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Rethinking Chimurenga and Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe: A Critique of Partisan National History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
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Abstract:

This article examines how the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) sought to inscribe a nationalist monologic history in Zimbabwe in order prop up its claim to be the progenitor and guardian of the postcolonial nation. Since its formation in 1963, it has worked tirelessly to claim to be the only authentic force with a sacred historic mission to deliver the colonized people from settler colonial rule. To achieve this objective, ZANU-PF has deployed the ideology of chimurenga in combination with the strategy of gukurahundi as well as a politics of memorialization to install a particular nationalist historical monologue of the nation. After attaining power in 1980, it proceeded to claim ownership of the birth of the nation. While the ideology of chimurenga situates the birth of the nation within a series of nationalist revolutions dating back to the primary resistance of the 1890s, the strategy of gukurahundi entails violent and physical elimination of enemies and opponents. But this hegemonic drive has always encountered an array of problems, including lack of internal unity in ZANU-PF itself, counternarratives deriving from political formations like the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU); labor movements; and critical voices from the Matebeleland region, which fell victim to gukurahundi strategy in the 1980s. With the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999, which soon deployed democracy and human rights discourse to critique the ideology of chimurenga and the strategy of gukurahundi, ZANU-PF hegemony became extremely shaky and it eventually agreed to share power with the MDC in February 2009.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Cet article examine la manière dont le Front Patriotique d'Union Nationale Africaine du Zimbabwe (ZANU-PF) a cherché à inscrire au Zimbabwe une histoire monologique nationaliste en vue de mettre en avant sa revendication d'être le fondateur et protecteur de la nation postcoloniale. Depuis sa formation en 1963, le parti s'est efforcé sans relâche de se faire voir comme la seule force légitime dont la mission historique sacrée était de délivrer les populations colonisées de l'oppression coloniale. Pour achever cet objectif, le ZANU-PF a promu une idéologie appelée Chimurenga à l'aide de la stratégie Gukurahundi ainsi qu'une politique de commémoration pour établir un monologue historique nationaliste spécifique définissant la nation. Après avoir accédé au pouvoir en 1980, le parti commença à proclamer être le créateur de la nation. Tandis que l'idéologie Chimurenga situait la naissance de la nation à la suite d'une série de révolutions nationalistes datant de la première résistance des années 1890, la stratégie Gukurahundi impliquait l'élimination violente et physique des ennemis et opposants. Cependant, cette impulsion hégémo-nique a rencontré depuis toujours une série de problèmes, y compris un manque de cohésion interne au sein du ZANU-PF lui-même, et des discours antagonistes provenant de formations politiques comme l'Union du Peuple Africain du Zimbabwe (ZAPU), les mouvements travaillistes et des voix critiques victimes de la stratégie Gukurahundi dans les années 80, provenant de la région du Matabeleland. Avec la formation du Mouvement pour le Changement Démocratique (MDC) en 1999, qui prononça aussitôt des discours critiques de l'idéologie Chimurenga et de la stratégie Gukurahundi au niveau démocratique et des droits de l'homme, l'hégémonie du ZANU-PF devint extrêmement fragile et le parti accepta de partager le pouvoir avec les formations du MDC en février 2009.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , December 2012 , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2012

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