People First: Memory is a hermeneutic matter

"To the injustice committed in our name we must not add the injustice of forgetting," so said German historian, Hannah Vogt, who is also author of top-selling book, The Burden of Guilt - A short history of German 1914-1945.

He is quoted above writing about the Nazi Holocaust that claimed the lives of six million Jews in gas chambers at Auschwitz, as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi followers attempted to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe in the period 1939-45.

In the Zimbabwean context, one would tweak his statement to, "To the injustice committed against our own, we must not add the injustice of forgetting."

And there are quite many of those injustices. The Gukurahundi genocide that claimed more than 20 000 lives in 1980-87, the murders of MDC supporters and other opposition activists during the past decade and a half, Operation Murambatsvina, Operation Mavhotera Papi and Operation Short/Long sleeves are but a few in a plethora of horrific experiences that Zimbabweans do not have the luxury to forget about.

And these should haunt one Zimbabwean political embryo calling itself (which?) People First, led by former Vice President Joice Mujuru. Because of the political desperation that has gripped Zimbabwe of late, I do not write here unmindful of the ire that my article might draw.

I know that to some, this might been seen to some as an invitation to trade unprintable profanities and to others as an incitement to throw certain accusations my way. I know there are a number of people who have joined Mujuru's calls to "BUILD" Zimbabwe from the corner of her formation. Some of them are close friends of mine, and they have even tried to lure me into taking certain positions in their formation-under-construction. But I believe there are times when, in pursuit of the need to serve the truth, one has to betray one's friends and former comrades.

I have also come across certain people who believe that no-one has a right to discus the merits and demerits of a political outfit unless their are members of that outfit, but as a Zimbabwean, I believe I have authority to discuss anything that has something to do with Zimbabwe, and in its transmutation to a full-fledged party, People First will have everything to do with Zimbabwe – the land of my birth. I therefore, need no more authority to write this than the authority of Mxolisi Ncube - a bona fide Zimbabwean citizen who wants to see genuine change dawn on his home country; Mxolisi Ncube - a Zimbabwean journalist under obligation to tell the truth and revisit history even when it burst certain bubbles and deflated certain egos; and Mxolisi Ncube – a believer in reconciliation only when it is prefixed with justice.

Reading through Mujuru's "Blue-print to Unlock Investment and Leverage for Development" (BUILD) document, I was impressed to come across lines like, "We say no to political intolerance........ We shall repeal POSA and replace it with a modern legislation that is in line with the Constitution....We say no to violence...There is going to be compassionate national and spiritual healing programmes throughout the country addressing trauma emanating from pre and post-Independence conflicts in Zimbabwe... We shall respect and uphold the rule of law by treating all people equally before the law...We want our political leaders to be honest and have integrity and be trust-worthy..."

And then I remembered some worrying factors. Among the people that Mujuru hopes to "BUILD" this new Zimbabwe with are the Didymus Mutasas, the Kudakwashe Bhasikitis, the Jabulani Sibandas and the Jim Kunakas of this world - architects of the 2000-13 political violence. All those names as pillars in a formation that hopes to "build" a better country? Are we for real? Are our politicians for real? Is our politics for real? Is Mujuru for real? Is People First for real?

"We shall respect and uphold the rule of law by treating all people equally before the law..."

Does it mean that, should she win the elections, she will turn against Mutasa et al and order them arrested and tried for their crimes against humanity? Criminals need be arrested and tried for their crimes and "treating all people equally before the law" means that, not so? Or she will give amnesty to all murderers to allow Mutasa and company to go scot free? Dangerous proposition!

Obviously, the former Vice President is yet to master the incredible power of credibility and embrace the magical power of reasoning. While she apparently has realised that Zimbabweans have become desperate enough to believe in anything that promises them change of government, she has missed the fact that they have also suffered too much to forget those who took them to hell and back.

I have personally interviewed exiled political activists who break down at the mere mention of Mutasa and Kunaka - people who lost their loved ones, homes and even limbs at the instigation of those two. I have also been in contact with some Masvingo residents who survived hell in the hands of Jabulani Sibanda-led war veterans. All those know pain because they lived through pain back then; they live through pain today and will continue to live through pain for as long as those who inflicted pain on them still remain alive and unpunished.

There are a number of painful incidents that I personally live through myself and while I am not sure about my ability to forgive, I know for certain that I do not have the ability to forget. To me, the Didymus Mutasa who claims to be eager to "BUILD" Zimbabwe today is – until he is punished or pardoned by a court of law, still the same Didymus Mutasa who caused the political terror that anti-climaxed in the death of Christpower Maisiri and other MDC activists in Headlands.

Maisiri's death and that of many other opposition activists is an injustice Mutasa and Zanu (PF) inflicted on them and their families. To that injustice we must not add the injustice of forgetting.

There is therefore, no gainsaying the fact that for People First to be embraced as a genuine driver of change, Joice Mujuru should declare her wealth and its source; Mutasa should come clean on the injustices he ordered carried out on fellow Zimbabweans during his Zanu (PF) days; Jim Kunaka should tell all about the torture and murders he ordered and executed during his Chipangano days and expose both his accomplices and the bosses under whose command he did all that; Jabulani Sibanda should explain the violent operations he carried out in Masvingo and elsewhere, and Kudakwashe Bhasikiti should confess all the gory operations he ordered carried out against mainly MDC-T members. And all that should be done in a court of law.

As I have written elsewhere, there is no way you can hunt with wolves for decades – plundering our livestock and then, just because you have lost speed and some of your canine teeth have fallen off, tell us you have realised you are actually dogs and expect us to allow you into our homes. There is no difference between a murderer in Zanu (PF) and a murderer who belongs in the opposition. Both must all be arrested and punished for their crimes.

I know that some People First proponents would want us to forget about the past, but to forget, we need to first forgive and to be able to forgive, we need to see justice. Reconciliation without justice has failed, the case-study being the so-called 1987 Unity Accord between Zanu (PF) and PF-ZAPU – a unity that Mutasa also benefitted from. And we shall always have memory of that.

Spanish scholar and author, Manuel Reyes Mate, in his essay titled, "Does Historical Responsibility Exist?" states that, "... without memory there is no justice because non-remembrance attacks, destroys or breaks up the truth and the existence of the injustice." In that vein, Zimbabweans are not able to erase their bitter memories because they know that once the injustice has been erased, there is no reason for justice.

"Consequently, if someone takes justice seriously, that is to say, they wish to think of universal justice as something that not only deals with big and significant things, but also with small, insignificant ones, that person has to turn to a memory that does not forget, to divine memory," sates Mate.

In a line poignantly directed at the likes of Mutasa, he adds, "Man knows from experience that mankind moves forward by forgetting, and for that reason injustice is repeated."

In as much as they would want people to lose memory of the past, People First proponents should always remember that memory is a hermeneutic matter; it consists of considering as highly significant what has been so far granted as insignificant.

Memory is justice or, rather, a response to injustice. And memory of all the injustices committed against the poor and vulnerable – and acting on those, is what a genuine "People First" movement must show.