via Mphoko maintains stance on Gukurahundi | The Herald May 15, 2015
Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko yesterday maintained that post-independence disturbances that rocked parts of Matabeleland and Midlands regions in the 1980s commonly referred to as Gukurahundi, were a Western conspiracy bent on destabilising the newly-independent Zimbabwean state.The Vice President, who is also the Minister of State responsible for National Healing and Reconciliation, said he had no regrets over his comments on the violent disturbances because he knew the truth about what exactly transpired by virtue of being one of the senior Zapu officials during the transition from colonial rule to Independence on April 18 1980.
VP Mphoko was Zapu Chief of Logistics during the liberation struggle and acted as the direct link between the then Zanu leader President Mugabe and his late Zapu counterpart Dr Joshua Nkomo.
Speaking during a public lecture on National Healing at the Great Zimbabwe University, VP Mphoko said the violence that rocked the Matabeleland region and parts of Midlands in the 1980s was not President Mugabe’s problem contrary to what was often reported in some sections of the media.
He said the only “real’’ Gukurahundi was proclaimed by President Mugabe in 1979 when he was Commander-in-Chief of Zanla forces who were on the last lap to dislodge the racist Rhodesian regime.
“Let me make it very clear about the issue of Gukurahundi that is often talked about to refer to problems that were experienced in this country after Independence. There is only one Gukurahundi that took place before Independence when President Mugabe as Zanla Commander-In-Chief, made a proclamation marking the year 1979 as the year of Gukurahundi (The year of the People’s Storm),’’ he said.
“President Mugabe was giving a final order to the advancing Zanla forces to sweep the Rhodesians once and for all and that Gukurahundi ended with the attainment of our Independence in 1980. Anything that is called Gukurahundi that happened after that is something different.
“’Similarly, Zapu leader Dr (Joshua) Nkomo also proclaimed the Turning Point at the same time, which also ended on 18 April 1980 when we won our Independence,’’ he added.
VP Mphoko accused some sections of the media of writing lies about disturbances that occurred in Matabeleland.
“The disturbances that happened after Independence were not because of President Mugabe’s problem, it was a Western conspiracy to destabilise the newly-independent state of Zimbabwe,’’ he said.
“I have been taken to task about my stance on this issue before, but I must say the truth.
“ There is no malice as far as we are concerned and like what we have said before, the post-Independent Gukurahundi was a Western project.
“’What is sometimes written in the papers is all lies. Papers (media) should not lie because I know what happened. I was part of those people who made history (leading Zimbabwe into majority rule).’’
VP Mphoko also dismissed reports that disturbances in Matabeleland started after PF-Zapu rejected results of the historic 1980 elections that were resoundingly won by President Mugabe and Zanu (PF).
The Vice President said after the announcement of the 1980 election results, PF-Zapu leader Dr Nkomo sent him to front-line leaders such as the late Mozambican president Cde Samora Moises Machel to thank them for supporting Zimbabwe’s struggle for Independence.
This, VP Mphoko said, was confirmation that PF-Zapu had no hard feelings over the outcome of the 1980 election results that ushered in majority rule.
He challenged Zimbabweans to unite and co-exist peacefully saying the successful execution of the war of liberation that removed minority rule was an example of what a united people could achieve if they worked in unison.
The public lecture was attended by senior Government officials among them Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Shuvai Mahofa, Minister of State for Liaising on Psychomotor Activities in Education Josaya Hungwe and Great Zimbabwe University Vice Chancellor Professor Rungano Zvobgo among others.
COMMENTS
Aaah come on Mphoko. You are just trying to both justify your position and change the reality of history. NEVER will those terrible days ever be forgotten, and the government that carried it out
Stupid senile old fart!
I feel pity
Mphoko…do not fool us we know what happened abt Gukurahundi. only fools wud belI’ve yo nonsense
I think Mphoko is just trying to be man enough but needs to get his facts right before uttering a word in public on such issues. He just have to make the inquiries made prior public. Then he may explain from known facts to the unknown. Otherwise he is a soloist in this tune. If he doesn’t have much to say but likes talking much then its unfortunate. His theory is out of this world.
oooooh Mphoko is it old age or you are just protecting your position. The issue of gugurahondi happened just yesterday we are know it clearly that Mugabe wanted a onepart state and ZAPU was on Mugabe’s way then he directly commanded the fifth brigade to kill, slaughter or murder anyone who was on his way . unfortunately Joshua NKOMO AND zAPU WERE THE TARGET.WORSE FOR US WE WERE IN ZAPU;S STRONG HOLD THAT IS MATEBELELAND HENCE WE SUFFERED AS A RESULT . We KNOW THAT YOU know that we know the truth so why distorting the facts are you being used ? PLEASE KEEP QUITE THAN TELLING LIES BEHIND THE MIC
Akeni litshiyane loMphoko,lokho akutshiloyo ukusho ngoba esho akwaziyo ngempi yomvukela after independence,,lingathathi inzondo yomunyumhlobo lisebenzise impi yamadizident njengehawu,,ngyazi kuzakhuba abaningi but if you sit down n really ponder on what happened u myt come out renewed,, let’s stop this hatred n work on building a new Zim 4 our next generation coz we failed on naturering ours focussing on hatred,we are the lost generation,,we lost it..now we busy feeding the next generation with wrong infor,,y not let the next genaration focus on making a better life for themselves,,we hav suffered enough ,y not fight the dire situation @ hand..I’m tired of such backward minds,atheist minds ,heathern. Mugabe did nothing wrong,I agree ,Mphoko is also right on what he’s saying..its only people who are tribalistic who do not want to accept the truth over yt really happened during that era,,its being years since that happened hence u do not want to fogive n forget,,yes what the army did was painfull, it was wrong coz its war,,,were you in the same office what would you have done when the army was deserting..would you not have formed a loyal army juss lyk what Mugabe did..in the end it paid..we had unity .we where headed 4 a civil war had Mugabe not acted on that.. I 4 1 saw it all ,was involved on both sides n I know the stories..every war has victims n I’m sorry some of us lost loved ones ,,such is war.ASIBAMBANENI
Inkinga Mthwakazi we blacks lyk to mix things to suit us, facts or no facts.Yt do u know about the gugurahundi,enlighten us,in case there are some issues we don’t know or we were living in a different Matebeleland during that era..Mphoko stated Facts not theories as u think..
Enock you sound like a believer. Have you read what the Prophet Hosea 4:6 stated when God sent him, in the Holy Bible?That “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” You and Mphoko need to know that God is the God of JUSTICE, not amatope lawo enzakalayo eZimbabwe. God hates fearful people and false witnesses. Joseph languished in Pharaoh’s prison because of the lies of Portipher’s wife. God is not blind to what happened to the Ndebele people all over the Midlands and Matabeleland after Independence for tha matter. President Mugabe knows exactly what he and his colleagues did to the Ndebele people and why they did it. They are laughing at you right now for defending ignorantly defending them. When Cain killed his brother was God blind to it or did He not care? He cared and He saw it. You should first ask those who know the facts before you defend the murderers. You and Mphoko are fearful people who would rather turn a blind eye to the truth about the Gukurahundi because you fear that they will do it again, that’s all. You have allowed yourselves to be ruled by savages because of your fearfulness. As a result, see what those Gukurahundi savages have done to the country. The bones in those mass graves in Silobela and in the shallow graves everywhere in Matabeleland, do you think God has forgotten about them and that HE enjoys the rulership of the perpetrators who have gone unchallenged?
Is God not concerned about the innocent blood they shed? You think unity means uniting with criminals? What is the purpose of the justice systems if criminals are left to rule unchallenged for over 30 years? Zimbabwe is being ruled by those who perpetrated those Gukurahundi attrocities. Where were you when the Zipra forces were forced to disarm in their assembly points whilst whilst the Zanla forces remained armed in their assembly points, where were you? So who had the guns at the end of the day? Why were pregnant women slaughtered and their children raped before their eyes? Why were unarmed family men, women and children gathered inside their huts and all set alight into ashes? Why were young and old women raped and then slaughtered and their sons buried alive? Where are the people in Matabeleland, where are they? Where is the leader of the Gukurahundi who called himself the BLACK JESUS? Where is the BUTCHER OF Bhalagwe. COLONEL PERENCE SHIRI, IS HE NOT still the Chief Commander of the Airforce right there? Did the people of Bhalagwe perish because they were dissidents? Was Emmerson Mnangagwa not the Attorney-General who ensured that all the former Zipra Combatants were hanged one by one through the High Court of Zimbabwe after they were disarmed from their Assembly Points with the Assistance of the British Government then, the Thatcher Government? Was it not the British Commander who told Robert Mugabe after they helped him to disarm all the ZIPRA forces, that Mugabe had no other threat but that of ZAPU and its ZIPRA?
Don’t upset those who were left with no relatives or homes. Forgiveness does not condone justice. Justice has to be done. The holocaust of the Jews in Germany is still being shown on television today and the survivors are being comforted, what about the surviving black Jews of Matabeleland? When are they going to be comforted? If criminals are forgiven and justice condoned, what then is the purpose of the justice system? What are police for and what is the law for? Robert Mugabe planned the Gukurahundi strategy long before independence because his step mother was Ndebele. He knows how to speak fluent Ndebele but he never speaks it; and he had a daughter with a Ndebele woman himself back in the 1950s that he never speaks about. He used his grudges against the Ndebele people to formulate his Gukurahundi strategy to wipe the Ndebele out and you and Mphoko think you know the facts?
DO YOU KNOW THAT ROBERT MUGABE IS NEITHER SHONA NOR NDEBELE, YET HE MANAGED TO CAUSE DIVISION AMONG THE SHONA AND THE NDEBELE PEOPLE? HIS FATHER WAS BORN BY IMMIGRANTS FROM THE NORTH AND SO WAS HIS MOTHER, ALL IMMIGRANTS FROM CONGO. THAT’S WHY HE SENT THE TROOPS TO CONGO BECAUSE HE WAS HELPING HIS GENETIC PEOPLE. YOU NEED TO WAKE UP AND RESEARCH THE TRUTH FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS OF ZIMBABWE. ROBERT MUGABE HATED FOREIGNERS BECAUSE HE HATED HIS SECRETIVE ORIGIN, MAKING IT LOOK LIKE HE IS A TRUE ZIMBABWEAN HIMSELF WHEN HE IS NOT. HIS FATHER ASSUMED A NDEBELE NAME …NGWENYA… AND PURSUED AN NDEBELE WOMAN, DESERTING ROBERT MUGABE’S MOTHER IN MASHONALAND WHERE THEY WERE GIVEN ASYLUM BY THE CHIEFS AS RUN-AWAYS FROM THE SLAVE TRAIN HEADING SOUTH FROM CONGO. ASK MUGABE THIS AND HEAR WHAT HE SAYS. Why do you think Mugabe owners chiefs in Mashonaland so much? It’s because they know his origin, his genetic background. Who killed JOSIAH TONGOGARA and why? He was the leader of the same ZANLA FORCES that were taken over by Mugabe just before Independence. WHO KILLED HIM, IS IT NOT THE SAME INSTIGATORS OF THE GUKURAHUNDI STRATEGY? For your own and Mphoko’s information, you should be ashamed of yourselves because the bribery you receive to discourage God’s people and deny them the Compensation and justice they deserve, will lead you exactly where the guy who betrayed JESUS went. The people of Zimbabwe have suffered enough. They no longer want political mambo jumbo. They simply want to live normal peaceful lives in a peaceful land but, the likes of you and Mphoko, like JUDAS ISCARIOT, YOU ARE BOTH BETRAYERS OF YOUR OWN AND LIKE JUDAS, IF YOU DO NOT REPENT, GOD’S ANGELS OF WAR WILL VISIT YOU ONE BY ONE. WHEN THEY DO, LIKE JUDAS YOU WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH YOURSELF. THIS IS GOD’S TIME FOR JUSTICE AND RECOMPENCE; HE CANNOT BE MANIPULATED OR BRIBED. Criminals are gallivanting whilst the innocent are languishing in filthy prisons of Zimbabwe. Visit those prisons and ask yourself why those people are languishing in there if the Gukurahundi criminals, the Murambatswina criminals and the Marange Blood Diamond criminals are still having a life outside those prisons? ACTS 10: 34 states: that HE IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS John 8: 36 “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”