Zimbabwe genocide: voices and perceptions from ordinary people in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces, 30 years on

Studies on genocide in Zimbabwe in particular, and the world in general, focus on the number of people who die. However, significant attention now needs to be directed towards understanding the conditions under which the people of Matabeleland and the Midlands live after Gukurahundi. It is imperative to consider the importance of the voices, views and perceptions of the surviving victims regarding how they move on with their lives. Furthermore, it is crucial to the new frames of aspirations that the victims have developed. This can be done without wishing away the painful past, but with a desire to project into a possible and safer future. Research on Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces needs to ascertain whether or not there have been changes in the voices, views and perceptions of the victims of Gukurahundi about the impact of this genocide, 30 years after the event. If the political, economic and social conditions of the people from these areas have not changed, this constitutes a continuing silent genocide whose dimensions must be understood with a view to stopping it. To evaluate the perceptions of some victims of genocide in Zimbabwe, using interviews and questionnaires in Tsholotsho, Gweru, Mberengwa, Nkayi and Umzingwani can elicit responses to the questions regarding what I call, the victim's spiritual agency that is important when considering how the people have forged ahead with their lives despite or because of a previous history of persecution.