Opinion / Columnist
From racism to tribal discrimination: When the oppressed are dangerous
21 Sep 2017 at 08:03hrs | Views
Addressing a rally at the White City Stadium in Bulawayo on the 2nd of September 2017, Morgan Tsvangirayi expressed a view that people who raise objections to injustices such as tribal inequalities, are dangerous elements in society. This apparently was in reference to the people of Matabeleland who have been demanding justice over the callous 5th Brigade Matebeland and The Midlands ethnic cleansing without success since the 80s.
A week later Robert Mugabe is quoted by Joice Mujuru as having made similarly disperaging remarks about the Karanga people of Masvingo. He accused them of rebellious and disruptive conduct embedded in the history of their tribe because they are frustrating the Mugabe Dynasty Agenda. True or not, the sentiments quoted are a serious cause for concern because they reflect an unfortunate attitude towards a people who are courageously becoming assertive and conscious of the tribal agenda of Mugabe's party and government but fear the risk of a genocide according to Joice Mujuru who is also correct when she says labelling a tribal grouping derogatively is invariably a prelude to genocide. Nyenzi in Rwanda, dissidents and cockroaches in Zimbabwe.
The Alliance for National Salvation (ANSA) is on record as having objected profusely to the mischief of the MDC-T leader and his disturbing lack of understanding of what accounts for healthy ethnic relations in a multi-ethnic society. ANSA condemns without reservation the public insult of the people of Masvingo. We however feel vindicated that our criticism of Zanupf and its deadly ideology of tribal supriority has been amplified though from an unlikely corner and we can only hope the problem-identification is earnest and genuine. Robert Mugabe's legacy of tribal hatred and intolerance is the reason we are where we are today. It is his uncontested right to form a tribal party. So is the right of everyone else to form a party to exclusively deal with their regional issues. It is called freedom of association. What we reject is the lie that regional parties engage in political tourism in search of deputies in other regions and claim to have resolved Zanupf induced tribal inequalities and that therefore they are national. Mundane thinking. Or the voluntary submission of individuals to the leadership of others outside their tribes for obvious benefits and then lying to their own that they wield political power in their adopting tribe. Being truly national is much more complex than mere tribal numbers and the exploitation of tribal numerical strength.
We urge Mujuru's party to go the extra mile to adopt the ANSA regional approach as the only way to insulate and protect tribal communities from ridicule, abuse and exploitation by whichever group is in power. Ask the people of Matabeleland and the Midlands what it means to be singled out as a tribe in a public meeting by a Head of State or his spouse and have your identity flogged, your dignity savaged, your moral values urinated upon, your rights summarily
executed and you have no recourse to the law. The volcanic seismic movements in Zimbabwe's so called national political parties are mostly due to unresolved toxic tribal relations which ANSA places on the door-step of Zanupf. National parties in Zimbabwe are a mind blowing myth.
ANSA is determined to fight for equality and will therefore continue to tirelessly object to and condemn without fear or favour the irresponsible and reckless validation of Zanupf's criminal ethnic assimilation agenda wrapped in a treacherously dubious model of ethnic integration by clowning clones of Zanupf masquerading as patriots of a deeply tribally fragmented Zimbabwe.
A week later Robert Mugabe is quoted by Joice Mujuru as having made similarly disperaging remarks about the Karanga people of Masvingo. He accused them of rebellious and disruptive conduct embedded in the history of their tribe because they are frustrating the Mugabe Dynasty Agenda. True or not, the sentiments quoted are a serious cause for concern because they reflect an unfortunate attitude towards a people who are courageously becoming assertive and conscious of the tribal agenda of Mugabe's party and government but fear the risk of a genocide according to Joice Mujuru who is also correct when she says labelling a tribal grouping derogatively is invariably a prelude to genocide. Nyenzi in Rwanda, dissidents and cockroaches in Zimbabwe.
The Alliance for National Salvation (ANSA) is on record as having objected profusely to the mischief of the MDC-T leader and his disturbing lack of understanding of what accounts for healthy ethnic relations in a multi-ethnic society. ANSA condemns without reservation the public insult of the people of Masvingo. We however feel vindicated that our criticism of Zanupf and its deadly ideology of tribal supriority has been amplified though from an unlikely corner and we can only hope the problem-identification is earnest and genuine. Robert Mugabe's legacy of tribal hatred and intolerance is the reason we are where we are today. It is his uncontested right to form a tribal party. So is the right of everyone else to form a party to exclusively deal with their regional issues. It is called freedom of association. What we reject is the lie that regional parties engage in political tourism in search of deputies in other regions and claim to have resolved Zanupf induced tribal inequalities and that therefore they are national. Mundane thinking. Or the voluntary submission of individuals to the leadership of others outside their tribes for obvious benefits and then lying to their own that they wield political power in their adopting tribe. Being truly national is much more complex than mere tribal numbers and the exploitation of tribal numerical strength.
We urge Mujuru's party to go the extra mile to adopt the ANSA regional approach as the only way to insulate and protect tribal communities from ridicule, abuse and exploitation by whichever group is in power. Ask the people of Matabeleland and the Midlands what it means to be singled out as a tribe in a public meeting by a Head of State or his spouse and have your identity flogged, your dignity savaged, your moral values urinated upon, your rights summarily
executed and you have no recourse to the law. The volcanic seismic movements in Zimbabwe's so called national political parties are mostly due to unresolved toxic tribal relations which ANSA places on the door-step of Zanupf. National parties in Zimbabwe are a mind blowing myth.
ANSA is determined to fight for equality and will therefore continue to tirelessly object to and condemn without fear or favour the irresponsible and reckless validation of Zanupf's criminal ethnic assimilation agenda wrapped in a treacherously dubious model of ethnic integration by clowning clones of Zanupf masquerading as patriots of a deeply tribally fragmented Zimbabwe.
Source - Moses Mzila Ndlovu, ANSA Interim President
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