In the past few days I’ve been musing about the poll results in rural Matebeleland and couldn’t help but wonder how the psychology of political persuasion works.

I even tried – and actually I’m still trying – to understand it as extending from the psychology of political violence itself as informed by events of the early 1980s in that region, and wondered what could have changed for a people who for so long have demanded among other things that range from compensation and retributive justice to “overwhelmingly” elect the very political animal at the centre of these nightmares.

Time sure must be greatest healer!

I recalled Owen Maseko’s work “Sibathontisele.” Maseko’s exhibition that documents the Gukurahundi atrocities – not surprisingly for many – only got him into trouble, and my reaction to the Matebeleland vote was to ask myself: what is Maseko’s reaction to this?

Of course not just Maseko, but indeed many others for whom Matebeleland remains a symbol of Zanu-PF antipathy, and it shall remain a mystery for me how Zimbabwe’s south-west was won.

I recalled Maseko’s work specifically because of the trouble it got him into with the “authorities,” the same “authorities” who today are claiming the subject of Maseko’s work have “seen the light” and today are jubilant with terrific amnesia!

This is no way to stoke anything (some political egos and other things phallic were long stroked!) but the Matebeleland vote count is plainly outside the realm of credible all things considered.

And as McDonald Lewanika writes elsewhere: “something less sophisticated than politics that will put them on their deathbed.”

And THEY know who they are!

This entry was posted on August 6th, 2013 at 2:01 pm by Marko Phiri and is filed under Elections 2013, Zimbabwe Blog, Zimbabwe News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.