Our politicians must shun dangerous tribal stereotypes

By Dhlayani Chauke

The first lady of Zimbabwe’s recent averments at a rally in Gwanda, that Ndebele men are lazy people who are only interested in sex and notorious for abusing women are very unfortunate, unsettling and reckless.

As loyal citizens, we expect our leaders to be exemplary luminaries who always strive to instil that one belief in all of us that not one single tribe is better than the other in Zimbabwe; that all of us are capable of doing good given an enabling environment with equal opportunities for all.

Tribalism is an inherent phenomenon in many an African setup; different tribes simply do not stand each other. Members of a tribe have that camaraderie that keep them unified in one cluster that is bound by common cultural beliefs, a shared language, a sovereign territory and most importantly the natural endowments that make their women unique.

Such characteristic traits are the trademarks that make tribes unique, and their pride usually revolves around those unique qualities. A leader’s role is to educate different tribes that they are not less able or inferior to any other; that they are all gifted with equal skills and potential.

Tribalism being a part of us, we often look forward to the intervention of our national leaders to foster unity and peaceful co-existence, and we expect those same leaders to come up with initiatives that promote respect for one another between tribes, and also to shun averments that can be misinterpreted by others to imply an acknowledgement by a leader that one tribe is more superior than the other.

A public grilling of an errant child makes them obstinate and also makes them even determined to disregard the admonition. Even if it was true that Ndebele men are as the first lady alleged, as a leader she is not expected to utter such statements at a public gathering, at the same stadium where the president himself denigrated the same Ndebele men about one and half years ago when he ranted that all they know is running to South Africa to do menial jobs and later come back home empty-handed.

It is common knowledge that Matabeleland is less developed than the much favoured Mashonaland swathes. That to a large extend is attributable to the fact that since independence the national leadership in the country has predominantly come from Mashonaland, and naturally they have prioritised the development of their home areas.

It is on that backdrop that the eastern parts of the country compare better to the western ones where the Ndebeles are resident. For Grace Mugabe to declare that the reason why Matabeleland is less developed is because of the men’s gargantuan interest in sex, which ostensibly leaves them with less time to concentrate on developmental matters, is to deny responsibility for government‘s failure to improve black people’s standards of living, thirty four years after independence.

On the same day, Mrs Mugabe went on to further allege that Ndebeles are highly polygamous, with four, five, six or even ten wives per man. That is not only untrue but it is also a show of no respect for the Ndebele nation. That is a very doltish allegation that is far from the truth.

If anything, men from Mashonaland tend to have more wives than their Ndebele counterparts, they are the ones who actually like marrying more wives and often going beyond the confines of their regions to marry from the Ndebele nation, which by President Mugabe’s own acknowledgement is endowed with the finest women in Zimbabwe.

The first lady ranted on and accused Matabele man of being infamous for raping. What a reckless allegation! Rape cases are exponentially on the rise in the whole country of Zimbabwe. To single out Matebelaland as the land of women-abusers and sexual maniacs is to also denigrate the men from that part of the country who work very hard to give a good living to their wives and daughters.

Problems of rape and women abuse are national problems that should not be tribalised. These are vices taking their toll on all of us; we need comprehensive plans as a nation to curtail them instead of playing blame games.

While tribal slurs are never justifiable, they tend to be a bit mollified when said by someone belonging to a given tribe, with reference to members of the same tribe.

In a situation where the proponent of the slurs is from another tribe, and at that, one long perceived to be harbouring oppressive tendencies against the other tribes, the sentiments become more abrasive and explosive. Mrs Mugabe being from the Shona tribe must have been more sensitive when handling matters that can rattle members of the Ndebele tribe.

ZANU PF leadership seems to downplay the long lasting scars inflicted by the Gukurahundi massacres. To many, such sentiments as these, coming from the wife of the head of state, are a reflection of what government thinks of the Ndebele state. Mr Mugabe himself was on record saying that the Ndebele men are not good providers of own families, putting much importance on the trek down south where they come back with items of less value such as radios and bicycles.

If that is the case; that Ndebeles are making the trek down South, to go and find work, then that should be proof to the contrary, that they are not lazy after all. They aspire to be gainfully employed, but in a country bedevilled by spiralling unemployment, there is not much to stay put for in the country.

So, quite to the contrary, Ndebele men are responsible men, always coming up with ideas to keep their families fed, and in cases where they cannot find jobs locally, prepared to go beyond the frontiers of Zimbabwe to alleviate their cause.

Our leaders must be disciplined in speech and ensure that they do not make sentiments that are tribally despiteful. Even in cases where some parts of the country are evidently lagging in development, leaders must do a self-introspection before rushing to blame the locals for spurring underdevelopment and implying that they are in the situations they are in because they are Shona or Ndebele or even Shanganis.

A good leader, or anyone aspiring to be one, should make use of every opportunity they get to foster unity of tribes and demonstrate that indeed the government is a government that knows no tribal differences. Our leaders must lead from the front and conscientise the citizens on the need to co-exist in harmony and respect for one another.