Axe still stuck in the head

-Aplay about two brothers- in-law from different political parties showing in Harare bares the scars of last year’s political violence in Zimbabwe. The two central characters in Heal The Wounds visit their village to find out how many people were maimed, abused, dispossessed of property and jobs. The play also reopens old wounds from the 1970s independence struggle, which installed Robert Mugabe as president. “In 1978 I nearly lost my life because people told the comrades I was a collaborator with the colonial police,” a character in the play says, adding, “I’d forgotten these things, but what happened last June made me remember everything.” A refrain in the play goes: “An axe still stuck in your head.” Director Stephen Chifunyise told BBC, “It is an expression common in Zimbabwe, where people mean we still have pains.” The play suggests the wounds could be healed through a South Africa style Truth and Reconciliation Commission, by traditional cleansing ceremonies, or by just forgetting the past. ■