President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially launched the
Gukurahundi Community Outreach programme on Sunday in Bulawayo. This programme
will enable victims and survivors to express their grievances before a
14-member panel led by a chief.
Gukurahundi refers to a series of massacres carried out in
the 1980s in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. The violence was perpetrated
by the Zimbabwean National Army’s Fifth Brigade, targeting primarily the
Ndebele people. The term Gukurahundi is a Shona word meaning “the early rain
which washes away the chaff before the spring rains.”
While the launch on Sunday indicated that the chiefs can
now begin engaging with survivors and victims of the genocide, the exact date
when the actual hearings will start remains unknown.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, MP Moyo said the
Gukurahundi outreach programme has the potential to bring about national
healing and reconciliation if conducted properly.
“I rise on a point of national interest, noting that over
the weekend, the Government launched an outreach programme on Gukurahundi
hearings. The hearings will be led by the respective Chiefs in Matabeleland. I
note that this process has the potential to bring about national healing and
reconciliation if it is conducted in a good manner, devoid of political
disturbances and submissive commentary. It has the potential to even heal the
dead,” he said.
Moyo called on the August House to complement the
Gukurahundi outreach process by developing legislation that will criminalise
justification for Gukurahundi and also criminalize the denial that Gukurahundi
happened in Matabeleland.
“In this regard, I call upon this House to establish
legislation,” he said.
The MP was, however, cut short by the Speaker of
Parliament, Jacob Mudenda, who ordered him to wait for the process to be rolled
out.
“Switch off your mic, please. If you listened very
carefully to the launch of the programme, it is an outreach programme where all
those who feel they have something to say about the outreach programme are
given the responsibility and opportunity to do so, and what you are proposing
is crisscrossing the outreach programme unnecessarily,” said Mudenda.
He added that MP Moyo has ample time to state his case
during the outreach program.
“Let us wait for the results of the outreach programme, and
obviously in terms of our processes, the report may be tabled before the House
if it pleases His Excellency, the President,” said Mudenda.
Moyo, however, reiterated, “I hope it will be done so that
we have the freedom to forgive rather than being commanded to heal.” CITE
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