No sane person should wake up and be happy with the present state of things in Zimbabwe. We cannot accept the country as it is and lay claim to sanity. Each day we should wake up with a feeling of revulsion because of the injustice of things. First, victims and beneficiaries must reject tribalism and stop making excuses for systems, institutions and policies that dehumanise other people because of their social background. Continue reading
The greatest gift Matabeleland handed to the anchors (ZANU PF and the MDC) of systematic tribalism in Zimbabwe is inaction; now we have the MDC flagrantly ignoring local interests and imposing outsiders who are clearly naïve to local culture, norms, values and languages to take up executive roles in Matabeleland’s capital city, Bulawayo. A stop must be put to this; we can no longer afford to open ourselves to such appropriation of our support. Continue reading
We will always pride ourselves in being a tolerant nation that fully embraces multi-ethnicity, multiculturalism and difference. We have never been threatened by difference, we have always understood the fact that difference is not inequality. What unites and makes us a truly great nation is the recognition of the reality that all tribes and all cultures are distinct and individual, and we fully embrace that. Continue reading
As the pro-Mthwakazi agenda enters its new season, we need to redefine how we fight our battles. We must accept now that dictating ‘solutions’ to people has not worked. The reason is most probable that we are ‘solving’ problems that are essentially of politicians’ imagination and not what the public identifies as their problems. Worse still, we are employing exclusionary tactics that are leaving our society more vulnerable to fragility and conflict. Continue reading
Our politics cannot base itself on the law of the jungle, and the unilateral and indiscriminate abuse of citizens based on tribe is the law of the jungle. There are men and women of principle across the socio-political divide, but we are yet to see a party of principle. At present we are witnesses to unacceptable excesses right across the political spectrum because political parties have failed to set themselves minimum standards or codes of acceptable behaviour. Continue reading
If pro-Mthwakazi groups are true to their word that they have a problem with the Zimbabwean politics, they should be sharply deviating from Zimbabwean political norms founded on tribalism. Our primary goal is political and economic safety and security for all, and our experience of Zimbabwean politics has taught us that tribalism is contraindicated in that. Continue reading
Huge and serious differences remain between Matabeleland and Mashonaland’s perceptions of independence; there is a wide gap between what Mthwakazi believes independence entitles her and what the State – dominated by Mashonaland – is prepared to deliver. Continue reading
