Extrajudicial executions and deliberate and arbitrary killings of opposition groups and civilians set the tone for how Zimbabwe’s postcolonial government was going to deal with dissent and Matabeleland. Fear plays a crucial role in ZANU PF government’s control of citizens and complying with state laws, no matter how ridiculous and unjust they may be, is what the pseudo-democratic state of Zimbabwe demands. Institutionalised bigotry has turned the country into a control zone rather that an empowerment space. The institutions in place rob us of our dignity; they are an existential threat to our culture and identity.
Matabeleland and its people in Zimbabwe are exposed to a system whose primary role is to protect the interests of ethnic Shona people and reduce Matabeleland population groups to irrelevance. We are confronted by a brutal ZANU PF world whose idea of dealing with dissent is the use of disappearances or extra-legal killings, state violence – physical and emotional brutality, ongoing microaggressions against certain population groups, selective justice and outright tribalism. The scene is not an error or honest misapplication of legal laws, it works as intended by its supremacist policymakers.
Every day, our people are belittled and made to believe they are inferior, and too uneducated to take up jobs in the public sector in their territory. People are made to feel the need to identify with ethnic Shona norms and values. Increasingly, just to access basic services, Matabeleland people find themselves having to speak in the Shona language because many public workers cannot speaker local languages, and even more show an unwillingness to learn. Often a sense of guilt is driven down the consciences of those Ndebele people who are not competent in the Shona language with the suggestion tribalism is the reason they cannot converse in Shona.
Faced by an existential threat, we need to be resourceful and figure out how we can break the mental manacles of a regime that has occupied not only our physical world but all aspects of our lives including our education, media and journalism, culture and the entertainment industry.
We have become prey to institutions created in the image of ethnic Shona supremacists. And for decades we have struggled against the injustices of these institutions and made little to no coordinated efforts of changing the institutions. We have reached a crisis point.
Complaining does not break chains of oppression; we must take practical steps. We have a strong moral mandate to disobey unjust laws, laws that degrade human personality. The solution lies in taking concrete steps to dismantle all barriers to justice, freedom and liberties, and making sure the shared socio-political space is safe for everyone.
Ignoring injustice whether intentional or otherwise and no matter who the agency is, will never be a solution but an invitation for more of the same, if not worse. It emboldens the aggressor while the internal damage caused on the victim is eternal.
We argue that when you see injustice, do not let anyone silence you. Instead, get loud; make some noise. It is important for our communities to understand that they will not win every battle or even most, but they will not win any at all if they do not try.
Changing the psyching of individuals and communities is now a political emergency. Education is vital in building and maintaining, in our communities, a spirit of defiance, overcoming fear, and cultivating a mindset that current systems have no bearing to local interests and needs and we have no duty obeying unjust laws.
We must be clear that the Zimbabwean political space is, both in form and practice, effectively a reflection of Shona creed and as such tilted against all that matters for Matabeleland people. Institutions of Zimbabwe do not serve our interests, and we have no interest in trying to identify with or serving them.
In the decades following the end of colonial rule, the ZANU PF regime sought to create the narrative that people of Matabeleland were, or harboured, dissidents who posed a security threat to the state and tribalists who posed direct threat to the safety of the predominantly Shona population. Thousands of civilians were killed between 1983 and 1984 in Matabeleland.
ZANU PF government falsely justified its purge in Matabeleland as a security driven intervention to eradicate armed dissidents in the region. We argue that Matabeleland people have not created problems for Zimbabwean institutions; Zimbabwean institutions have created problems for Matabeleland people.
If Matabeleland continues to obey unjust laws, the nation will soon disappear, never to be found, not even in history books. We have the responsibility to organise and create institutions that promote and protect local power structures. We must be unwavering in our support for local enterprise and get rid of moderates whose main concern is the projection of state institutions than protection of human rights.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 