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Lovemore Ranga Mataire Snr Political Writer
BAHRU Zewde, who edited “Society, State and Identity in African History”, makes a compelling case on tribalism and ethnicism when he says: “The issue of identity has been one of the most central issues in human society. It has inspired the creative endeavours of many artists and writers. “(But) on a more negative plane, it lies at the root of most conflicts that have bedevilled the world for quite some time.” Recent disturbances in Mangwe District, Matabeleland South, where some boisterous villagers harassed the headmistress of Makuzeze Primary School because of her presumed Shona origins clearly show the pervasiveness of ethnicism in our social fabric.
The group, comprising villagers from Makuzeze area in Mangwe District and some members of the Mthwakazi Joint Youth Resolution, were said to have connived to confront Makuzeze Primary School head Victoria Pasipanodya and demanded that she vacates the school.
Sadly and unbeknown to the group, Pasipanodya is actually an Ndebele speaker married to a Shona husband and her maiden surname is Nyathi.
Anthropologically speaking, we are all one people who because of history happen to speak different Bantu languages but derive our origin from the same ancestors.
Historical movements and migrations were so frequent that they have today attracted considerable historiographical work. While colonialism is credited for creating watertight clearly demarcated boundaries that were hitherto non-existent, it nevertheless did not bring any peace and security.
Unfortunately, the fact that we come from the same historical womb has escaped many in African today to the extent that the life of the post-colonial state has been attended by conflict and dislocation of unprecedented magnitude.
Both intrastate and interstate conflicts have littered the African landscape. As a result these endemic conflicts, millions of Africans have either lost their lives or been condemned precious lives into refugees and internally displaced persons. Xenophobia and ethnic cleansing have reared their ugly heads in Africa just like in other parts of the world.
In most cases, like in the case of the Mangwe disturbances, people feel marginalised because of their ethnic origins. There is a general feeling of perceived marginalisation both economically and politically that over the years have sowed seeds of pathological intolerance of plurality of views and identity.
These are evidently genuine grievances yearning for remedial action in order to ensure that people in that part of the country feel being part of the broader nation-state. The Government must speedily establish more teacher training colleges in Matabeleland in order to cushion the current deficit of Ndebele native speakers in that region.
However, it appears as though some individual elements are bent on exploiting these grievances to stoke tribal intolerance something that cannot be tolerated in this day and age. Zimbabweans must derive inspiration to forge ahead as a nation from the individual traits of such nationalists as the late Dr Joshua Nkomo. He became the leader of ZAPU purely on merit and not because of his ethnic background.
Consequently, the issue of one’s ethnic background, which is now opportunistically adulterated by certain elements, was never an issue during the liberation war as brothers and sisters from different ethnic backgrounds fought side by side against the common enemy.
It must also be noted that ZAPU had Shona-speaking nationalists among its top leadership who included Joseph Msika, Josiah Mushore, Samuel Parirenyatwa, Willie Dzawanda Musarurwa, Ariston Maguranyanga Chambati and George Rubatso Marange.
The challenge that confronts Zimbabwe today is the creation of a political framework that can accommodate the existence of multiple layers of identities, the ethnic and the national, the local and the general.
Neither the tribe nor the nation has to die. What must surely die is the concept of a ‘monolithic nation’, which is an anti-thesis of multiculturalism and the construction of a formidable nation-state.
Online Reporter