Abstract:
When Zimbabwe attained her independence from colonial powers in 1980,
prospects of a peaceful nation were high, especially following the pledge made
by the Prime Minister Elect in his victory speech. Isaiah 2:4b was quoted as a
metaphor of peace, but things did not turn out as expected in the following years.
The vicious cycle of violence that was inherited from the colonial legacy
continued and the worse phase of that cycle was the Midlands and Matabeleland
crisis, commonly known as Gukurahundi. Approximately 20 000 people died in
the state-sanctioned violence (genocide). Using Cue-Dependent Forgetting
Theory, this paper critically appraises possible reasons why the promised bliss
through reconciliation did not materialise. Among the reasons cited in this paper
are the lack of a serious Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and also the
phenomenon of amnesia as the major contributory factors to this cycle of
violence.
