ZANU PF Says Gukurahundi Will Be Healed By Renaming Provinces
30 October 2024
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Renaming Provinces: ZANU-PF’s Smoke and Mirrors Approach to Deep-Seated Divisions

By Farai D Hove | The ruling party, ZANU-PF, directed the government to rename the country’s provinces to eliminate “colonial names” which, it claims, foster division. Citing the colonial legacy of divide-and-rule tactics, ZANU-PF’s legal secretary, Patrick Chinamasa, stated that removing these “divisive” names is a step toward unifying the nation. The proposal is heralded by party-aligned historians like Mr. Methembe Hadebe, who asserts that renaming the provinces would foster a sense of national pride beyond ethnic affiliations.

However, this proposal, while seemingly patriotic on the surface, is more of a diversion from the real issues that have long divided Zimbabwean society. This renaming initiative sidesteps the painful historical realities that have fractured the nation, specifically the actions and policies of ZANU-PF itself. By focusing on place names rather than addressing decades of violence, injustice, and marginalization, ZANU-PF is effectively papering over its own responsibility for Zimbabwe’s internal divisions. It is not colonial legacy that has caused the most harm since independence—it is ZANU-PF’s own authoritarian governance and disregard for human rights.

A History of Violence Ignored

Since gaining independence in 1980, ZANU-PF has consistently used power to suppress opposition and maintain control, often at the expense of unity and peace. The most glaring example of this is the Gukurahundi massacres in the early 1980s, in which approximately 20,000 people, mostly from the Ndebele ethnic group in Matabeleland, were killed under the guise of rooting out dissidents. These killings were state-sanctioned acts of violence, which the government has never officially acknowledged or reconciled with the survivors and their descendants. For ZANU-PF to claim that renaming provinces will heal national divisions is an insult to the memory of these victims and to the still-traumatized communities in Matabeleland.

Rather than addressing these atrocities, bringing justice to the perpetrators, or providing reparations to affected families, ZANU-PF’s proposal seeks to obscure these painful memories under the guise of decolonization. Yet decolonization, if it is to be meaningful, cannot merely address names and symbols. True decolonization would involve a reckoning with ZANU-PF’s own history of division, violence, and oppression—a history that continues to affect people today.

The 2017 Coup and Ongoing Tribal Tensions

ZANU-PF’s track record reveals that it is not merely colonial borders that have fueled ethnic divisions; ZANU-PF’s own policies and power struggles have done far more damage in recent years. The 2017 military coup, which ousted long-time ruler Robert Mugabe, was driven in part by tribal factionalism within the party. These tribal tensions are not the legacy of colonialism—they are actively cultivated by ZANU-PF’s leadership, which has long played Shona and Ndebele communities against each other to maintain control.

The proposed renaming of provinces does nothing to address the grievances and historical traumas tied to these ethnic divides. Instead of genuinely fostering unity, the proposal is a convenient means to manipulate patriotic sentiments, allowing ZANU-PF to obscure its own culpability in sustaining tribal tensions.

Renaming as a Superficial Solution

While symbolic gestures like renaming provinces may have some value in creating a shared sense of heritage, this cannot substitute for concrete action to address the real sources of division. Ethnic tensions in Zimbabwe are not just about names on a map; they stem from decades of political oppression, violence, and economic neglect—primarily inflicted by the ruling party itself. Without tangible steps to acknowledge and repair the harm done to communities like those in Matabeleland, a name change will be little more than a veneer over an unhealed wound.

Moreover, the move to rename provinces is a diversion from urgent issues that demand attention, including poverty, unemployment, corruption, and the erosion of civil liberties. By focusing public discourse on this issue, ZANU-PF deflects from its own responsibility for these deep-seated issues, ensuring that Zimbabwe’s true path to unity remains obstructed.

A Call for True Reconciliation and Justice

If ZANU-PF were genuinely committed to fostering unity and healing national divisions, it would begin by taking accountability for its role in perpetuating ethnic violence and injustice. This would involve:

1. A formal acknowledgment of the Gukurahundi massacres and an official apology to the people of Matabeleland.

2. Establishing a truth and reconciliation commission to address historical grievances and ensure that the perpetrators of past violence are brought to justice.

3. Investing in meaningful development and economic opportunities for marginalized communities rather than using symbolic gestures to deflect from real issues.

Zimbabwe needs more than renamed provinces; it needs justice, transparency, and a government that respects human rights and equality. Until ZANU-PF addresses its own history of authoritarianism and violence, initiatives like renaming provinces will remain hollow, failing to address the true causes of division in Zimbabwe. This proposal is a shallow, insincere gesture—one that cannot bandage the wounds inflicted by a party that has, for over four decades, actively undermined the unity it now claims to champion.