via VPs open Gukurahundi wounds – DailyNews Live 28 December 2014
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe’s appointment of vice presidents, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko has sent shivers down the spines of most people in Zimbabwe especially those from the Midlands and Matabeleland regions who witnessed their loved ones being brutally slaughtered by the ruthless 5th Brigade under the guise of hunting down so-called dissidents.
According to human rights organisations, the Zimbabwean government, in the 1980s used the blood thirsty crack brigade to decimate more than 20 000 civilians whose only crime was belonging to the Ndebele tribe.
Government claimed that some Zapu insurgents, numbering less than 200 wanted to effect regime change in Zimbabwe and they justified sending the 5th Brigade which ended up killing innocent civilians accusing them of supporting the so-called dissidents.
The Zimbabwean government used the same tactics used by the Smith regime before independence where they harassed people who supported the liberation struggle. The Gukurahundi massacres, were largely ignored by the double-faced West because the United Kingdom and the United States enjoyed good relations with Zimbabwe.
But this has not erased anger among the majority of Zimbabweans who have demanded answers on why these senseless killings of innocent human beings took place. This is why most Zimbabweans were infuriated when Mugabe appointed Mnangagwa and Mphoko as vice presidents.
Mnangagwa was the minister of State Security during the time of the mass murders while Mphoko had deserted Zapu and was a Central Intelligence Officer (CIO) during the carnage. Mugabe was the head of state.
We tend to agree with Moses Mzila Ndlovu, a former a co-minister of National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration during the inclusive government and a freedom fighter, who elsewhere in this publication is quoted saying that the appointments could mean that the government is saying “to hell with the Gukurahundi massacres.”
Says Mzila: “…Secondly, I see this deployment as a slap in the face of Matabeleland people who suffered during Gukurahundi. What Zanu PF is saying is that you can go hang with your Gukurahundi complaints because the same people are walking on dead bodies to get to the presidium.”
It is against this background that Mugabe must address the issue as a matter of urgency to at least pacify the thousands of families who lost their loved ones during the period the 90-year-old president described as a moment of madness. Mugabe must address this “moment of madness” especially after opening old wounds with the appointment of Mnangagwa and Mphoko to the presidium.
Zimbabweans want answers on why a whole brigade was unleashed on people to kill civilians. Mugabe also has a responsibility to explain to a bewildered nation why he chose these tainted people to top positions especially given that the president himself has failed to give answers on the atrocities.
COMMENTS
The Gukurahundi massacre must not used to divide the country in the post Mugabe era because there are some people who, having failed to punish Mugabe will punish the rest of us for the sins of the tyrant! The single most important task for the nation post Zanu PF will be to create a free and democratic Zimbabwe and start rebuilding the country from the ruins of Zanu PF misrule.
Gukurahundi, rigged elections and all the other past crimes by Zanu PF must be revisited for two main purposes; one to seek the truth, justice and to help the victims of these national crimes. Two, to learn and ensure this will never happen again. But these will only be meaningfully addressed once a democratic system of government with free courts competent to handle these matters have been set up and not before.
I agree with youWilbert . Restoration of democratic institutions is of paramount importance
Sins of the fathers will have to visit the Mugabe’s after the departure of Mugabe, in the same manner alleged sins of tribal raids are still visiting the people of Matebeleland to this day in modern day Zimbabwe.
Gukurahundi. In time it will be dealt with just as apartheid in SA was. Those complicit will be named and reparations paid. Mugabe will be dead and spat upon for his murderous power lust. How can such a rich nation fail to feed its people?
The issue of Gukurahundi participants, players, perpetrators or abbetors remains thorny to this day simply because the perpetrators made an undertaking in Britain during the pre-independence error to avenge for the raids by Lobengula. They came back home in independent Zimbabwe with a document plan to execute and simply did that. They massacred innocent people, among them, my own father, who was a telecom worker at Figtree, simply because he was a ZAPU chairman. For them to own up their evil deeds will be seen to be backtracking or betraying their plan.
In 1979 I was operating in the Sipolilo area and to be honest, that place was hell. We had three enemies to deal with, Smith Regime, ZANLA and the Povos. The propaganda spread among the povos was that if the Ndebeles won, the people would see the return of the Lobengula era raids. Armed with that information the povos became hostile to us. However, some povos were more friendly and would tell us all the sorts of ZANU propaganda that the nation would witness unfolding after independence. Therefore, while Wilbert Mukori’s comment very well articulates a normal situation, this country is not normal. I foresee a Rwanda and a Somalia because of he nature of the leadership we have. They have no respect for human life and dignity. There is no reconciliation in sight. Mugabe and his apparatchiks failed to reconcile and unite the people of this country. For example, I am still angry with the System. To make matters worse, they have bussed the Shonas to take over our land, houses, factories, schools, everything, as per their 1979 document. Imagine, after contributing to the freedom of this country, only to be made heaps of rubbish. I was made head of the family at 25 years. Fending for 7 siblings. That’s why I am still poor today. They have empowered themselves at the expense of the people of Midlands and Matebeleland, the people they killed in order to cow them. They have MARGINALISED US! The Bones of the dead will RISE ONE DAY!