa in Rhodesia of the 1960s who embarks on the archetypal journey
crossing into Zambia to train as a journalist, only coming back to an
independent country after two decades, serving in the media during a critical
period and eventually being forced to quit when the heat became too much.
This is a book that takes a cross sectional view of Zambia
and Zimbabwe, two nations in transition. The point of view here is that of a humanist
nationalist journalist. He wants justice and prosperity and he knows and
sometimes is even happy that this may bring him down.
It is a story about exile and consequently about Zambia and
its hate-love relationship with exiles and war combatants from across the
region. This is a story about; the Copperbelt, Chimwemwe Township, the Northern
Star, Sam Nujoma, Kenneth Kaunda, the Times of Zambia, Tererai Gapa, Philemon
Ngandu, Vernon Mwaanga William Saidi and others. “In their rather harsh and but
well intentioned exhortations, the Zambians however failed to acknowledge the
role played by Zimbabweans whose votes had contributed to UNIP’s sweet
electoral victory.”
Later on, this becomes a no holds barred story about; the power
games and the relentless dynamics at the Zimpapers, Elias Rusike, Willie
Musarurwa, Tommy Sithole, Charles Chikerema, Moeletsi Mbeki, Henry Muradzikwa, Tonic
Sakaike, Davison Maruziva, Gareth Willard, Geoffrey Nyarota and others.
In the new Zambia, Sam had noticed that “there is a tendency
among some aides (of the leader) to ingratiate themselves with a leader by
telling him only those things that they think will please and pacify the boss.
Such aides always want to think for the leader as though he were in that
position by default and not on account of a demonstrated capacity to think for
his nation and himself.”
His return after nearly twenty years of exile leaves Sam in a
dilemma. He had long experienced freedom in Zambia and coming to back to one’s
newly independent country was like ‘stepping back in time.’ And seeing people
repeating the errors one had seen committed in newly independent Zambia became
an excruciating experience.
This is a book about
what Stephen Mpofu thinks about the role of journalists in national development.
For instance, editors within the public media must be strategic thinkers who
provide input towards national problem solving, Stephen argues through Sam. Where
editors blindly kow tow pressures from outside the newsroom, their crucial advisory
role is compromised and moral decay sets in. For instance, the Zambian scenario
had demonstrated to Sam that errant individual ministries may intimidate
newsmen not to expose them, claiming that any publicity would be an attack on
the government.
In this book Stephen Mpofu does not claim any heroics. He had
gone to Zambia in the early 1960’s clearly to seek an education and a good job in
a free environment. It never occurred to him to go for military training
alongside the many young people who came from troubled Rhodesia. He however never
lost touch with the main characters in the liberation movement whom he openly
supported in real life and in his writings. In fact, they counted him as one of
their own.
In the final analysis, Stephen Mpofu is unique in that
despite what he sees as his eventual sidelining in independent Zimbabwe, he does
not break ranks with nationalist ethos. He remains positively within the ideals
of self rule.
Stephen Mpofu was born in Mberengwa District. He trained at
Africa Literature Centre, Zambia in 1963 and lived in exile in the neighbouring
country for 17 years. From 1965 to 1980, he worked for The Times in Lusaka
where he rose through the ranks to become Assistant Editor.He returned to
Zimbabwe to become the first black News Editor of The Herald in 1981.He rose to
become Senior Assistant Editor until 1987 when he became Sunday Mail Editor for
two years.Mpofu was then moved to the Chronicle in Bulawayo where he headed the
paper for 12 years until his retirement in 2001.He taught briefly in the
Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the National University of
Science and Technology and later left to concentrate on writing his latest
book.He remains a writer, as he is a columnist at Chronicle while he is also a
member of the Board of Directors at New Ziana. Creature at The Top is his third
book after Shadows on the Horizon (1984) and Zambezi Waters run Still, a
sociological novel published in 1996.
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