HomeOld_PostsWhat collective memory does ZANU PF have?

What collective memory does ZANU PF have?

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By Davet Muzvidziwa

WHAT is happening in ZANU PF today reminded me of the issue of collective memory.
Collective memory refers to the upholding of group valuable knowledge and perpetuation of such to future generations of the same group.
The same is true for a nation.
Collective memory sustains a people, an organisation and a heritage.
Enemies of the country would like people to quickly lose their collective memory.
These detractors would invest in memory loss than in memory retention.
Custodians of memory would be motivated to distort the past when passing it on or not to pass it on at all.
ZANU PF may be a victim of collective memory amnesia.
What are the symptoms of collective memory loss?
Collective memory would be stored in people’s minds. It may also be stored in art, songs, slogans and dress.
Collective memory may also be stored in traditions and culture.
Not much has been done in the area of art as a means of memory retention.
Very few movies exist that tell the young generations what was happening in the liberation struggle since 1890.
Not much has been written by the revolution’s participants.
One would have expected to see the relationship of ZANU PF and the revolution carved into the public places.
Yes some roads have been named after heroes of the struggle but more could be done.
Songs were sung in the 1980s by the likes of Oliver Mtukudzi, Susan Mapfumo, Marxist Brothers, Kasongo Band, Cde Chinx.
But in the 1990s this began to fade and in the new millennium the numbers of people who wanted to sustain ZANU PF through song left the agenda to Cde Chinx, Simon Chimbetu, Andy Brown and a few others.
A big number were motivated to turn the sword against the revolution or simply went silent. Some traditions such as the Independence and heroes celebration continue to be held as events not processes.
If all these facets of collective memory retention had been marshalled sustainably, ZANU PF would have perpetuated collective memory to coming generations.
Perhaps recapping some aspects of the collective memory that is fading in ZANU PF will remind the nation what this vast heritage entering entropy is.
What is ZANU PF?
ZANU PF is not a political party as we are made to see it today. ZANU PF is an embodiment of the aspirations of the Ndebeles, Shonas and other people of Zimbabwe who were murdered by the pioneer column and subsequent settler regime in the 1800s up to 1896.
The cause and aspirations were packaged and retained for posterity through Mbuya Nehanda’s last words when she said, “mapfupa angu achamuka”.
In these prophetic words, Mbuya Nehanda represented the blood of all who were murdered by the settler regimes.
It is the spirit of the First Chimurenga that incarnated into all nationalists young and old.
The collective memory from the first Chimurenga was carried in a very short but precise message, “mapfupa angu achamuka”.
This ZANU PF spirit engulfed every Zimbabwean, from all walks of life and persuasions.
Of course an insignificant number of the uncalled who were referred to as ‘vatengesi’ did emerge but could not stop the spirit of the revolution that had engulfed the nation.
Therefore ZANU PF itself is collective memory of the first Chimurenga.
Earlier on I said that the enemies of the nation would want Zimbabweans to quickly lose collective memory.
They are therefore continuously and covertly working to destroy the collective memory.
Will ZANU PF die?
ZANU PF is not a political party. It is an embodiment of the aspirations of the First Chimurenga. As such ZANU PF will not die. People may die, ZANU PF will not die.
Like sunrise, ZANU PF reincarnates. Mbuya Nehanda did not say that mapfupa angu achamuka kamwe chete. The Spirit of 1896 will continue to reincarnate for as long as the land of Zimbabwe is under siege.
The spirit of Cecil John Rhodes had to be brought from Cape Town to be cast in concrete at Matopos in 1902 in order to weaken the ZANU PF force that was visibly imminent.
Rhodes’s grave stands as testimony that there is a battle of collective memory, that is the collective memory of the pioneer column on one side trying to unseat the Nehanda Declaration to allow plundering of Zimbabwean Mwari given resources and ZANU PF trying to protect the resources for for posterity.
What our forefathers fought for in the 1890s remains the same things we fight for in the new millenium. Not a bit has changed since then. In this collective memory battle ZANU PF must win.
Advice to current actors of ZANU PF
You are not ZANU PF. ZANU PF is collective memory embodied in the Nehanda Declaration. ZANU PF belongs to all the people who died in the First Chimurenga and Second Chimurenga. You will be judged harshly by the course of history if you betray the trust bestowed on you by Mbuya Nehanda on behalf of the Ndebeles, Shonas, the Tongas, Kalangas, Vendas and many others.
Desist from self aggrandisement as you are only temporary custodians. The Nehanda Declaration that is epitomised in ZANU PF lives on. ZANU PF was not formed in 1987. It was formed in 1896, so be warned. The clear differentiation is that:
l Are you fighting the cause of the Pioneer Column represented by the grave of Cecil John Rhodes cast in concrete at Matopos or,
l Are you representing the cause of the fallen Ndebeles, Shonas and other people of Zimbabwe who perished in the hands of the Pioneer Column up to 1896 and embodied in the Nehanda Declaration, “Mapfupa angu achamuka?”
It is up to every ZANU PF person to reflect what role they are playing in the existing conflict of collective memory.
Self knowledge shall set them free
Mwari Anesu

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