When Zimbabwe's government began the large-scale seizure of commercial farms in 2000, domestic and international audiences were presented with two competing narratives of Zimbabwe's national history, promulgated by the ruling ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) respectively. ZANU-PF in particular has sought to reframe national history in order to support its immediate political objectives. From this fray, in which fundamental claims over nationalism and political legitimacy were at stake, emerged a din of vociferous, heated and intensely polarised political rhetoric.
Blessing-Miles Tendi has sought to bring coherence to this debate by examining what he calls ‘Patriotic History’, the ruling party's ‘sustained attempt to propagate a repackaged, authoritarian version of Zimbabwe's liberation history’. Tendi's central thesis is that Patriotic History was developed as part of a carefully orchestrated effort to interpret Zimbabwe's past in order to promote ZANU-PF's militant nationalist agenda. In this reframing of history, Tendi identifies four key themes: the land issue (primarily relating to the public redistribution of land seized during the colonial era), race, the ‘sell-outs’ vs ‘patriots’ debate, and the rejection of Western influence. His research then demonstrates how the origin and production of these themes contributed to ZANU-PF's continued hold on power, in part by undermining the MDC's legitimacy and political cohesion.
Given the deeply emotive, politically charged and high-stakes debate that Tendi examines, his research and analysis remain consistently balanced and probing. Interviews with leading politicians and intellectuals from both ZANU-PF and MDC are insightful, because they serve to cut through the existing rancorous discourse and in effect seek insights from ‘the source’. However, the author's tendency to occasionally connect these leading figures to philosophers, such as Voltaire and Plato, serves more to distract than inform. The author also focuses on content production from these leading figures, but does not systematically examine content reception; conclusions about the effectiveness of Patriotic History remain speculative and should be treated cautiously. However, Tendi's overall argument is cogent, insightful and, above all, plausible.
This argument reads: Patriotic History reduces Zimbabwe's complex and controversial history to a simple narrative favouring ZANU-PF. But this simplified account is carefully crafted to appeal to current political demands. The ruling party's opponents, especially those in the West, rail against the selective exclusion of ZANU-PF historical failures, most notably the Gukurahundi massacres in the 1980s, as well as the overt polarisation of race and post-colonial sovereignty. However, Tendi shows that for the intended audience – rural black Zimbabweans and other African nations – Patriotic History resonated strongly by highlighting real historical grievances relating to Western influence, race, and land. Patriotic History was designed and intended for a specific goal: to entrench ZANU-PF support, not to promote racial reconciliation or genuine land redistribution. ZANU-PF's opponents may criticise the substance of the rhetoric, but they then run the risk of missing the point: one must start by asking why the argument was framed this way in the first place.
When examining Tendi's thesis, it is easy to be persuaded of the apparently unfailing effectiveness of Patriotic History. It should be kept in mind, however, that the underlying motivations for individuals supporting ZANU-PF remain complex and unclear. Despite this political rhetoric, ZANU-PF has needed to employ extensive violence to achieve electoral victories, suggesting that the power of Patriotic History is limited. This does not detract from the importance of Tendi's work, however. By bringing clarity, sense and cohesion to the highly contentious political rhetoric of Zimbabwean politics, the author has made an important contribution to research on contemporary Zimbabwe.
