God can heal the wounds of the afflicted

Why we all need healing

Without seeking to minimize or divert attention from current injustices, we can turn to our history to help explain why we have conflicts today.

The pre-colonial era, the colonial era, and the post-colonial era serve as easily identifiable historical periods in which our conflicts have taken place. Each era has its own sources of conflict that can be seen as political, economic, and cultural. However, the different eras have deeply influenced each other. This makes the challenges of healing, reconciliation, justice and peace in Zimbabwe very complex as it becomes necessary to deal with the present hurts and wounds as well as trace the wounds of the past.

Pre-Colonial ethnic conflicts around control of resources and demarcation of territories are deep sources of conflict in our history. One of the most significant conflicts is the one that involved the Ndebele raids on Shona groups. The Shona have passed on to their children stories about the raids which involved the confiscation of cattle, food, strong young men and beautiful women by the Ndebele. The Shona have, over the years, cultivated negative feelings towards Ndebele groups. These feelings include hatred, contempt, suspicion and the desire to retaliate. For reconciliation to take place we will need to ask ourselves pertinent questions. For example, what are these stories? For what purposes have these stories been told over the years? How useful are these stories? Can these stories be told differently? How has the psyche of the rival groups been shaped by these historical events? What effect has the need for jobs that have seen the ethnic groups settle in all parts of the country had?

The colonial era was dominated by racial conflicts stemming from racial discrimination in all sectors. Inferiority complexes developed among the blacks and superiority complexes developed among the whites. This created resentment among the blacks who then waged liberation struggles. These struggles further triggered hatred between the racial groups. These perceptions and feelings still do affect us today. We need healing from them. But before that can be achieved, racial groups need to repent of their respective sins. How can black and white people have genuine integration and solidarity with each other?

The Post Colonial Era started with the joy of independence from colonialism. Post independence expansion in education, health care, social services and general freedoms were recorded. As a nation, we made mistakes in the euphoria of independence. We forgot to attend to the needs of those who were traumatized by the war especially the ex-combatants. We ignored those who were physically and psychologically devastated by poverty, discrimination and oppression. They all were neither counseled nor treated. Whites who lost political power were not helped to heal from the trauma of that loss. Some of them tried to recreate Rhodesia even in the middle of a new nation and a black government. We all pretended that we could start afresh in a new Zimbabwe without dealing with our past or defining collectively what future we desired for our nation. We pretended that the anger and hatred that had accumulated over many years could simply vanish with independence. This failure to deal with our past continues to haunt us. We now have, however, a second chance. We must use it.

Divided we stand

We have been divided by disagreements on how national resources and social goods are to be owned, used and distributed. At the centre of economic conflicts has been the distribution and re-distribution of land. The post independence economic downturn that was partly caused by the experimentation with structural adjustment programmes, and the crisis of leadership that has continued to dog our country led to frustration. This frustration and impatience eventually led people to resort to using violent and non-transparent means of accessing the land. Corruption, incompetence, mismanagement, arrogance, and economic greed led to the collapse of our economy. With high inflation, unemployment and poverty many fled to the diaspora where they continued and continue to experience economic hardships.

Violence has been institutionalized as demonstrated in various successive instances in the pre-independence war period, Gukurahundi, land re-distribution, Murambatsvina, violence during elections of which the worst was the period after the harmonized elections of 29 March 2008. The nation needs to acknowledge and respond to the deep wounds of Gukurahundi.

We must acknowledge and recognise the various cultural animosities which have impacted on our politics, economics, Church and other gatherings and social activities. This is a serious area in need of healing and reconciliation.

We have sinned

As Zimbabweans, we have made very serious social, political and economic mistakes over the years. It is essential to identify the areas in which we have made these mistakes in order to respond to them.

As Zimbabweans we should focus on what brings us together more than what separates us. The Good News of Christ tells us that we are one. It is important that this Good News transforms us to see this fact.

We have allowed our different backgrounds to be sources of suffering rather than happiness. Today our nation is deeply traumatised. As a nation, we are wounded physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

We are grateful that through negotiations facilitated by SADC, the major political parties in the country reached a Global Political Agreement (GPA) in September 2008 although the agreement itself has some limitations. It was reached through a process that was not all inclusive. It is basically a political agreement and yet our crises are more than political. However, we regard the Agreement as a moment of grace that can and should be turned into a new beginning.

Restorative justice

The Church has already been contributing to the healing of those who have been wounded and whose lives have been destroyed. We invite the support of all the Christians and people of good will, the government, civil society, NGOs, all our Church organs, Parishes in all their sections and funding partners to support this effort to heal those who have been wounded over the years of our history. We believe that restorative justice will help to heal those whose rights were undermined and with the help of the Lord, they will achieve reconciliation and peace.

We appeal to the perpetrators of these atrocities, accomplices, and instigators of violence to acknowledge the evil deeds and in conscience to own up and make restitution as Zacchaeus did (Luke 19,8). You need to be justified before God to find peace.

Finally, we appeal to the victims of any of the evil acts in our country, the offended, to forgive. It is not easy. Do not expect total compensation but what the community can afford in the circumstances we find ourselves.