Response to Maurice T. Vambe's ‘Zimbabwe genocide

Voices and perceptions from ordinary people in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces, 30 years on’

Bibliographic Data

ID8244665
AuthorsIsaac Ndlovu (University of Venda, corresponding author), Bevelyn Dube (0000-0001-8548-3512, University of Venda)
Year2013
Volume11
Issue4
Pages353-366
Publication date2013-11-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Identities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1472-5843 • E-ISSN: 1472-5851
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14725843.2013.842159
OpenAlexW1980189708
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited7

This response to Vambe's paper is partly inspired by Macaphulana ("New Zimbabwe" 25 February, 2013), a newspaper columnist who refers to Vambe's article as 'scholarship of grudge' (2012). Macaphulana is angered by what he perceives as shocking scholarship that characterises Vambe's article. However, Macaphulana is wrong to attribute this to some grudge that Vambe may have against the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe. For reasons best known to himself, Vambe simply fails to abide by ethical and moral biddings that should be a feature of all academic endeavours. While the writer's apparent intention is to capture the 'voices and perceptions [of] ordinary people', the entire article fails to document evidence to this effect. From a methodological and theoretical point of view, Vambe's findings raise disturbing questions. In the light of the above comments, this response will address the theoretical and methodological issues and ideological, ethical and moral problems raised by Vambe's article.Keywords:: Zimbabwean genocideVambeordinary peopleGukurahundimethodological problemsideologicalmoral and ethical problemsNdebeleethnicity MatabelelandMidlands Notes 1. Email: [email protected] 2. The ZAPU was a Zimbabwean political party led by the late Joshua Nkomo until its merging in 1987 with ZANU to form ZANU-PF. ZAPU was revived again in 2008 by some of its surviving members who had been party to its merging with ZANU in 1987. 3. ZANU has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 with Robert Mugabe as Prime Minister up to 1987 and as President after the formation of ZANU-PF (PF standing for patriotic front) up to the present. 4. It would appear from the names of the five focus areas that the researcher used Zimbabwe's parliamentary constituencies to choose his study population (Ref. to Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Citation2008). 5. The name Gukurahundi refers to the North Korean trained members of the Fifth Brigade who were deployed by the Zimbabwean government in Matabeleland and the Midlands regions of Zimbabwe in the 1980s to deal with the so-called dissident menace. The term has also been loosely used to refer to the atrocities committed by this brigade in the said regions of the country. 6. It is commonly believed that the Shona people and the Ndebele people are the two major language groupings in Zimbabwe. It is said that people speaking various Shona dialects make up to 80% of the Zimbabwean population, the Ndebele speaking people up to 15% with other smaller language groupings making up the remaining 5%. 7. The ZIPRA was the armed wing of ZAPU led by Joshua Nkomo. ZIPRA forces fought in the Rhodesian War which culminated in the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980. 8. Both Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, and Mashonaland Central are largely inhabited by Shona speaking Zimbabweans. 9. The Zimbabwe African Liberation Army (ZANLA) was the military wing of ZANU during the 1970s war against white minority rule.10. Morgan Tsvangirayi is the leader of the MDC; a Zimbabwean political party formed in 1999 and had majority members in the Zimbabwean parliament until the recent elections in July 2013.11. The ZAM is a political advocacy group of Zimbabwean migrants living in Johannesburg, South Africa

Criminology · Genocide · Geography · Perception · Political science · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology · South African History and Culture

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