Nkosentsha Khumalo
The hopes of reconciliation for the victims of Gukurahundi, the brutal massacre that swept through and scarred Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland region in the 1980s, have been dealt a crippling blow as ZAPU, the party that suffered the most during the violence, has rejected President Mnangagwa’s “Chiefs’ Gukurahundi Outreach Program” as a futile and insincere attempt at restorative justice.
Mnangagwa is set to launch the Gukurahundi outreach programme at the State House in Bulawayo tomorrow.
In a strongly-worded statement, ZAPU President Michael Sibangilizwe Nkomo characterized Mnangagwa’s proposed approach as “command amnesia,” a cynical ploy to sweep the atrocities of the past under the rug.
He further asserted that any restorative efforts that exclude ZAPU, the primary target of the Gukurahundi, would be fruitless.
Nkomo’s fervent rejection of the President’s program sends shockwaves through the nation as it raises serious questions about the sincerity and effectiveness of any attempt to heal the wounds of the past without the full participation of all stakeholders.
This latest development is yet another flashpoint in the ongoing conflict between ZAPU and the ruling Zanu-Pf parties, which has long sought to obscure its involvement in the Gukurahundi massacres.
Nkomo’s defiant stance against the President’s outreach program is a reminder that, despite Mnangagwa’s efforts to present himself as a reformer and peacemaker, there remains deep-seated distrust among many Zimbabweans especially in the Matabeleland region who have yet to see a full and honest accounting of the atrocities committed against them.
It is estimated that about 20 000 ethnic Ndebele speaking people from Matabeleland and Midlands regions were massacred by North Korean trained 5th Brigade soldiers of the Zimbabwe National Army.
Narrations of the atrocities state that pregnant women were severed by the soldiers using bayonets, some were burnt with plastic embers, elderly men were made to kill their own wives and or children. There are so many grievous tales of the massacres that left many ethnic Ndebele speaking people scarred up to this day.
As the debate over how to heal the wounds of the Gukurahundi rages on, many affected victims are asking whether it is possible to truly forgive without first understanding the truth about what happened.
Nkomo’s stance echoes the sentiment of victims’ rights groups and human rights activists who have long called for an independent inquiry into the massacres and the prosecution of those responsible.
Without such measures, many argue that any attempt at reconciliation will ring hollow and fail to address the root causes of the conflict.
However, Mnangagwa has shown little appetite for such a reckoning. Instead, he has focused on his outreach program, which some critics have dismissed as a cynical attempt to win votes and pacify critics ahead of the next election.
For Nkomo and others who continue to demand justice for the victims of Gukurahundi, the President’s program is an affront to their memories and a betrayal of their struggle for truth and accountability.
In their view, the only way forward is to confront the dark legacy of the massacres head-on, rather than to allow the perpetrators to dictate the terms of reconciliation.
In his statement dated July 12, Zapu President Nkomo said,
“On behalf of Zapu, it is with a heavy heart that I write to inform Zimbabwe and the world at large, that we stand against the futile exercise set to be launched by President
Mnangagwa in Bulawayo on Sunday the 14th of July, 2024.
“As far back as January, 2024, we wrote an open letter to President Mnangagwa, expressing our reservations and
objections to his envisaged approach to the emotive issue of dialogue on Gukurahundi. President Mnangagwa ignored our correspondence and proceeded to set his chiefs-led process in motion, during a function held at State House in Bulawayo.
“Today, we continue to oppose what we regard as a perpetrator-led process. We maintain our principled stance that President Mnangagwa’s programme amounts to sweeping the past under an iron carpet of ‘command amnesia’. He wants the wounded, the raped, the maimed and the bereaved to simply forget about what happened and let bygones be bygones, ” said Nkomo.
Nkomo emphasized that there has never been a genuine process of restorative justice anywhere in the world, led by the perpetrator nor his captured proxies.
He said such practices are unheard of, further stating that only an untainted mediator can preside over hearings aimed at genuine truth telling and even that process of choosing a mediator has to be mutually agreed upon.
“We have made spirited efforts to follow up on our letter to President Mnangagwa hoping to interdict his self-serving programme. Sadly, he has chosen to stay on his high horse, trusting that he can passively use Chiefs to railroad Gukurahundi victims into drinking
from his poisoned chalice.”
“While ZAPU remains the primary target of Gukurahundi as a quasi-military operation, we can never discount the ordinary people who were victimized for their association with ZAPU.
“Tragically, Gukurahundi was also fueled by tribalism. We are duty bound to convince victims of the atrocities to shun the charade choreographed by the chief architect of their pain and suffering.”
Nkomo said no genuine healing can come from the
President’s programme stating that only dialogue with ZAPU can give the first glimmer of hope.
He said any restorative efforts that eschew or preclude ZAPU are a practical nullity, stating that the nation
will not heal until and unless a genuinely inclusive process is agreed upon.
“Remember Mr. President when you referred to the people of Matabeleland and Midlands, particularly Ndebele-speaking people as cockroaches that needed DDT pesticide. Surprisingly, in the Midlands where Shona and Ndebele live side by side, Shonas were spared while Ndebele homesteads were savagely burnt and people indiscriminately murdered.
“You are on record wanting to exclude Midlands from the Gukurahundi Conflict Management since it confirms your genocidal behavior. It is now public knowledge that your government shared intelligence notes with Apartheid South Africa to ensure that Umkhonto weSizwe military cadres were denied operational bases in Zimbabwe. At the time you were the Minister of State Security, you also
exaggerated ZAPU/ZPRA intentions, yet all armament and ammunition had been handed to your government.
“The CCJP report that projected around 20,000 killed only refers to Tjolotjo in Matabeleland North and Matopo in Matabeleland South. You will remember
that initially deaths were reported at a rate of 2,000 people killed per fortnight and became even worse towards Unity Accord negotiations to pressurize ZAPU to accede to unfavorable political conditions put forward by ZANU.
Nkomo said this accord further polarized the nation as it portrayed Zanu-Pf as a Shona party and ZAPU as a Ndebele party.
Zapu leader Nkomo decried that Zanu-Pf party has always been a tribal party, which is very violent, with no democracy and no respect for human rights.
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