When we call upon people of Matabeleland to fight against tribalism, it is out of principle; it is because we genuinely believe, like all forms of discrimination, it is wrong not just because we are victims of it. We believe in the unconditional, uninterrupted, and universal enfranchisement of all people in Zimbabwe. Without this, independence is a mockery; without this, we might as well mortgage the country to the highest bidder and undo political independence.
Good listeners make good leaders because they are responsive to the interests of the man on the street and not blinkered by their delusions of grandeur. We argue that the chasm between the principles upon which the Zimbabwe government was founded and those practised daily under the auspices of the protection of the independence of black men and women of this country is too wide and too deep to reconcile.
Those who despise us must not lead us. Real leaders must care to listen to our views, and this is Matabeleland’s take of life in the independent Zimbabwe: After the ending of white minority rule under Ian Smith and beginning of the black majority rule, also called independence in Zimbabwe, under Robert Mugabe in April 1980, the ethnic Shona dominated government adopted inhumane violent intimidation to frustrate the freedom of people of Matabeleland.
Unjustified measures were adopted to concoct and exaggerate the level of threat posed by armed criminals or dissident activities in Matabeleland and the midlands to national security. A biased, highly politicised risk assessment of the presenting security threat was used to legitimise state violence and brutality against civilians.
Disproportionate and unjustifiable violent measures were adopted by the ZANU-led government, Gukurahundi atrocities being the highlight of its brutality in Matabeleland. Violence and intimidation have sustained the Shona hegemony and ensured the suppression of minority voices and the marginalisation of certain population groups with disheartening effectiveness. But at what cost?
Every case of discrimination damages social cohesion; every Ndebele person treated unjustly by enablers of the flawed Zimbabwean system is a tragedy for families and communities in Matabeleland, above all, discrimination of certain population groups is a further stain on the government of Zimbabwe.
From the moment the first person was killed by the 5th Brigade in Matabeleland and people of Matabeleland found themselves persona non grata in Zimbabwe, dehumanised and stripped of their liberty, freedom became their singular ambition. For our children to their children, and their children’s children, that most human desire remains constant and fundamental. We demand freedom from oppression, discrimination, and disenfranchisement from all state activities.
Make no mistake, people of Matabeleland do not need any special protections from this government beyond those already enshrined in our constitution but are selectively made available to ethnic Shona people; as humans in this country, we are equals of any people anywhere. We are not asking for favours from anyone, all that we need is for the government of Zimbabwe to do its work and remove all the visible and invisible state purpose-built barriers and allow equal access to opportunities in life.
The function of tribalism is clear to us, it is distraction. It keeps us from fighting real battles to improve ourselves. It keeps us justifying ourselves to those who believe they are the rightful owners of the country. At some point, we have been called foreigners with no legitimate right to call Zimbabwe home and so we have spent decades proving that we belong. This is unnecessary action, distractors are never satisfied, there will always be one more thing to point at.
Intense focus must be on bigger things that unite and empower us as people of Matabeleland so that we increase our capacity and capabilities to address those national issues whose only purpose is illuminating the existing tribal disparities that reverberate in the socioeconomic and political life in Zimbabwe.
Let us be intentional in our efforts to express our diverse communities, their culture, and traditions, without fear or shame. We shall not seek validation from anyone, if our cousins from Mashonaland are pleased by what they see, our pleasure. If they are not, it does not change who we are or alter how we feel about ourselves, we carry on.
To conclude, we argue that those who by their actions and nonaction express broad sympathy toward the state’s abusive conduct and broader scepticism toward people of Matabeleland, that by ignoring discriminatory practice because they are not victims of it, they are complicit; worse still, they normalise state aggression against citizens and in no time, they will find themselves victims of state violation of their rights. Until the discrimination of a person of Matabeleland becomes as important to the rest of the country as the discrimination of an ethnic Shona person, we who believe in freedom will fight on.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 