Under the ZANU PF rule, diversity has been turned into a source for collective fear and divisive politics; aggressive approaches have been adopted to deal with anyone not regarded as part of the herd. Nationalism as construed in ZANU PF’s social and political doctrine that shapes mainstream politics is that of one identity – the Shona creed, end of difference; this ideology projects itself in the form of concerted efforts to suppress, in various ways, certain population groups, their identity including language and culture.
What we are witnessing by way of the contemporary Zimbabwe is a damaging and dangerous political jungle established by Shona supremacists through entirely exclusionary practices; policies are skewed in favour of Shona creed while suppressing and denying survival to any other identities existing in the country. Suffice to say these retrogressive actions have done nothing but restrict and damage the country’s social fabric and development potential; judging talent and ability through the exclusive lens of one population group is economically, socially, and politically regressive.
Diversity is not a threat to national cohesion; when people are confident and respected in their identity, they comfortably engage with others, learn more about others’ culture without feeling coerced to do so. No one should be made to feel guilty for celebrating their identity; no one should be denied recognition in systems and institutions meant to govern them yet that is exactly what is happening in Zimbabwe.
To expect those who want to lead you to make provision to communicate with you in a language you understand is a basic right, not tribalism, yet such expectations routinely attract ridicule and accusations of tribalism against people of Matabeleland by Shona speaking individuals who are beneficiaries of the current Shona centric institutions and who have convinced themselves the Shona language must be a national language, and anyone who does not understand it must be a tribalist.
It is a serious indictment to society that victims of tribalism in Matabeleland are called tribalists for pushing back at tribalism while tribalists and those yielding to them are portrayed as broad-minded individuals with national interests at heart. What is national about exclusive policy? People are called tribalists for asking national leaders to recognise them while the real tribalists are celebrated.
Through the mainstream politics, egoist Shona politicians and the elite who perceive Shona needs to the exclusion of all others have sought to establish and condone a culture of Shona dominion; inroads are being made into the public perception that the needs of the majority population group (Shona) must be met as a priority, and they can neither be deferred nor denied. Shona creed is being turned into national identity and law.
Individuals from minority population groups are gradually and systematically pressured to adopt the Shona language as some form of national and/ or business language; to not know the Shona language is increasingly an indictment to individuals.
When you must disown yourself to belong anywhere, then you do not belong there; when a system must exclude certain population groups for its survival, it is rotten and not worth subordinating one’s interests for its benefit. For many of us, our language and culture are intrinsic to our sense of personal identity, and our personal identity exudes confidence in us and influences our interaction with the world around us. When people disown their beliefs, they lose touch with themselves. They no longer know who they are or what they believe and neither does anyone else.
There are dangers associated with loss of sense identity in that one loses the essential foundations with which they interpret and engage the world around them; they lose vital social filters that make them discern right from wrong via the lens of their defined identity; without an identity anything goes, and you drown; those who engage with you do so based on their ideas of who you are and not how you define yourself; you are in a constant struggle to belong to everything else but yourself.
Being lost to yourself is not progress but an indictment to your being and future; people must understand you can embrace your identity, confidently live with others, share experiences, learn, and exchange beliefs and benefit from mutual respect; that is the mark of human progress.
Subjecting certain population groups to multiple forms of exclusion to impose a single identity belongs in a different social and political age and will never work again. With caution, let us entertain the idea that diversity is divisive and national identity can be maintained by excluding minority population groups and adopting a singular national identity founded on Shona culture. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national identity can prevail in exclusion of minority population groups. Diversity as an identity is our strength; we can be different and empowered as one; exclusionary policies will never be a progressive intervention in our shared human path to freedom, liberty, and justice.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 