Mphoko must explain Gukurahundi role

via Mphoko must explain Gukurahundi role – DailyNews Live 21 December 2014

HARARE – Vice president Phelekezela Mphoko must explain to the nation his insinuations that President Robert Mugabe’s government was not responsible for the Gukurahundi massacres in the 1980s.

The majority of Zimbabweans believe that Gukurahundi was perpetrated by the North Korean-trained Five Brigade at the instigation of then prime minister Mugabe to decimate Zipra cadres.

Rights groups say as many as 20 000 civilians were killed when Mugabe deployed the army unit to track down “dissidents” who were said to have murdered 120 people, mutilated 25, raped 47 and committed 284 robberies in the Matabeleland and Midlands regions.

Now Mphoko is alleged to have said that the army unit, specially trained for the job by the reclusive North Korean regime, played no role — blaming it on then apartheid government of South Africa and Western countries.

This has left many citizens convinced that the newly-appointed VP could have been complicit in committing the atrocities that Mugabe himself described as “a moment of madness”.

Given that Mphoko claims to have been a Gukurahundi victim himself, supposedly as a former Zipra commander, it is only proper for him to openly take a stand to name and shame the perpetrators.

What makes it imperative for Mphoko to publicly tell the nation the truth is the fact that the thorny issue in the country’s body politic has not been fully explored and justice has not been done.

Attempts at that, ended with Mugabe setting up the Chihambakwe Commission to investigate alleged army atrocities but its report was never published. It remains unclear whether its recommendations — still unknown to victims and ordinary Zimbabweans — were ever acted upon.

Anger festers in the Matabeleland and Midlands areas over the atrocities and political analysts warn that the emotive subject could threaten stability in the country once its strongman leader is out of the picture.

It therefore comes as no surprise in the light of this that Zimbabweans are calling for Mphoko’s resignation if indeed he believes that the idea of genocide in Matabeleland and parts of Midlands is a foreign importation that has no local roots.

Having recently been appointed Mugabe’s number two, it is prudent for Mphoko who is said to have been a member of the state security agents to dissociate himself from the massacres by pointing out who was responsible for the heinous acts.