Opinion / Columnist
Bambanani Association stands with Chief Ndiweni
18 May 2019 at 13:23hrs | Views
There is little doubt that the recent garbled, inane vitriol against Chief Ndiweni, emanated from the office of the Zimbabwean President. Rarely does one find such a match between messenger and message as was discernible from simply watching the body gestures of one of the two frontmen chosen to courier the incoherent disjointed allegations accompanied by direct threats against Chief Ndiweni.
What was that nincompoop talking about when referring to the "tribe that is supposed to be taking the chieftainship"? What does he know about the institution of chieftainship in Matebeleland and how succession issues are conducted?
Whatever happened to the conventional wisdom of not opening one's mouth until the brain was in gear?
The way the issue of Chief Ndiweni is being handled bears all the hallmarks of the modus operandi of the Zanu regime. No space for reasoned arguments based on facts but instil fear and stifle any mature, fact based idea exchanges. This has always been the disdainful way Zanu has always treated people of Matebeleland. There are no depths of depravity these people will not sink to.
The threats against Chief Ndiweni carried the hallmarks of what the Islamists call a fatwa, that is declaring open season for any malefactors intent on harming or even eliminating anyone who dares to stand up and call out the odious regime for what it is.
Perhaps an unintended consequence has been to starkly expose the fallacy that Zimbabwe can ever be a one nation state. The values and basic tenets of the two main cultures are of such a disparate nature that attempting to mould them together is simply futile. One cannot weld iron to a stone or mould barbarism and gentry into a one phase mix.
Build a palace for a hog and all it will do will simply mess all over the refinery!
In one of the two cultures chieftainship means an elevated position for self-aggrandisement and enrichment. Thus, in that culture chiefs exist to praise-sing for the bounty that comes from utter subservience, even to a devilish regime such as what has been inflicted on the Zimbabwean people for coming close to forty years now.
In Ndebele culture the raison d' etre of a Chief is as custodian of all that the people hold dear. The Chief exists for his people, does all he can to safeguard the people's beliefs, hopes and aspirations. Even though a named individual holds the position, chieftainship is an institution and any pronouncements by whoever is Chief are a collective view of the people's wishes.
What is perhaps even more worrying is the mooted response from the plethora of parties and media houses, mostly led and populated by non-Ndebele people to what by any standards, was a barbaric physical attack on Chief Ndiweni.
Ah, de javu! Did we not see a similar response to the Gukurahundi genocide? Gukurahundi genocide which was happening directly under everybody's noses? In any decent and cultured population, the profanity visited on Chief Ndiweni would have met with universal condemnation. But almost all non-Ndebele media outlets saw no evil, heard no evil. Mum is the word. It is partly this myopic tribal partisanship which will ensure that any attempts at moulding a one nation state in Zimbabwe remains forever stillborn. The best that they could do was spew vitriol against the Chief and attempt to distort history, the chief culprits being the Herald and Chronicle. They attempted to divert the people's anger by accusing the Chief of self-staging the assault incident and they even went to the extent of saying that Chiefs were/are chosen by spirit mediums, this is alien to the Ndebele culture, chiefs were chosen by the King with the help of other chiefs after someone had shown gallant deeds in the life of the nation e.g military prowess.
The Bambanani Association, which in its small way wishes to conscientise the people of Matebeleland, wherever they are in the world of the importance of the critical role of culture in defining identity and self-worth. We stand firmly with our Chief, Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni in his stand for national respectability and values. Bayethe wena ka Mkheswa!
What was that nincompoop talking about when referring to the "tribe that is supposed to be taking the chieftainship"? What does he know about the institution of chieftainship in Matebeleland and how succession issues are conducted?
Whatever happened to the conventional wisdom of not opening one's mouth until the brain was in gear?
The way the issue of Chief Ndiweni is being handled bears all the hallmarks of the modus operandi of the Zanu regime. No space for reasoned arguments based on facts but instil fear and stifle any mature, fact based idea exchanges. This has always been the disdainful way Zanu has always treated people of Matebeleland. There are no depths of depravity these people will not sink to.
The threats against Chief Ndiweni carried the hallmarks of what the Islamists call a fatwa, that is declaring open season for any malefactors intent on harming or even eliminating anyone who dares to stand up and call out the odious regime for what it is.
Perhaps an unintended consequence has been to starkly expose the fallacy that Zimbabwe can ever be a one nation state. The values and basic tenets of the two main cultures are of such a disparate nature that attempting to mould them together is simply futile. One cannot weld iron to a stone or mould barbarism and gentry into a one phase mix.
Build a palace for a hog and all it will do will simply mess all over the refinery!
In one of the two cultures chieftainship means an elevated position for self-aggrandisement and enrichment. Thus, in that culture chiefs exist to praise-sing for the bounty that comes from utter subservience, even to a devilish regime such as what has been inflicted on the Zimbabwean people for coming close to forty years now.
In Ndebele culture the raison d' etre of a Chief is as custodian of all that the people hold dear. The Chief exists for his people, does all he can to safeguard the people's beliefs, hopes and aspirations. Even though a named individual holds the position, chieftainship is an institution and any pronouncements by whoever is Chief are a collective view of the people's wishes.
What is perhaps even more worrying is the mooted response from the plethora of parties and media houses, mostly led and populated by non-Ndebele people to what by any standards, was a barbaric physical attack on Chief Ndiweni.
Ah, de javu! Did we not see a similar response to the Gukurahundi genocide? Gukurahundi genocide which was happening directly under everybody's noses? In any decent and cultured population, the profanity visited on Chief Ndiweni would have met with universal condemnation. But almost all non-Ndebele media outlets saw no evil, heard no evil. Mum is the word. It is partly this myopic tribal partisanship which will ensure that any attempts at moulding a one nation state in Zimbabwe remains forever stillborn. The best that they could do was spew vitriol against the Chief and attempt to distort history, the chief culprits being the Herald and Chronicle. They attempted to divert the people's anger by accusing the Chief of self-staging the assault incident and they even went to the extent of saying that Chiefs were/are chosen by spirit mediums, this is alien to the Ndebele culture, chiefs were chosen by the King with the help of other chiefs after someone had shown gallant deeds in the life of the nation e.g military prowess.
The Bambanani Association, which in its small way wishes to conscientise the people of Matebeleland, wherever they are in the world of the importance of the critical role of culture in defining identity and self-worth. We stand firmly with our Chief, Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni in his stand for national respectability and values. Bayethe wena ka Mkheswa!
Source - Dr Ralph Mguni
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
