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Tribute to a freedom fighter
Freedom fighter and racial equality campaigner Canaan Mutemasango, of Wellingborough, has died aged 71 on a trip to his homeland, Zimbabwe.
Fellow campaigner Paul Crofts pays tribute to his colleague and friend.
Canaan was born on January 1, 1937, in the village of Chegutu in the former state of Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. He was born into a poor family so it was always a matter of working hard to survive, even as a child. He did field work and looked after domestic animals – a normal part of village life for so many children. He first attended school at the age of 11 and had to walk nine miles each way. He was obsessive about attending school.
In early 1960 as a young man Canaan was acutely aware of the political situation in Rhodesia – a white-dominated state with an official policy of apartheid, similar to South Africa, and still nominally a British colony, ruled from Britain until 1965.
Canaan became politically involved in the underground freedom struggle and joined Zanu, the Zimbabwe African National Union, which fought against white minority. He was also an active trade unionist and was clearly a political thorn in the flesh of the Rhodesian authorities.
Any possibility of career enhancement was closed and he decided that he had to leave.
Canaan came to Britain in 1961, following a job offer from Ernest Bader, head of co-operative firm Scott Bader in Wollaston, after Mr Bader had visited Canaan's school which was run as a co-operative.
Life in Northamptonshire was not easy, despite the warm hospitality shown to him by many people. He often faced difficulties in finding permanent accommodation and moved from hotel to hotel.
Nevertheless, Canaan made a life for himself in the area.
But he could not desert the anti-colonial struggle taking place in his country.
In 1965 he returned to Rhodesia, under a false identity.
There, he met and married his wife Connie, but their lives were soon to be split as Canaan became a wanted man and he had to go on the run, eventually escaping to Malawi. During this period Connie gave birth to their first son, Chiseko. Canaan returned to the UK and his job at Scott Bader and in 1966 Connie and their son joined him in Wellingborough. In 1969 their second son Clive was born.
During the 1970s Canaan became what we would now call an active citizen in the Wellingborough community, especially the United Nations Association, which was the forerunner of Wellingborough Community Relations Council, founded in 1973. It was during these years that Canaan made so many friends across all races, nationalities, faiths and communities. Over the course of the 1970s Canaan, along with the Rev Bob Bailey, Brian and Denise Silk, Martin Cheale, Mike Prescod, Margaret Plowman, Issa and Harry Norton and many others helped to renovate the old United Reformed Church school building which we now know as the Victoria Centre. For many years Canaan was the secretary of the Victoria Centre and a member of its management committee.
Also during this period he became involved in the emerging Wellingborough Afro-Caribbean Association (Waca) in Wellingborough.
During the 1980s Canaan studied to obtain a degree with the Open University, of which he and his family were rightly proud – a fitting tribute to his determination and will to succeed.
Throughout his life Canaan was a fighter for justice – for racial equality, for self-determination for peoples across the world oppressed by colonialism and for workers' rights.
He was a socialist, a co-operator and an internationalist. He believed passionately in world peace and supported CND.
He was also non-sectarian – involved over many years with a range of political groups including the Labour Party, the Communist Party and more recently the informal group Independent Socialists in Wellingborough.
Canaan will be fondly remembered by his immediate and extended family who, I know, he loved deeply.
He will also be remembered by those who worked on the allotments at Burrow Bush.
Canaan loved his allotment and was always a reliable source of fresh vegetables and fruits!
He was also a keen amateur brewer and his beers, wines (and spirits!) will also be fondly remembered.
These few words are not really enough to sum up a whole life. But I hope they will rekindle memories for those who knew Canaan and worked, lived and laughed alongside him. I hope they will provide a source of continuing pride for his whole family, particularly Connie, Chiseko and Clive.
His life was always one of struggle in adversity, but he is now at peace.
While Canaan's death was sudden, and a shock to all of us, it was always his wish that he be buried in his home country of Zimbabwe and his home village. This wish, if not others that Canaan undoubtedly held, has come to pass. For this we must give our thanks.
Farewell, comrade and friend, we will miss you, but we will always remember you in our thoughts.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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