The pulse of born-free Zimbabwean writers

I was born in the euphoria of an independent Zimbabwe but two decades later, Zimbabwe has become one of the most unpleasant places on earth.  To a favoured few, Zimbabwe has become a cornucopia of riches and opportunity, and to the rest of us, a living hell. Zanu (PF) and its leader are a subject of dread and tales of their repressive tendencies are a chief – if not whispered – topic of conversation that echoes beneath the scratchy music of township beer-halls, around meager fires at every household that have become a daily source of cooking energy, and in the endless nationwide queues for food or other basics.

The Zimbabwean society is sick and literature can save it. I strongly believe that the temperament of the creative writer in any democracy evolves out of a preoccupation with concrete, practical matters. No, I am not suggesting that writers confront the establishment head on because we will die on the frontline of bravery. The moment a writer engages with the circumstances of his own realities, he’s inevitably being political. What a writer says and what a writer chooses not to say is in itself a political act.

While there have been ‘echoing silences’ from the older generation of Zimbabwean writers, there has been an exciting chorus of emerging literary voices, writers whose creative muse finds inspiration in the day to day struggles they encounter. Their stories provide the best form of news. They are more entertaining, dramatic, detailed, and intimate than some news reports. These are writers who are giving face to what many have aptly termed the ‘Zimbabwe crisis.’ They are not political in the sense of sloganeering for either political party because they are tired of rambai makashinga tirikuchinja maitiro. Be strong, change is coming. Promises! What promises?

It is the responsibility of young writers to provide an informed context and more complete picture of the Zimbabwean reality. While Mugabe may project himself as an ‘ideological martyr’ bruised by the colonial past, the actual reality is that the dear Comrade has turned out to become a despot inspiring lofty sentiment in his political peers in Africa, and yet being reviled by the constituency that matters most, ordinary Zimbabweans. They are the ones who have to bear the consequences of his autocracy and economic failures.

The historical and political reasons for the emotionalism of the coverage of the Zimbabwean crisis are too obvious and only do tremendous harm in distorting the real issues and events in Zimbabwe. I believe that, hopeless as she may seem today, Zimbabwe is not absolutely beyond redemption. Critical yes! Zimbabwe is what it is only because our leaders are not what they should be. The duty we have therefore as young Zimbabwean writers is to navigate the propaganda minefield and instead present the sad tale of our country in profound detail and with sensitivity that serves to redeem our dignity as a proud people.