ZAPU Demands Gukurahundi Compensation From Mnangagwa

Source: ZAPU Demands Gukurahundi Compensation From Mnangagwa | ZimEye

By Langton Ncube| ZAPU said they were disheartened by the “deliberate” omission by the country’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa of how his administration was going to deal with victims of Gukurahundi and other human rights violations which happened during the Robert Mugabe era when he was inaugurated last week.

Mnangagwa was the minister responsible for state security when the former and then Prime minister Robert Mugabe’s administration unleashed the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade to allegedly deal with the internal disturbances in the Midlands and Matebeleland provinces and killed more than 20 000 civilians.

Gukurahundi happened between 1983 and 1987.

Until his forced resignation last week, Mugabe never apologized for the state sponsored killings except describing the era as a moment of madness.

In his inaugural speech after taking oath as the country’s second President last week Friday , Mnangagwa avoided the mention of human rights abuses which took place during the Mugabe administration, which he has been part of since independence in 1980.

“Gwena’s(Mnangagwa) speech does not inspire anyone except himself and his followers only. It was a high sounding nothing speech which sounded like a Mugabe incarnate. He has never taken responsibility for the Gukurahundi massacres and there is nothing right now that motivates him to come clean,” Mjobisa Noko, the Dumiso Dabengwa’s ZAPU deputy secretary general told ZimEye.com in Harare.

Noko said,this party foresaw the country’s human rights situation deteriorating under Mnangagwa’s administration given the way he took over power from his longtime ally Robert Mugabe.

Mnangagwa was assisted by the military to take over power from Mugabe.

“His silence on the role of soldiers in national politics of is a worry to us as these are the people that helped him in his ascendancy,” said Noko.

“ He has already started showing the signs of a dictator, and we must not forget that this is a man who has been propping up Mugabe for years and always eyed the President and surely y we can’t expect anything better,” he said.