GOVERNMENT is
drafting a policy to facilitate Gukurahundi exhumations and has also relaxed
registration requirements to acquire identity cards, birth and death
certificates for affected families.
The policy is being crafted in consultation with
traditional leaders and other relevant key stakeholders.
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) is
expected to lead the exhumation and reburials of Gukurahundi victims, some of
whom were buried in mass and shallow graves at the height of the 1980s
disturbances largely in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.
The NPRC has since started training provincial peace
committees that will engage people leading to public hearings and exhumations.
President Mnangagwa has encouraged citizens to openly speak
on Gukurahundi and has repeatedly reminded Zimbabweans that no subject should
be made taboo in resolving conflict.
The President has so far held two meetings with civil
society and a separate one with chiefs to promote national healing.
In a media briefing yesterday in Bulawayo soon after a
closed-door meeting with members of the Matabeleland Collective, Home Affairs
and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe said Government is in the
process of addressing pertinent issues to do with Gukurahundi disturbances.
“On exhumations, work is already in progress with regards
to the drafting of the necessary policy framework in consultation with
traditional leaders and other stakeholders. A policy document will be drafted
to guide the process.
“Furthermore, the requirements for one to acquire a birth
certificate or national identity card will be relaxed after consultations with
relevant stakeholders,” he said.
Minister Kazembe said a comprehensive publicity exercise
will be undertaken in support of the programme.
He said in terms of death certificates for Gukurahundi
victims, the Civil Registry Department in consultation with the Attorney
General and the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, is
working out modalities for their issuance.
Yesterday’s meeting between Minister Kazembe and the
Matabeleland Collective was a follow up on issues raised when President
Mnangagwa engaged the group in February this year.
Some of the issues that were raised during the previous
meeting include access to all forms of documentation and the need to finalise
exhumations of Gukurahundi victims.
Minister Kazembe said President Mnangagwa’s engagements
with civil society organisations from Matabeleland region complements social
cohesion and peace building efforts.
“Today’s meeting continued in the spirit of engagement and
inclusivity, taking a leaf from the last engagement in which His Excellency,
President ED Mnangagwa afforded a platform to members of the Matabeleland
Collective on February 14, 2020. The President heard issues affecting the
region and a progress report on the implementation of agreed resolutions was
presented,” he said.
Asked to comment on the case of six Bulawayo police
officers who allegedly brutalised two women from Cowdray Park suburb for
allegedly violating lockdown regulations, Minister Kazembe said the matter is
under police investigation and corrective action will be taken.
The NPRC initiated investigations leading to the arrest of
the police officers. The commission condemned the alleged police heavy
handedness saying it was unwarranted. The accused persons are set to appear in
court on July 13. Chronicle
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