Colonial rule was an inhumane experience for black natives, that is why its end was widely celebrated in Zimbabwe. But was the celebration premature in Matabeleland? Clearly the end of colonial rule was the right political outcome, but it did not mark the end of systemic human rights abuses; a new jockey took over the reins and whip, but the horse’s experience did not change.
From the moment the first person in Matabeleland was murdered by the 5th Brigade, an exclusively ethnic Shona constituted military unit, fully sanctioned by the head of state – then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe ‘to crush dissidents’ in Matabeleland, freedom became their singular ambition. And through the decades, for their children and their children’s children, that most human desire remains steadfast and basic; our people continue to demand freedom from political and economic disenfranchisement and all the effects of tribal hatred which have long betrayed our people’s independence expectations.
An independent Zimbabwe was primed to be the land of peace, land of freedom and equality but where is the peace and equality when government creates an exclusive military unit, manufactures damning lies about certain population groups to justice state illegal use of force to torture and murder unarmed civilians just for belonging in a different tribe? We also question the consciences of ethnic Shona civilians; how do brave men and women stand by and see such things committed without compunction of conscience?
The chasm between the principles upon which the war for the freedom of black natives from colonial rule was fought and those that are practised daily under the banner of Zimbabwean independence, yawns wide and deep.
We ignored the signs, Mugabe’s ZANU was, right from its formation in 1963, a Shona supremacist organisation. It would be disingenuous to claim surprise that the party went on to build a Shona hegemony when Zimbabwe gained independence. Tribal allegiance became the basis of power distribution and protections.
All progressive forces must come together and reject any normalisation of the abnormal condition people of Matabeleland find themselves under in the independent Zimbabwe; the unitary Zimbabwe system is not working for Matabeleland and has not done for a while.
The ambition of people of Matabeleland is not just being able to keep breathing. The goal is to be able to walk down the street with our heads held high without the need to convince anyone that we belong — and to retain our dignity and be respected for who we are, not what everyone else thinks we are.
We are not asking anyone for favours, we are for the immediate, unconditional, and universal enfranchisement of people of Matabeleland; without this, independence and the liberty of our people is a mockery; without this, we might as well revert to the old colonialism vestiges to truly reflect our condition.
Merit over tribe must be the rule. Shona stereotypes about people of Matabeleland, estimates of what is appropriate for them, cannot justify denying opportunity to individual people of Matabeleland whose talent, ability, and capacity distinguish them from the average performer.
Changes to people’s circumstances require that people have insight to the problem, otherwise they will not know what needs changing, and how. People of Matabeleland stock who in the face of damning evidence of tribal discrimination still choose to reject localism as a tool for Matabeleland empowerment and opt to dissociate from any intentional local focused political activity simply do not comprehend or are indifferent to the insidious ways in which people of Matabeleland are victims of tribal discrimination.
Let us stop over-intellectualising tribalism, Matabeleland people’s everyday experience of Zimbabwean institutions is unfavourable for no other reason than that these institutions were created to complement a tribally biased system. The system and its institutions must be replaced; and localism is not tribalism but local empowerment through a legitimate political process that increases local access to local resources and opportunities and promotes local engagement in the decision-making process.
People have a right of choice, and we all understand we live by our choices, whether you choose to do something about what is happening in Matabeleland or to ignore, that is a choice. What we are clear about is that where there is existential threat, inaction is no longer a justified option. We cannot, in our right conscience, ignore tribalism as though it were a mere misdemeanour. Tribalism is enduring, it is not merely a simplistic hatred of others. It is, more aptly, broad sympathy toward some population groups and broader scepticism toward others. People of Matabeleland and/ or Nguni extract forever live under that sceptical eye, and that is an uncomfortable experience.
We argue that the enfranchisement of people of Matabeleland is a human rights issue. Until the discrimination of Matabeleland men and women and their children becomes as important to the rest of the country as the protection of ethnic Shona men and women and their children, we cannot talk of freedom in Zimbabwe.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 