It's not fiction, Ndebeles are marginalised

It's not fiction, Ndebeles are marginalised

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By Kuthula Matshazi

THERE has been some tendency to deny or trivialise the marginalisation of the people in Matabeleland when the issue is discussed.

Carefully crafted ideological arguments have been deployed to shoot down the plight of a people who are suffering in their home country. Some have said that it is not the Matabeleland people only who are suffering this marginalisation; other provinces and districts are marginalised too.

Sure, but they have the right to speak out about their own circumstances and get recourse. It should not be wrong for the Matabeleland people to express their marginalisation just because they are supposedly not the only people in the predicament.

Dr. Alex Magaisa writes in this forum questioning the reality of marginalisation in Matabeleland. He seems to believe that we, as Matabeleland people do not clearly understand the extent of our marginalisation problem because our deep emotional involvement blurs it.

In defending his position, he first wants to problematise the socially constructed concept of Ndebele and Shona implying that it is not clear-cut on how we can define or distinguish the two groups. But we have our commonly agreed to cultural codes of representations within a social context that give us common language to define what becomes Shona or Ndebele. But to undercut this argument, Magaisa would suggest that what if an individual, with his rights chooses not to be bound by these codes of representations? Granted, but the individual gets his rights from and also practices them in a group. So if they cannot subscribe to these codes then they might as well exercise their rights outside of the group because they would infringe upon the rights of other individuals who subscribe to the group notion.

This long philosophical point is made in an attempt to disarm the group, in this case the Ndebeles from claiming their identity as a group, but as disparate individuals who are in a competitive market place where socio-economic chances are not rewarded as a group but individuals. That could be true, but in the case of Matabeleland it is not true.

In Matabeleland the social, political and economical institutions deny rewards to a disproportionate number of individuals. On the contrary, these institutions have disproportionately favoured many people from outside of the region. For instance, right from public service workers and private sector employment, tertiary education to ownership of businesses there is a disproportionate representation of people from outside Matabeleland province. Magaisa doubts this and calls for research. Others simply dismiss it as politics or tribalism. It is still strange that there are some people who still deny the fact despite so many studies carried out by various Matabeleland groups on the wide extent of the problem. This trend has also been widely communicated to the central government and other stakeholders and yet we still get people who still deny the extent of the problem.

Just to illustrate the extent of the problem. Shona has become a language for business transaction in Matabeleland even among our old parents who do not understand it. People who indicate that they cannot speak Ndebele man most offices. This scenario does not exist in Mashonaland. Let’s for once suspend our bias and ask ourselves why such a skewed pattern exist? Of course, Ndebeles are said to be only about a fifth relative to the rest of Zimbabwe but why is it that in proportion terms they are underrepresented in decision making positions, tertiary education and business ownership in their home province – except only in unemployment and poverty?

When I accompanied my mother to Bulawayo’s 8th Avenue Jewel Bank in November to sort out her bank account, we were made to speak in Shona. When I told the particular manager that my mother could not speak Shona, he changed to a mixture of English and Shona! This is not to undercut the importance of us to be able to speak both Shona and Ndebele since they are the national languages but it is a problem when one assumes more importance than the other. Unwittingly, it has drawn consciousness to a policy that is being practiced.

It is also a problem when people from other regions are brought in to disproportionately take away employment, education and business ownership and/or opportunities. As a result many of our sons and daughters fail to have opportunities within their province. These opportunities are almost non-existent for them in other provinces. Should the people of Matabeleland keep quite so that we project a country at peace with its citizens?

It is futile to theorise or try to ignore the reality. Yes, we could keep quite, as we have continued over the years but abantu bayakhala madoda! And that is why we shall always see the current trend where the people of Matabeleland do not want to identify themselves with Zimbabwe. Without seeming to promote secessionism - what is in for them? The issue of marginalisation would persist unresolved as long as Zimbabweans deny its existent or extent and instead choose to bury it.

Matshazi -- a recipient of the Millennium Excellence Awards Scholarship for academic excellence and effective leadership -- is a journalist currently studying Communication and International Development Studies at York University, Toronto. Feedback: kuthulamatshazi@yahoo.co.uk
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