Graves and the Memorialization of Gukurahundi in Matobo

Abstract

The Matobo district sits to the south west of Zimbabwe in Matabeleland South province. After Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980, this district plunged into yet another civil unrest that lasted until 1987. The unrest has been referred to as gukurahundi. A number of new landscape developed during that period which characterise how Ndebele communities and the state interpreted their struggles during gukurahundi. This article discusses the materiality of landscape by focusing on graves as posters of memory. During the post-colonial era, the Ndebele were killed and buried in mass graves dotted in the district. This article argues that post-colonial graves in the district curate the history of how these communities have negotiated with the state what to memorialise about gukurahundi. By focusing at graves, this article argues that the state has had a dissimilar trajectory from local communities about victims of the 1980s. The article uses ethnography and archival material to argue that Matobo communities and the state use graves to advance different trajectories. Matobo graves are capital in the hands of the state to dominate local communities but Matobo has weaponised the same graves to defy state power. The article submits that Matobo graves capture the nub of struggles between the state and communities at the periphery to control memory.