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Findings and Discussion

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Healing the Wounds of Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe

Part of the book series: The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science ((APESS,volume 19))

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Abstract

This chapter presents the analysis and discusses the findings of data gleaned from the dialogue sessions under three main themes, each with several sub-themes. The major themes are: sharing our stories, hindrances to healing and the consequences of an unhealed past . It also reviews participants’ views about the usefulness of the research process to them. The data set is based on a series of dialogues with the same group of participants over a period of time.

To be human is to have a story to tell.

Isak Dinesen (in Parry and Doan 1996, p. 6)

The past is never dead. It’s not even past.

Faulkner (1951, p. 85)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This is usually done by people who are close to the surviving family members, such as relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues, etc. I doubt that when people do this, there is a reasoned method and intention to it other than simply wanting to know what happened, just for their information’s sake.

  2. 2.

    This was a reference to the Unity Accord of 1987 between PF ZAPU and ZANU, which resulted in the merger of the two former liberation movements. Many people in Matebeleland blame Joshua Nkomo, the leader of PF ZAPU for having capitulated easily to ZANU PF, as they say this pact was an elitist pact which brought very little to their lives (see Sect. 2.4.2).

  3. 3.

    The Bill Clinton quote reads: ‘Those who cannot let go of the hatred of their enemies risk sowing the seeds of hatred within own their communities.’.

  4. 4.

    Private revenge does not necessarily refer to an act done in secrecy, but revenge carried out by individuals or groups outside of the justice system, while public revenge refers to acts carried out by the state through its law enforcement organs such as the courts (see Rosebury 2009, for a fuller discussion of the modes of revenge).

  5. 5.

    Moses Mzila was one of the three co-ministers of the Organ for National Healing and Reconciliation under the Government of National Unity (2009–2013). He was arrested in Lupane while attending a Gukurahundi event organised by a community in Lupane, Matebeleland North.

  6. 6.

    G attended one of the subsequent workshops as she had not been able to attend the one specifically meant for research participants. However, these workshops are standard. What might differ is perhaps the group dynamics. So we can assume that she might have felt the same way, even if she had attended the research participants’ workshop.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grace To Heal, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

    Dumisani Ngwenya

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  1. Dumisani Ngwenya
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Correspondence to Dumisani Ngwenya .

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Ngwenya, D. (2018). Findings and Discussion. In: Healing the Wounds of Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe. The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66818-5_8

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