Ndebele Kingdom! Never impose it on all of us

There should be a referendum that will determine if the entire people of Mathebeleland are agreeable to the restoration of Ndebele Kingdom. It is not advisable to impose a Kingdom on the diverse peoples of Mathebeleland, we are not subject but are a democratic institutions that need to be consulted.. It is a few individuals who appear to want to speak on behalf of the entire peoples of this region who want to dominate other minorities in the region. Mathebeleland is not wholly the nation of the Ngunis and the Khumalos only. We are more than six Kingdoms in this region.

Who gives the Khumalo Kingdom the right to dominate other Kingdoms in Mathebeleland? What makes Khumalo Kingdom more special than other Kingdoms so that they shall only be the ones to revive their own and not the other? Who is going to maintain all the costs that entails a King's kraal. Did you make a referendum that was wholly agreeable to all ethnic groups that the Khumalo Kingdom will be the one that dominates other ethnic groups? Are you aware of the fact that Mathebeleland is seriously depopulated, many people relocated to South Africa because of marginalization of the region.

This whole wish of a kingdom is wholly chauvinistic and wholly masculine, wholly misogynistic. This dreaming of what it was yesteryears at the detriment of our women and children are galling to say the least. Whoever is dreaming of the Mathebeleland restoration of a Khumalo King is putting so many lives at risk that they purport to protect. The "other" will not agree, this will be putting the region again in a Gugurahundi mood. Should there be war in this region, it is those very Ndebele men who will run away, run back for cover in Zululand, leaving women and children vulnerable, at the mercy of yet another coming ethnic cleansing. This suggestion is wholly done by unscrupulous men, failed politicians who see no purpose in their lives either than talk big.

I would rather refer you to an article written by Dinizulu Macaphulana of late who spoke passionately about those who glorify war and the consequences of it, women and children as complete casualties of it. The restoration will not just happen without resistance. I would be tempted to think that the statement is a provocation to confrontation. There is no funding for such "nice thinking". The region is destitute, abjectly poor to ever entertain such niceties of yesteryears. For Pete's sake we are in a miserable debt, we do not even know if we are to repay our debt by giving up parts of the lands to repay it. We owe the International lenders over 20 Billion US dollars. At the present moment the treasury is bankrupt. Who can still sit down and dream of a Kingdom when the entire 4 million is without food but rely on food handouts from international community. The region has no water at all; the water projects are at a standstill.

What value is the Khumalo Kingdom give to the other ethnic groups in the region? Are you going to attract tourism by yearly occurrences of Mhlanga dances, the touristic will enjoy seeing paraded half dressed Ndebele girls posing to be seen by the king, to be picked as the fourth of fifth of sixth wives of the King of Mathebeleland? Why are drawing us back to the middle ages customs from Zululand? The King Zwelithini of Zululand is wholly unproductive. He dreams of apartheid days as his glory days. Is this what the people who want to restore the Ndebele kingdom emulating from King Zwelithini? This wish to the restoration of Ndebele King is wholly the idea of being worshiped; it's galling. Who will ever worship beggars from the taxpayers' treasury?

I would rather we look into rebuilding the region and assisting the women and children in their fight for chronic poverty in the region. We should engage in project that will give water in the region. We should fight for our school to have Ndebele speaking teachers to facilitate better education for our children. We need to fight for the devolution of power so that we determine our future and not our future to be determined by the central government. Devolution is already in the constitution, why can't we give it a chance? The Lady Thokozile Mkhwanazi who resides in USA is giving all of us good example of empowering the region. She had made tangible contribution worth emulating! Why can't we forcefully ask all opposition parties tell us how they are going to effectively solve ethnic tensions in the country as a whole? We forcefully request them to show us clauses and phrases that shows clearly how ethnic diversities will be accommodated in the devolution clauses of the constitution.

This restoration of Ndebele Kingdom is wholly misogynistic. Women and children's rights are trampled up in those institutions or Kingdoms. We shall fight against the restoration of Ndebele Kingdom; we shall make sure there is no restoration of Ndebele Kingdom in Zimbabwe even if the devolution goes through. Such Kingdoms are wholly misogynistic and they do not have a place in a competitive global development. What goes on inside those corridors of such kingdoms; its traditions and cultural that are out of date that have no place anymore in this globally changing development, I am citing King Zwelithini of Zululand and king Mswathi Swaziland as classical examples of absolute backwardness in relation to how they view women and children and foreigners too.

We do not want to see a situation whereby the Ndebele Kingdom will dominate other ethnic minorities in the region because of the presence of their King. You certainly resist Shona dominance, we resist Ndebele dominance equally. Shona dominance cannot be the only "bad" and the dominance of the Ndebele the only "good." We the San population have never been acknowledged by Ndebeles in you Kingdoms at any time. As a citizen of Zimbabwe from the San population I am not agreeable to the restoration of Ndebele Kingdom under the Khumalo rule. I will mobilize others of my clan and certainly of other clans and Kingdoms too, to resist this move of the restoration of Ndebele Kingdom, the Khumalo as the named Kingship.

Let's have a referendum that will determine whether the peoples in the region are agreeable to such a restoration. If indeed the referendum went into your favour, to restore Ndebele kingdom and the Khumalo as the King I will be made to understand and accept democratic decisions and respect the majority wishes.