NEWLY-appointed commissioner of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), Obert Gutu has denied ever joining the ruling Zanu PF party, adding that he only expressed the intention to do so, but did not complete the process.
Gutu was in March paraded at State House by President
Emmerson Mnangagwa, who announced that the former MDC-T vice-president had
defected to the ruling party.
After Gutu was appointed NPRC commissioner recently, the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights), a National Transitional Justice
Working Group Zimbabwe (NTJWG) member, filed an application demanding that the
former MDC-T vice-president ceases to be a member of the NPRC as section 286 of
the Constitution forbids political party actors from serving as NPRC
commissioners.
“Dzikamai Bere, the executive director of ZimRights, who
deposed the founding affidavit, had submitted that on March 17, 2021, Gutu
joined Zanu PF amid pomp and fanfare at State House where he was welcomed to
the political party by President Mnangagwa,” the NTJWG statement read.
“But in a shock response, while admitting the reports and
the article (Sunday Mail, 21 March: Why I joined Zanu PF) explaining his
decision to join Zanu PF, Gutu submitted that he was yet to submit a formal
application and had not paid the required joining fee. He said he had abandoned the idea of joining
Zanu PF when he was appointed to NPRC,” the NTJWG said.
ZimRights, represented by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO
Forum, is yet to file a response.
Gutu torched a storm last month when he said the
Gukuruhundi atrocities that killed over 20 000 civilians in the Matabeleland
and Midlands provinces was one of the many “tiny” cases the NPRC would be
looking at. Newsday
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