Govt petitioned over Gukurahundi hearings
GOVERNMENT has been petitioned over the manner in which it plans to address the 1980s mass killings in Matabeleland and Midlands regions.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has tasked traditional leaders to lead public hearings on Gukurahundi, but critics have already poked holes into the exercise.
Critics have said the process is flawed and not victim-centred without any room for restorative justice, compensation and victims finding closure.
The Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) has since added its voice on the matter by petitioning the Provincial Affairs ministers of State for Bulawayo and Matabeleland North, Judith Ncube and Richard Moyo, respectively.
MRP demanded that chiefs be divorced from leading the hearings as they were not qualified.
Addressing journalists at a Press conference after handing the petition, Bulawayo MRP chairperson Chilumbo Mudenda said their petition seeks to compel the government to do the right thing to prevent a repeat of the massacres.
“Gukurahundi was genocide. No one from the traditional fraternity must take part in this political process. We are saying the perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted,” Mudenda said.
He said MRP is also going to submit a similar petition to
Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs minister Evelyn Ndlovu.
“Ministers must remind the President that Gukurahundi remains a genocide and only an international tribunal has jurisdiction over this matter as outlined within the context of the United Nations 1948 Genocide Convention and Zimbabwe as a member state must be well informed about this legality,” Mudenda said.
“It is our duty as a party, we specifically formed MRP to protect, promote, send people’s messages to the government and defend the interest of the people.
“We don’t know if the petition is going to be approved but we are doing something which is constitutional domestically and internationally.”
Mudenda said it was not the constitutional role of chiefs to handle Gukurahundi hearings.
Another civic society organisation fighting for victims, Gukurahundi Genocide Survivors 4 Justice, last month also raised similar concerns on their petition.
On February 4 this year, Zapu submitted a position paper for conflict resolution and management which includes acknowledgement of Gukurahundi as a genocide and a public apology.
Zapu said the hearings should be victim-centered while calling for restorative justice and the return of properties as well as assets taken by the State or stolen during Gukurahundi.