WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT

Stories from Zimbabwe's past. The land between the Zambezi and the Limpopo has always been pregnant with rich mineral wealth, flora and fauna. Inhabited by the Shona at the end of the nineteenth century, until they were routed by the Matabele who arrived on the plateau just before the British. The British were also lured by the rich mineral wealth, wildlife and rich soils for agriculture. They hunted the elephants for their ivory and used the Shonas as a source of cheap labour. The Matabele considered the Shona as their slaves "amahole" and they believed they had a right to raid them at will. Thus, the Shona were a resource over which the Matabele and the British clashed. The Matabele raids on the Shona took a toll on women, children and the physically weak. These were the downtrodden. This pattern repeated itself after Zimbabwe's War of Liberation where people who expected peace and tranquillity found themselves reeling under internal strife. Liberators of the country now found themselves as enemies of the state. In this strife, the weak and defenceless suffered whilst big forces fought, from Entumbane until the unity accord of 1987. When elephants fight, the grass suffers!