Democracy is not something one believes in, but it is something one exercises. For not challenging the demonstrable democratic crisis of the current Zimbabwe political regimen, and its clear and present existential threat to Matabeleland society, Matabeleland leaders risk a legitimacy crisis.
When Matabeleland leaders choose silence in the face of injustice, they automatically become enablers of the oppressive mainstream Zimbabwe political system.
In Zimbabwe, we witness the normalisation of an inverted, dangerous power transaction between government and the people. This a political regime emboldened by public silence while the State ruthlessly deploys violence to threaten or withdraw civil liberties. It is a government too powerful to respect its people; if anything, this is a government that loves being feared by the public, and a regime only accountable to itself.
This is a vertical, tightly controlled system from the top by a tribalist cult and designed in such a way that there is no escape route for the suffering people of Matabeleland who continue to be denied their freedom and liberties.
Complaining as a strategy has proven to be a failing formula; in a clear matter of existential threat, people of Matabeleland need to be practical and move from their comfort zone; this is no time for neutrality, and moderate leaders who are comfortably trading Matabeleland’s rights to gain validation from Harare and earn tokenistic power within government are an irrelevance in the future we owe the next generation.
Urgent measures are required for Matabeleland to reorient its social, economic, and political resources for the survival of this generation and setting a platform for the next generation to thrive. We are not short in skills and expertise, but motivation has ebbed away after years of stale politics and repeated missteps.
Reinvigorating local interest in local politics requires us to invest in ourselves, and that would mean first riding ourselves of most of the current crop of local leaders who mostly serve as Harare marketeers in Matabeleland.
We need leaders who are uncomfortable with being slaves while being accommodating and comfortable with honest debate and being contradicted. Centralised systems are not the future, taking instruction from Harare is no longer an option, taking responsibility is the only acceptable choice.
A bottom-up approach must be adopted to ensure policies are a true reflection or closest to our communities’ needs and representatives reflect those to their parties not their party interests to us.
Stakes are high, we need to stop normalising supremacism by seeking validation from Mashonaland politicians and systems; let us reject the insidious political culture that transfers power from Matabeleland citizens only to land it on the laps of Mashonaland leaders, leaders who despise us and leaders who unashamedly use that power to impose their proxies to lead socio-political structures in Matabeleland.
People who lead Matabeleland society must be vanguards of what we stand for not stooges and enablers who protect Mashonaland interests in Matabeleland.
We need to be honest with ourselves and acknowledge the fact that the main goal of ZANU PF’s political framework that forms the current foundations of mainstream Zimbabwe politics is to annihilate Matabeleland’s socioeconomic, cultural, and political wellbeing.
It is a long-term strategic interest of ZANU PF to turn Shona creed into law while making other social population groupings obsolete. And evidence at hand shows that the mainstream opposition is a willing participant in that political imbalance consequent to Zimbabwe’s political system.
Gukurahundi has taught us that when tribal supremacists do not pay a price for their tribalism, when despots are not made to account for their oppressive policies, they cause even more mayhem, oppression, and suffering. As witnessed in Zimbabwe, they keep going, and the human and economic cost keeps rising for our people to bear.
Key to the revival and progress of Matabeleland political formations would be their values, party values are what make them a partner that citizens want to work with. It is our expectation that our leaders would show unwavering commitment to the rehabilitation and retention of Matabeleland social norms and values.
Change does not happen to people; people give life to change. Matabeleland civic society must actively participate in changing the political landmark of our communities; instead of waiting for some leader to fall from the sky and start walking us toward ‘liberty land’, the citizenry needs to engage in co-creating policies that reflect our thoughts, culture, and everything else about us.
Empowerment of Matabeleland requires communities and leaders who are unapologetically proud of their customs and can connect those with our political, social, and economic developmental needs. A diverse Matabeleland society will never fit in, let alone benefit from, a political design as conceived by ZANU PF and expressed in the mainstream politics of Zimbabwe – one nation, end of difference. We will not entertain political interventions whose design is to perpetuate the degradation of Matabeleland as a social, economic, and political force; like flowers in the garden, we are different, but equal; none better than the other, not in competition but each with its own design, scent, colours and all with the sole purpose of decorating and adding to the beauty and value of the garden, our home.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 