Mthwakazi politics and the politics of identity
all day referencing D. Beach and T. Ranger and even ask ubaba uPathisa Nyathi, but it will bring us to one conclusion, when we assumed independence we denounced rule by conquest and agreed on democratic processes where there is contest of ideas not cultural masculinity. The imminent danger is that we create a cycle of confusion as to why there was the war of liberation. Was it for the retaining of cultural supremacy or we were breaking cultural barriers to modern governance? The conclusive agenda of Zanla and Zipra attacks to the enemy was to give birth to a nation and nations within a nation? Of course we cannot selectively ignore the 1982 disturbances, but 1987 was a call for unity of the people of Zimbabwe.
Detrimental as it is, the idea of cultural supremacy by the Mthwakazi masquerades cum politicians is that it dominates other Matabele tribes and cultures and appoints itself as a supra-Matabele culture. This is rife in their contest narrative that Shona culture should be done away with in Matabeleland. Such xenophobia is normal (note: xenophobia does not mean attack), co-existence of supra cultures yields collision, it’s normal in anthropological settings and such locales have a contest of dominance over the other. The contest that has been designed by Mthwakazism ousts cultures such as Kalanga, Sotho, Tonga, Venda, Nyanja, Chewa which have been instrumental in the liberation of this country. When an extremist group finds itself dominating a “struggle”, it selfarrogates entitlement to a struggle and superficially dominates others, in the process eliminating “smaller” or what cultural enthusiasts call endangered groups. Pathological tribal essentialists like Paul Siwela and Khumbulani Moyo are successfully suppressing other Matabele cultures and masquerading as the most important and politically entitled cultural vanguards.
History is a good teacher, some champions of the liberation struggle were Kalanga people, Dr Joshua Nkomo grew up amongst Kalanga people but you find a Boko Haram style of political isolation along the lines of which a King is more important therefore this country should be split. Nonsense! Deep research ignites knowledge that Benjamin Burombo contributed so much to the Zapu struggle, Dr Nkomo even had some of his rallies accommodated at the Mahomva Shopping complex, their struggle was funded by a shop conglomerated by Shona businessman, if you are from Matshobana, in Bulawayo, you know koGoveya, that is the shop, so, why my people why? Why do you then think you are more Ndebele than others? Sometimes we do not need to compensate our failures by disrespecting successful Kings.
If King Mzilikazi were to rise today, I really much doubt he would be happy to find his name as a Lanister flag in political duels. The respectable and successful King has been paraded as a gimmick excuse of secession, with continuous allusion of how important he is to the Ndebele people and the history of this country. That is undoubtedly true, he contributed to the history of this country and so did Munhumutapa and Changamire Dombo. It’s not as if he was the first King to discover this land, he found people here, and at that time, governance was conquest, so was his legitimate settlement, but waves have changed now, we vote to appoint leaders, we do not refer to the importance of our Kings as justification to exclude ourselves from others. Political dynamics of Africa have shifted over time and we are not in the league of Monarchs, let’s not be blinded by a sense of belonging to the extent of associating the Ndebele tribe with less thought political inundations.
As we map our way towards 2018, I ask myself if people still vote along tribal lines and if there space for ethnic politics? Truth be told, African politics is still hinged on that. We cannot evade that political dominance in this continent is ethno preferential because majority of voters are still cultural conservatives. Because politics is a game of numbers, the political culture banks on where the most votes come from and the electorate also casts their votes based on cultural representation. It’s a custom that an electorate feels good if their home boy is elected, that is normal; therefore if the scholar Chiwome said the truth that Ndebeles constitute 16% of the population, then does Mthwakazi have a vote of majority? Asibeni ngabantu!!
Micheal Mhlanga is a research and strategic communication specialist and is currently serving Leaders for Africa Network (LAN) as the Programmes and Public Liaison Officer. He also administrates multiple youth public dialogue forums in Zimbabwe including the annual Reading Pan Africanism Symposium (REPS) and Back to Pan Africanism Conference. Feedback can be sent to michealmhlanga@abakhokheli. org