Matabeleland - the marginalization 'myth'

Ladies and gentlemen of my precious and beloved nations - Bakalanga, BaNambya, Vhavenda, BaPfumbi, Babirwa, bakwaXhosa, nina beSilo bakaPunga noMageba, maNdebele, I am back again. Today I want to address the issue of the marginalization of our region. This issue close to my heart because for the 30 years of my life, I haven't seen much development in my beloved land to be really proud of. Everywhere I go, I here only one refrain from the elders of my community - "in the days of Smith things were better. We were oppressed but had access to basic services, roads were maintained, available schools worked well, diptanks and dams were well serviced, etc".

Beloved fellow nationals, today these things are far from what we all want them to be. Yes, we know this country is just rising from the depth of terrible and man-made economic and political crisis. And yet, for us, this crisis isn't only ten years old. It is a crisis over 30 years old. It is no secret that our fathers and mothers were the first to organize for the overthrow of white colonialism and take up arms of war to destroy that system of injustice.

A legendary political party, the ANC, later NDP and later Zapu, was formed as a national party made up of people of all ethnicities to champion this noble struggle. But in 1963, my fellow brothers and sisters, some amongst us started what would for the next half century remain a scourge of pestilential propotions to this country. A breakaway party called Zanu was formed. Two things motivated its founding - greed and hunger for power, and to gain ground, that party played a card that hadn't been played any time prior - the tribal card. For the first time, Zimbabgwean politics began to be defined along tribal lines, though Zapu, under the leadership of this country's greatest Nationalist and Freedom Fighter, Dr Joshua Nkomo, resolutely remained a national and multi-ethnic party. Through all the challenges and vicissitudes the struggle was executed until the colonialists were forced to come to the negotiating table and accede to majority rule, leading to the first general election in which the majority of Africans participated. It was a joyous daybreak, and we waited with bated breath for this promising dawn.

But, just after we had celebrated 'independence' from white colonial rule, we of Bakalanga, Vhavenda, BaNambya, Babirwa, BaTonga, and amaNdebele, found ourselves in the throes of a more vicious form of colonialism. Mr Mugabe, in violation of all sense of human morality, human rights and international law, unleashed his notorious North Korean-trained militia upon our people. I call this a militia because it was not part of the regular national army.

Within a few weeks of the unleashing of this notorious militia, untold levels of human brutality was unleashed on innocent and defenseless citizens, many of who had sacrificed greatly for the freedom of the country. Our parents, brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles, were murdered, raped, 'disappeared', burried in shallow graves, exiled from the land of their forefathers, and many other such evils. The story has been told many times.

This all was done ostensibly to 'restore law and order' and 'get hold of 200 dissident'. In the process of hunting 200 'dissidents', about 30,000 civilians were murdered, and no dissident, as Dr Nkomo accused, was ever arrested and brought before the courts of law to be tried. Heroes of the struggle, General Lookout Masuku and Dumiso Dabengwa, were arrested, tried and acquitted by the highest court in the land. To stop the killings and brutalities, Dr Joshua Nkomo signed the lopsided 1987 Unity Accord in good faith. But as we have since learned, the Zanu, and unfortunately, Shona side, has never acted in good faith. The last 50 years give ample testimony to this fact.

Throughout the last 30 years, the Zanu/Shona side, and lately MDC-T/Shona side still behaves the same way. Not only have they refused to address the injustices of the past, but continue to marginalize our region. In recent weeks, the media has been awash with articles talking of the "myth" of the marginalization of Matabeleland. Brothers and sisters, this is not only a gross insult to our humanity but an abuse of our patience. This is a perpetuation of injustice, and indeed a provocation not to be entertained. It would be a fatal mistake for us to just dismiss such statements as talk of old men wanting to endear themselves to the Zanu/MDC-T/Shona establishment. This is part of a well calculated strategy to push on us the blame for our marginalization and absolve of responsibility those who are perpetuating the injustice. It is a calculated move meant to make us feel bad about ourselves and say well, perhaps we are to blame, and as a result, we look away from the injustices and loose focus on the struggle. It is just a diversionary tactic by those who would that we continue wallowing in suffering and pain. We should therefore totally reject the accusations the marginalization of our region is a myth. It is real and well calculated and intended.

Let me just give a brief definition of what marginalization is and give lively examples of that phenomenon in our land. According to Wikipedia, citing Dr. Lynn Todman, director of the Institute on Social Exclusion at the Adler School of Professional Psychology, marginalization, also called Social Exclusion,"refers to processes in which individuals and entire communities of people are systematically blocked from rights, opportunities and resources (e.g. housing, employment, healthcare, civic engagement, democratic participation and due process) that are normally available to members of society and which are key to social integration."

A look at this description shows that Matabeleland is a seriously marginalized region. Whilst not as overt as the above description suggests, the marginalization of our region starts with an intentional and deliberate disenfranchisement of our people and treatment of them as foreigners in the country, the land of their forefathers. This can be seen in the way their languages have been shut out of the educations system, the media and government. This is not only destroying whole cultures but silencing a whole generation. And as we all know, unless one can effectively communicate their position, it means their interests shall forever be threatened. Day in day out we see a national broadcast media (where it is available) promoting Shona language and culture at the expense of everyone else. When one comments on the issue be it online or on the streets, the common answer is "the Shona are the majority". So what? Does majority give license to trample the rights of other people?

Next we see this kind of marginalization taken into the education system. The recent NUST scandal is a case in point here. But not only that, thousands of our children receive "regrets" letters from colleges when they apply for places of study, yet thousands of young people from Mashonaland are given space in the very colleges that are supposed to be serving us. After penning the article 'Do we need A Level', I received the following email from an aggrieved young man:

"I rather had some difficulties getting a starting pont after my 'O'Level. I had good passes in one sitting,having six subject passes. I tried going to 'A'level. l failed dew to natural causes, having lost my parents after a long illness. I went for part time jobs waiting for my Ordinary Level certificate, since by then I was a holder of a duplicate.

I got the long waited 'O'level certificate & tried my level best to get a training course in Ministry of Health to train as a Professional Nurse, but came hell when they needed a National Youth Service certificate. Then I applied in the Ministry of Education, just to attain TP (Temporary Teaching).

I proceeded to attain the NYS (National Youth Service) certificate after 3-4 months training. That was in 2004-2005. I got all these requirements but still I'm not employed. Getting in the Nursing Field needs a limited number of which yu got told its enough from no where. I stay in Bulawayo, born & bred there. I tried & tried applying for vaccancies now my file is full of regrets, try next time etc.

I travelled south just to balance the bad situation around me. Something still torments me, I need education, prayers are all my way that one day l shall see myself achieving my dreams. In a nutshell why cant there be some Organisation assisting in this poor resourced Matebeleland so that we get the education like in other areas of Zimbabwe. Who can I consult for this long cry, I need a smile too. I can sweat, cry those tears out but cannot wet the whole earth so that little sweat & tears in the soil mean something. It can show that some drops fell on the ground. I need that little."

Indeed what a painful and sad story. One could not help but shed a tear. These are young people who work very hard and pass in school, only to find a system that favors a certain section of the citizenry of this country. The story of this young many is that of many young people of our region. For lack of a supportive system they have been forced into exile, denied jobs in their homeland, and later accusations laid against them that they are "not educated". Ladies and gentlemen it is sad. Sometimes I wonder at the claim that Shona teachers are deployed in our region because we don't have qualified teachers, yet at the same time we have thousands of young people bravely sweating it out in our schools teaching as temporary teachers. If they can teach as temps, why are they not admitted for training in teacher training colleges?

I have received many facebook comments similar to the email above. In one case I posted on facebook asking what qualification does it take to stamp passports at our border posts, or to man the boom gate at the border? A flurry of comments came of many young people who were turned away from apprenticeship programs, colleges, jobs opportunities, only for them to see other young people from Mashonaland occupy those spots. What kind of country so discriminates against other citizens? Is this the country our fathers and mothers sacrificed so much for during the liberation struggle? Why, why, why? Dr Joshua Nkomo asked at the funeral of General Lookout Masuku.

Many projects in Matabeleland are still on hold, yet in Mashonaland things seem unstoppable. The Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport, rescucitation of industry in Bulawayo, etc, are things taking ages to get finished. What an insult it is then to hear some politician stand up and say Matabeleland is not marginalized. If it isn't marginalized we say give us the money and let us do things for ourselves. Why should everything be done in Harare, and critical decisions that affect us be taken in Harare? Why, why, why?

Ladies and gentlemen of Bukalanga (aka Matabeleland), it is time to unite and vote our own. As I said last week, let us banish Zanu Pf and MDC-T from our region and rally behind MDC and Zapu. Devolution or no devolution with our own parties we can demand resources, and any further marginalization will be exposed for the evil it is. Let us not only vote our own, but hold them accountable and see to it that that which we want is what is done. As I have previously said, let us unite and build structures to defend our interests. We can no longer afford the denial of jobs to our children, which jobs are given to children from Mashonaland. Where should our own work? Does it mean only Shonas are qualified for all types of jobs in this country? I refuse to believe that.

Brothers and sisters, it is time we refused to apologize for who we are. This is the land of our forefathers. Vhavenda, BaNambya, Bakalanga, Babirwa, BaPfumbi, BaTonga, bakwaXhosa, nina bakaPunga noMageba, now is the time to demand that which is ours. Yes, we will be called tribalists, regionalists, and all others ists, but I say to you, if that is going to help our children get an education, get jobs, put a meal on the table, then let's not be apologetic about it. After all the people of Mashonaland have perfected this practice for years. If it weren't so we expect Vhavenda and Babirwa to be comprising the largest percentage of the workforce at Beitbridge Border Post. We expect the majority of the workforce at Plumtree Border Post to be Bakalanga, and BaNambya and BaTonga at Victoria Falls. But alas, over 90% are Shona. I ask again, is it only the Shona who are qualified for all of these jobs? And why do we see people coming all the way from Mashonaland to occupy jobs we know nothing of in our backyard? What is that but marginalization? Brothers and sisters, this can no longer be allowed to go on. Let us organize ourselves and demand our rights. This is our land, our country and our heritage. Shona people have no better claim to this country than us. We love them, but we don't see love and justice as mutually exclusive concepts. We can surely love our Shona brothers and sisters but still demand that justice be done.

Ndaboka imi zwangu n'Kalanga we Bulilima-mangwe. Ndomutulila iyawa matama kuti mu akumbilisise makamu angu. Tadziila kakale tanyala. Bana bedu babhakhwe sebataya muhango yabobatategulu babo kudze kube lini? Ati bhatisaneni makamu angu. TjiKalanga tjakati 'tjinyunyi babili nkombawonga tjowuluka'.

Ndaboka. Ndolivhuwa. Ndiyabulela. Ke a leboga.

Ndzimu-unami Emmanuel can be contacted at ndzimuunami@gmail.com