Remarks by National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) commissioner, Obert Gutu, to the effect that the emotive Gukurahundi issue is just a “small, tiny fraction” of their mandate have confirmed the body is a waste of resources, analysts have told CITE.
Speaking at a news conference in Harare Tuesday, Gutu said:
I think Gukurahundi is just a small tiny fraction of various other disputes we
are talking about. We are talking of issues that happened in 2005;
Murambatsvina, you are talking of various other issues, some dating back to
pre-independence times.”
However, this has not gone down well with many Zimbabweans
who have since blasted him, describing his utterances as reckless.
About 20, 000 Zimbabweans were killed in Matabeleland and
the Midlands in the early 1980s by the Fifth Brigade deployed by the government
under the guise of getting rid of dissidents.
The issue remains unresolved 41 years after the country
attained its independence.
“Obert Gutu is temperamentally and professionally
unqualified for the job of an independent commissioner,” said political analyst
Effie Ncube.
“He is an extension of Zanu-PF and still speaks on behalf
of Zanu-PF which he always was. He should not have been in the NPRC. In
addition to that it demonstrates that the NPRC is a compromised body that won’t
be able to deal with a very sensitive matter of the Gukurahundi genocide.”
He said there was a need for an independent judiciary body
composed of international experts on mass atrocities to deal with the
Gukurahundi genocide.
“I want to emphasize that the way Gutu has spoken, he has
spoken like a Zanu-PF activist, not an independent commissioner and also he has
confirmed what people have always thought that the NPRC was a waste of time. It
was never going to deliver on what people wanted and therefore it should be
abolished and stop wasting people’s money.”
Ncube added: “Victims and survivors expect people of
serious reputation to handle this matter and there is no one out there in the
NPRC who can be said to be of the required independent standing to deliver on
what the victims and survivors expect.”
Fortune Mlalazi, a public administrator, said it was
regrettable that Gutu had chosen to ignore principles in favour of his
position.
“The challenge that we have about people like Gutu is that
they decided to abandon their principles and run after positions and money
therefore they always want to be relevant and unfortunately we always give them
relevance,” he said.
“Gutu knows very well that what he was saying is wrong and
those issues are very sensitive and he can’t say that. Anyway, as a
commissioner in that commission, I am sure he has been briefed on what they
must achieve. So Gutu’s attitude and behaviour is a reflection of his
handlers.”
He however said Zimbabweans should not fall into the
temptation of attacking and dealing with Gutu but his Zanu-PF handlers.
Secretary-general for pressure group, Ibhetshu Likazulu, Mbuso Fuzwayo said Gutu’s statement was unacceptable. “As an organisation we are not surprised that this is the position of the NPRC, which over time has proven to be a tool of the perpetrator to buy time and make the national tragedy a joke,” said Fuzwayo.
“Notwithstanding its composition that remains an insult to
the survivors of Gukurahundi genocide and any progressive nation, the
appointment of Obert Gutu removed all doubt about the government’s
unwillingness to find a lasting solution Gukurahundi genocide. Gutu’s history
of fraternising with the Zanu pf regime dates back to the days of Gukurahundi
genocide where he was part of the judiciary system that was a vital tool in
human rights violations.”Fuzwayo further said: “The NPRC has proven that it is
nothing but a waste of the tax-payers funds, composed of individuals that are
not up to the great national task which is supposed to help the nation find
true peace and reconciliation. It’s very unfortunate and sad that the whole
NPRC can sit and agree that the genocide which claimed a minimum of 20 000
lives, left thousands of women abused, raped, scores bayoneted, many people
displaced tortured and forcibly disappeared is nothing but a “small, tiny
fraction”.”
He said they remained unfazed by the NPRC, adding they
would soldier on fighting for justice, truth and a victim-centred solution.
Sipho Nyoni, another political analyst said Gutu should not
be taken seriously since he is singing for his supper.
“It’s not really amazing coming from someone who’s really
trying so hard to sing for his supper,” said Nyoni.
“He knows how emotive and sensitive the whole Gukurahundi
issue is and yet he deliberately chose to belittle it, perhaps even more
interesting is that as a then young lawyer this very Gutu was part of the team
of commissioners that were in the Chihambakwe Commission that was meant to
investigate the Gukurahundi genocide and thereafter publish its findings. Up to
now that very report has never been published and has been tightly kept under
lock and key.”
Nyoni said Gutu and Zanu-PF remain indifferent and
insensitive to the sufferings endured by the people of Matabeleland and in the
Midlands during the Gukurahundi atrocities.
“His statement is a further stab or jab on the hearts of
the long suffering Matabeleland and Midlands people who have experienced the
trauma of this genocidal episode,” he said.
“Gutu should be fired from the commission; it’s only in a
banana republic where you have someone denying a whole genocide and
sarcastically dismissing it the way he has done.” Cite.org.zw
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