The ethnic dimension of voting patterns in Chipinge and the immortalisation of Ndabaningi Sithole (1980 – 2008)

Abstract

This dissertation is a study in which the role of ethnicity in African and Zimbabwean politics in general, and in Chipinge in particular is underscored. It is argued in the study that ethnicity has played a central role in the politics of Africa, Zimbabwe and among the people of Chipinge in Zimbabwe. It is also argued in the study that voting among the Ndau people took an ethnic dimension. Voting for ZANU –Ndonga and Ndabaningi Sithole, and the MDC against ZANU PF is argued in this study to be a result of the ethnic consciousness among the people of Chipinge. Ethnicity has also resulted in the immortalisation of Ndabaningi Sithole who has been regarded as a national hero of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle by the Ndau people. The central idea in this study is that ethnicity has influenced the voting patterns among the Ndau ethnic group in Chipinge, Zimbabwe.