8 - Historical Narrative and Political Strategy in Bulawayo’s Magistrates’ Courts

Summary

Chapter 8 focuses on a second interaction between Gukurahundi history, law and citizenship by looking at the trial of visual artist Owen Maseko. For his exhibition on the experiences of Gukurahundi, Maseko stood accused of ‘inciting tribal hatred’. In their courtroom narratives, prosecutors elaborated on this accusation to communicate ZANU-PF’s continued control over instruments of coercion to a ‘Matabele’ audience. Maseko and his defence team, in turn, performed in a rule-bound manner to draw attention to Maseko as a citizen with the freedom to express his interpretations of history, and to put these in the public domain for debate, rather than as a ‘criminal’ for failing to align with ZANU-PF’s historical narrative. These different forms of courtroom performance highlight how the Gukurahundi as a violent historical event continued to inform negotiations over citizenship, and the understandings of law’s legitimacy and state authority that they encompassed, in this region.