Most politicaly correct people want to potray Zimbabwe as a united nation that does not care about one's background. These prophets of doom are usually quick to say Zimbabweans are above tribe and race and things like that. While that is a good wish the truth is that Zimbabweans a very divided people. For example an average South African can speak up to five languages, Sotho ,Zulu , Xhosa, Venda or even Shangani. This is the reason why they can identify foreigners because it is impossible to learn all these languages within a short period. The point here is most Zimbabwean would only speak their own tribal language. There is nothing wrong with that. However the tribal differences have been used to divide people over a long time.
If I am not mistaken there are about seven or eight official languages spoken in Zimbabwe.These would range from the majority to the minority. Having grown up in the Midlands myself I can testify that politics have divided people by their langauge or tribe. It is so sickening to note how much your language will determine one's fate in Zimbabwe. For example it is a known fact that "No Ndebele supposed to rule Zimbabwe no matter how brilliant". While we have been successful in down playing our deep divisions we must take off the mask and face the reality on the ground. It is known fact that the Mutambara faction of the MDC needed him because they risked being branded a Ndebele party. I have no doubt of the man Mutambara's credentials at the same time I also do not believe that they needed to elevet him to the top position. Those guys had already done enough work on their own hence they managed to get the few Parlimentary seats in Matabeleland. The Sibanda and Welshman faction did not want to risk national status.
Fears like that are not unfounded. The late Dr Joshua Nkomo the man who was nicknamed father Zimbabwe was branded a Ndebele leader yet everybody knew that he was a national leader above tribal and racial divides. Those lies worked pretty well for those who wanted to achieve what they wanted to achieve. All this was done at the expense of political diversity and a multi cultural society. When the man Cde Robert Mugabe had done that he was assured that the majority of the Shona people would be on his side. To this day most Shona people in the rural areas still support him regardless. The man Mugabe has so much support that even if he dose not rig elections he can beat each of the MDC factions. Iam not going to mention the million men march or war vetarans. There is no one thing that brings Zimbabweans together as sons and daugters of one nation.
The work of the militia and the other party agents was so effective that people do not trust one another to this very day. In his effort to stay in power forever Mugabe greatly rewarded the people of Mashonaland in many respects. They bennefitted from scholarships and many government and non govermental projects. They were recipents of things like black empowerment and so no. He built Harare into a world class city and even the sorrounding areas. Some were appointed in many influential positions like the Police , Army , Education and the entire public service. This took many years of deliberate planning and planting. The stronghold of the opposition is the poor people of Matabeleland and the educated people of Harare. The division is deep that even the opposition is divided. Shona dominates Zimbabwe's media. That is why most Ndebeles resorted to cross the border a long time ago, when the Shona were singing praises of ZANU.PF and its leader.
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