Categories: Stories

Does it pay to be Shona and ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe?

Yes. This is what a Ndebele University of Zimbabwe lecturer argued some 33 years ago.

Mthandazo Ndema Ngwenya argued that the attitude of ZANU-PF and their actual declarations were to the effect that it pays to join ZANU-PF. 

“They did not say it pays to be Shona as that would be unacceptable, in bad taste and tribalism. But looking at the reality that unfolded from 1980 to date, it became increasingly and vividly clear and evident that it does not pay to be ZANU-PF when you’re Ndebele. It pays to be Shona and be ZANU-PF. Being Shona is the necessary and sufficient condition for being a privileged and well provided ZANU-PF.”

Is this still the case today?

Ngwenya died in a car accident at the age of 44.

Here is what he argued.

(261 VIEWS)

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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