Ethnicity, Development and the Dynamics of Political Domination in Southern Matabeleland

Abstract

This article argues that the hegemony of the Shona people in Zimbabwe has been largely influenced by ethnicity and the quest to dominate Matabeleland politically, socially and economically. Development marginalisation of Matabeleland region, I argue has been influenced by ethnicity and politics of revenge. The study used ethnography to collect data and hence in-depth interviews were used as data collection tools. The results of the study indicate that Matabeleland has been largely dominated by the Shona ethnic group, and arguments advanced by scholars for this dominance, it is argued, Ndebele dominated the Shona people in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. This was due to conquest by the marauding Ndebele warriors under the leadership of King Mzilikazi and latter on King Lobhengula. The ascendance of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANUPF) in the 1980 independence elections opened the gates for the ascendancy of the Shona people as the party was pre-dominantly Shona speaking. The march to state house by the ZANUPF dominated party created a lot of tension between the two ethnic groups; Ndebele and Shona, and hence the lashing out of the fifth brigade in 1983 and 1984 in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces of the country.