Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪

**Cultured**
**Creative**
**Free Spirit**

[The Oracle @Kue_Mad]

On Struggle Songs, Memory, and the Danger of Forgetting

The recent clip of Delroy Shewe and Saintfloew performing "Maruza Imi" on a UK train has sparked debate. It's a powerful reminder of how uncomfortable we've become with the songs that carried our liberation. We shouldn't shy away from them.

"Maruza Imi" was not just a song. During Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, it was a rallying cry, a morale booster, and a declaration of defiance against colonial oppression. It is embedded in the DNA of our freedom.

We now see a troubling trend: people are willing to forget or sanitize these songs to avoid offending others. But struggle songs are not literal calls to violence. They are historical artefacts, cultural expressions of resistance, and they must be understood in context.

This is precisely the argument that won in South African courts. In the AfriForum v Malema case, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that Julius Malema's singing of "Dubul' ibhunu" (Shoot the Boer) did not constitute hate speech. The court found it was an exercise of freedom of expression, a struggle song, not a literal instruction to harm farmers. The Constitutional Court ultimately dismissed AfriForum's appeal, placing the matter to rest.

The legal reasoning was clear , a reasonably informed person would understand the historical and figurative meaning of the song. It is about resistance to a brutal regime, not a call for ethnic extermination.

This principle extends beyond South Africa. The Holocaust offers a profound example. Yiddish partisan songs like "Zog nit keyn mol" were anthems of survival and resistance, sung by those facing annihilation. These were not songs of hate; they were songs of hope and defiance against a genocidal regime.

Similarly, protest songs around the world have faced censorship for challenging power. In the UK, the BBC banned songs like The Pogues' "Streets of Sorrow / Birmingham Six" for their political content. In Zimbabwe, songs like "Maruza Imi" were banned by the Rhodesian regime for their revolutionary power.

We must not allow discomfort or a modern desire for "respectability politics" to erase our history. These songs are our heritage. They belong to our struggle. Singing them is not an insult, it is an act of remembrance. Forgetting them is the real betrayal. @BaShonaBaShona @enkudheni @Jamwanda2 @KMutisi @eargroundtv @DandaroOnline @caesarzvayi @rangamataire

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

I'm trying

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

Fighting tears is one if my biggest flexes... oh, plus the poker face.

[Martha Tholanah @MARTHOLANAH]

@drruwende Every adult, HIV negative & HIV positive need to take responsibility for their own health. Take precautions against infection & re-infection. People should be aware of their own HIV status.

[DRIP SPORTIF @dripsportif]

Wawu Costa Tich was the only 1 left on this remix 💔🕊️

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@faffy_lo @MatsileMohau 🤣🤣🤣😂🤌🏽🙌🏽

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@zvidzmat @econetzimbabwe It's so frustrating

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

So, @econetzimbabwe has decided to keep us off grid? We can't even do our online jobs because we chose you and you are not choosing us!

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@MudiwaHood Sha! ZBC is the one that decided to release those trending pictures. That's what people saw. ZBC was clearly saying chinhu chei? Tell them to do better coverage and publishing next time.

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@faffy_lo @Mamoyo_frmHonde Ah! Why must I stay for a court session? I went out again, and slept out!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@cohsunshinecity A whole capital city! 🙌🏽

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@PhiriTofara Iii haa @utandezw has become the worst. I surrender. They used to be very good and responsive. I wonder what happened. I am just sitting with a fully paid Internet account that is not working because they simply refuse to attend to my issue.

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@DenguGarikai Iiii... Dzihwamupengo, wangu!

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

Kupfeka ma sandals and white sneakers in Harare dzingori nharo.

[Dree @AdreeDree]

Forgiveness is giving up the hope of a better past. Yoooooooo! @feeling_stn Hugs to Hadisa maaaaan!

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@faffy_lo @utandezw Nezuro ndakafona ndikanzi ingawani takakupai ref number. Ndikati but no one came. Guess what... I paid for a month's Internet and I only used it for two weeks. So rude!

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

I would like to name and shame @utandezw for having reported an Internet problem at my home over two weeks ago. They promised to come in 48hours no one came. I followed up with them several times, up to this day. I haven't gotten anyone to fix my problem.

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@cohsunshinecity Nope!

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

@faffy_lo @Chef_Tkay Yellow inobuda manje. Black print on yellow Tees

[Tanya Ruwitah 🇿🇼🇬🇧🇩🇪 @Cde_BrownSkin]

Living in Harare is an extreme sport. Imagine being on your period and the water supply is just cut off. No explanation, nothing!