Building Friendships Between Shona and Ndebele Ethnic Groups in Zimbabwe
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BUILDING FRIENDSHIPS BETWEEN SHONA AND NDEBELE ETHNIC GROUPS IN ZIMBABWE Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Management Sciences Public Management (Peacebuilding) Cyprian Muchemwa Reg. Number: 21346774 Supervisor: Professor Geoff Harris Date Co-Supervisor: Dr. Sylvia Kaye Date July 2015 ii DECLARATION BUILDING FRIENDSHIPS BETWEEN SHONA AND NDEBELE ETHNIC GROUPS IN ZIMBABWE I declare that the thesis herewith submitted for the PhD: Public Management (Peacebuilding) at the Durban University of Technology has not been previously been submitted for a degree at any other university. _________________________ Cyprian Muchemwa I hereby approve the final submission of the following thesis. __________________________ __________________________ Professor Geoffrey Thomas Harris Dr. Sylvia Kaye This _______ day of ______ 2015 at Durban University of Technology iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my late sisters Caroline and Ethel, may their souls rest in eternal peace. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to start by acknowledging my supervisor Professor Geoffrey Thomas Harris for his advice, support, guidance, and understanding and without whom I would not have completed the thesis. You became my father as well as my mentor. God Bless you, Prof. I am also grateful to my co-supervisor Dr. Sylvia Kaye, and your advice was invaluable. Special thanks to Dr. Reshma, and Sister Usha, your presentations were enlightening. My sincere and profound gratitude goes to the following: To my wife Emmaculate Tsitsi (Mamoyo) and our two boys Dominic Tawanda and Kyle Tanyaradzwa, I know what you went through by having an ‘absentee’ husband and father respectively. Thank you for the unwavering support; My parents Mr Stanley Muchemwa and Mrs Agnes Muchemwa, you gave me a good foundation and I am forever grateful; To Mr Christopher Ngwerume and Mai Ngwerume, Mr Pascal Ngwerume and Mai Ngwerume and Mr Mapako and Mai Mapako; My siblings Charlton, Best and Mai naBaba Denzel; To my friend and colleague Rogers Manungo and his wife Maiguru Mai Manungo (Mai Matwins), I am deeply indebted, your hospitality and generosity made my life comfortable at Solusi; To the participants: hats off to you people, you inspired me and may peace be with you forever! To management at Solusi University for granting me permission to carry out my research at your institution and a special mention to the Vice Chancellor Dr Musvosvi and Pro Vice Chancellor Dr Poblete. To my friends and colleagues at Bindura University and beyond; Dr Kurebwa, Dr Nyoni, Dr Katsvanga Dr Chereni, Professor Pfukwa, Mr Chipaike, Mr Mwakwere (Chirandu), Mr Munyedza, Mr Dodo, Mr Katsinde, Ms Chigondo, Mr Masuka, Mr Banda and Mr Maushe, Mai Chanetsa, Mai Ndlovu, Mai Mushayavanhu, Innocent, Nyamunda, Mr Sibanda, Mr Jon, Mr Mbofana and Mr Mujeni (Hero). To friends at Concord Christian Guest House in Durban, God Bless you! To staff at National Archives of Zimbabwe, you were wonderful people; v To my friends and colleagues in my cohort group, Mediel (Musaigwa) Joseph Olusegun (Oga), Diaku, Father Chris, Kuda, Zakhe and Alphonse. To my employer Bindura University for granting the opportunity to do my studies; To Durban University of Technology for funding my studies; To the Almighty, all the Glory belongs to you. vi ABSTRACT Despite all the public pretences of projecting a united country, Zimbabwe is a divided country and this has made genuine peace and unity very difficult to attain. The bruised and polarised relationship between the Shona and Ndebele ethnic groups is deeply rooted in the annals of history, which makes it a protracted social conflict. The Gukurahundi campaign between 1982 and 1987 was part of a chain of catastrophic events, which have emanated from a well-established culture of violence and intolerance between Shona and Ndebele. Efforts to address this culture using a top- down approach under the auspices of the 22 December 1987 Unity Accord did little to curb hostilities. Even though these efforts were commendable, they were not sufficient to make any significant inroads into the polarised relationship of mistrust between the two groups. This thesis applied an Action Research design and specifically used the Transcend dialogue method to explore the possibilities of building mutual respect and understanding among a small sample of young Shona and Ndebele participants. The research found that creating intentional platforms for interaction could have a positive transformative effect on relationships. It is not too late to create more spaces and transformational platforms for people to dialogue, to listen to each other, to share stories, and carry out projects together. Engagement using dialogue can create new synergies, which can make a worthwhile difference to the long journey towards (re) building broken bridges and building new bridges. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ........................................................................................................ iii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1: .................................................................................... INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research problem ............................................................................................. 2 1.3 Research motivation ......................................................................................... 5 1.4 Research aim and objectives ............................................................................ 6 1.5 Limitation ........................................................................................................... 7 1.6 Delimitation ....................................................................................................... 8 1.8 Thesis chapter outline ..................................................................................... 11 1.9 Summary…………………………………………………………………………......12 CHAPTER 2: CONFLICT MANAGEMENT, CONFLICT-RESOLUTION AND CONFLICT-TRANSFORMATION ............................................................................ 14 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Conflict handling mechanisms ........................................................................ 14 2.3 Conflict-transformation .................................................................................... 23 Table 2.1 ............................................................................................................... 26 Figure 2.1 .............................................................................................................. 31 2.4 Summary..………..………………………………………………………………….32 CHAPTER 3: DIALOGUE AND RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING ................................. 34 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 34 3.2 Dialogue and Conflict-transformation .............................................................. 34 Table 3.1 ............................................................................................................... 35 3.3 Inter-Group Contact hypothesis ...................................................................... 36 3.4 Dialogue and relationships building ................................................................ 38 3.5 Dialogue and Conflict-transformation in Sub Saharan Africa .......................... 42 viii 3.6 Summary ......................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER 4: SHONA AND NDEBELE RELATIONS BEFORE 1980 ..................... 53 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 53 4.2 Historical background...................................................................................... 53 4.3 Pre-colonial Shona and Ndebele relations 1839-1897 .................................... 64 4.4 Shona and Ndebele relations under the colonial dispensation ........................ 74 4.5 Summary ......................................................................................................... 89 CHAPTER 5: SHONA AND NDEBELE RELATIONS AFTER 1980........................ 91 5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 91 5.2 “A short honeymoon”: Ethnic polarisation after independence ........................ 91 5.3 Assembly Points violence and clashes between ZANLA and ZIPRA combatants ........................................................................................................... 94 5.4 Exaggerations unabated and one side blame