NPRC prepares for Gukurahundi victims’ exhumations, reburials
because they will be involved in the exhumation processes and they have to be prepared and also inform affected people and villagers on the development,” said Rtd Justice Nare.
He said the chiefs also have to say their views about the whole process and give advice on how best the exhumations can be done.
He advised the chiefs to go and work with the communities and the police in the identification process to prepare for the exhumations.
Rtd Justice Nare said Gukurahundi was a burning issue in Matabeleland region and Midlands province, hence the decision to start dealing with the issue in its peace and reconciliation process. “We decided to start with the Gukurahundi in our peace and reconciliation process because it’s a burning issue that needs to be addressed immediately.
“Our committees and thematic groups are also concentrating on Gukurahundi. They’re putting all their efforts on this issue.
“Recently one of our commissioners, responsible for victim support and gender diversity, Ms Netty Musanhu was in Matabeleland region dealing with the female spaces, in the absence of men, to understand the experiences of women and their feelings,” said Rtd Justice Nare.
The chiefs called on the NPRC to expedite the exhumation process so that it can be concluded and the affected people move on with their lives.
They also called for more deliberations between the NPRC and its partners to map the way forward and work together in achieving its mandate.
President Mnangagwa pledged to ensure the capacitation of the Government with resources for exhumation and reburials for Gukurahundi victims, the documentation exercise of Gukurahundi victims without identity particulars, provision of medical services to victims and holding of public meetings. — @pamelashumba1 ZIMBABWE has registered significant political, legal and economic reforms, including implementing recommendations made by several election observer missions, and it is time that Harare is allowed to re-join the Commonwealth, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo said this in an article published in an Australian-based publication, The Spectator, where he was imploring member countries that include Canberra to lend their support to have Harare re-join the 53-member body after it withdrew in 2003.
Australia is one of the founding members of the 53 Commonwealth member countries and its former president, Mr John Howard, was part of a Troika that suspended Zimbabwe before Harare eventually withdrew from the body the following year.
The call to have Zimbabwe allowed to re-join the Commonwealth followed a meeting between President Mnangagwa and Commonwealth secretary general, Mrs Patricia Scotland last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
In the article published yesterday, Minister Moyo said Mrs Scotland had rightfully observed that Zimbabwe had embarked on major reforms that included repeal and replacement of laws that infringed personal and economic freedoms, a process he said was already underway.
He said the reforms had led to a rise in global rankings for freedom of expression – and place Zimbabwe amongst the top 20 improvers in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 index.
“Yet, after two decades of isolation, blanket change is required,” he said. “Our reform agenda has only just started, and therefore is today, partial – and we do not pretend otherwise. Currently, we are undertaking all these reforms – all the painful processes that are needed and necessary – without any form of external assistance.
“But, ultimately, we cannot go it alone – and that’s why Zimbabwe now looks to Australia for support to expedite our readmission to the Commonwealth. Put simply, our speed and capacity to complete reforms after Mugabe-era isolationism can be accelerated by our