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WATCH: Gogo MaTshabalala accuses CCC of mimicking Zanu PF's identity and tribal politics
13 Jun 2023 at 08:29hrs | Views
If there is one critical thing that Zimbabweans don't want to openly and frankly discuss, it is ethnicity and how it shapes and influences social, political and economic relations in the country.
While people live in peace with each other, there is underlying ethnic polarisation and rivalries just below the surface which always explode at the slightest trigger, sometimes into tragedy as Gukurahundi showed.
In this video, Bulawayo political activist Gogo MaTshabalala, who says she embodies multiculturalism in Zimbabwe, confronts the question of ethnic relations between the Shona and the Ndebele, Zimbabwe's biggest tribal groupings.
Zimbabwe has 16 languages, including sign language, which implies that it has at least 15 ethnic groups.
The reality though is that there are more than that, with some being sub-ethnic identities.
Others are simply not counted as they have been assimilated into bigger groups.
MaTshabalala says Ndebeles are marginalised by Shonas and this must be addressed in the interest of nation-building and harmony, as well as progress.
She emphasises that she has some Shona sons-in-law, yet she is discontented about the way Zimbabwe is run by Zanu PF and how some minorities are treated. Unwittingly, she critiques what some call the dictatorship of the majority, while implying Oliver Wendell Holmes' rationale that "the true measure of a democracy is the way it treats its minorities".
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, accused of spearheading the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres against Ndebeles as the late former presidentRobert Mugabe's enforcer, says noone will be left behind in development terms under his administration.
This is a tacit acknowledgement of problems which MaTshabalala raises fiercely with gravitas laced with humour or sprinkled with light moments.
MaTshabalala says this emotive issue of ethnic domination, polarisation and marginalisation should be addressed properly for Zimbabwe to be peaceful and progressive.
The issue of ethnicity is always hard for Zimbabweans, who are an ethnic melting pot despite the superficial colonial Shona-Ndebele divide, to discuss progressively without people getting emotional, angry and irrational.
A research paper by Dr James Muzondidya and Professor Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni titled 'Echoing Silences: Ethnicity in post-colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2007' tackles the subject matter.
"Until recently, Zimbabweans have been conspicuously silent about questions of ethnicity. As in the colonial period, especially during the days of the nationalist liberation struggle, all attempts to discuss ethnic identities, especially their manifestation in the political and economic spheres, were brushed aside," the two academics write.
"Yet, ethnicity has continued to shape and influence the economic, social, and political life of Zimbabwe since the achievement of independence in 1980. This seeks to discuss the influence of ethnicity in post-independence Zimbabwe. More specifically, it tries to understand why ethnic identities have continued to be important in the everyday lives of Zimbabwe. It does so by discussing the processes that have continued to enact, reproduce and reconstruct ethnic identities as well as ethnicity in Zimbabwe's post-colonial period."
MaTshabalala was speaking in the context of ethnic relations within the main opposition CCC, which she accuses of mimicking Zanu PF's identity and tribal politics.
She goes on to say political parties seeking to change the situation in Zimbabwe should address that among other urgent national issues.
Some analysts say the challenge to democracy in Africa is not the prevalence of ethnic diversity, but the use of toxic identity politics to promote narrow tribal interests.
It is tribalism, they say.
There are those who argue that tribalism is a result of arbitrary post-colonial boundaries that force different communities to live within artificial borders, while some say the problem is largely political elites who use tribalism to capture state power to access public resources for self-interest and self-aggrandisement.
This problem, which has resulted in ethnic tensions, conflict and destruction, is prevalent across Africa with varying degrees of intensity and toxicity.
While people live in peace with each other, there is underlying ethnic polarisation and rivalries just below the surface which always explode at the slightest trigger, sometimes into tragedy as Gukurahundi showed.
In this video, Bulawayo political activist Gogo MaTshabalala, who says she embodies multiculturalism in Zimbabwe, confronts the question of ethnic relations between the Shona and the Ndebele, Zimbabwe's biggest tribal groupings.
Zimbabwe has 16 languages, including sign language, which implies that it has at least 15 ethnic groups.
The reality though is that there are more than that, with some being sub-ethnic identities.
Others are simply not counted as they have been assimilated into bigger groups.
MaTshabalala says Ndebeles are marginalised by Shonas and this must be addressed in the interest of nation-building and harmony, as well as progress.
She emphasises that she has some Shona sons-in-law, yet she is discontented about the way Zimbabwe is run by Zanu PF and how some minorities are treated. Unwittingly, she critiques what some call the dictatorship of the majority, while implying Oliver Wendell Holmes' rationale that "the true measure of a democracy is the way it treats its minorities".
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, accused of spearheading the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres against Ndebeles as the late former presidentRobert Mugabe's enforcer, says noone will be left behind in development terms under his administration.
This is a tacit acknowledgement of problems which MaTshabalala raises fiercely with gravitas laced with humour or sprinkled with light moments.
The issue of ethnicity is always hard for Zimbabweans, who are an ethnic melting pot despite the superficial colonial Shona-Ndebele divide, to discuss progressively without people getting emotional, angry and irrational.
A research paper by Dr James Muzondidya and Professor Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni titled 'Echoing Silences: Ethnicity in post-colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2007' tackles the subject matter.
"Until recently, Zimbabweans have been conspicuously silent about questions of ethnicity. As in the colonial period, especially during the days of the nationalist liberation struggle, all attempts to discuss ethnic identities, especially their manifestation in the political and economic spheres, were brushed aside," the two academics write.
"Yet, ethnicity has continued to shape and influence the economic, social, and political life of Zimbabwe since the achievement of independence in 1980. This seeks to discuss the influence of ethnicity in post-independence Zimbabwe. More specifically, it tries to understand why ethnic identities have continued to be important in the everyday lives of Zimbabwe. It does so by discussing the processes that have continued to enact, reproduce and reconstruct ethnic identities as well as ethnicity in Zimbabwe's post-colonial period."
MaTshabalala was speaking in the context of ethnic relations within the main opposition CCC, which she accuses of mimicking Zanu PF's identity and tribal politics.
She goes on to say political parties seeking to change the situation in Zimbabwe should address that among other urgent national issues.
Some analysts say the challenge to democracy in Africa is not the prevalence of ethnic diversity, but the use of toxic identity politics to promote narrow tribal interests.
It is tribalism, they say.
There are those who argue that tribalism is a result of arbitrary post-colonial boundaries that force different communities to live within artificial borders, while some say the problem is largely political elites who use tribalism to capture state power to access public resources for self-interest and self-aggrandisement.
This problem, which has resulted in ethnic tensions, conflict and destruction, is prevalent across Africa with varying degrees of intensity and toxicity.
Source - newshawks
