Amongst all the painful incidents that have ever happened to the
people of Matebeleland, it is clear there is non that can be closely
compared to the 1980-88 Gukurahundi killings. Twenty thousand
people according to the number the Zimbabwean government
agrees it killed, were killed although survivors are adamant that the
number of people who were killed is almost four times that and
despite all attempts by the Zimbabwean government fighting to see
the matter shelved, civil organizations are continuing to press hard,
calling for the redress and retribution of gukurahundi. In this
interview Nomagugu Khumalo(M. K) tells Mckay Tshuma (M.T)
about the ground that Gukurahundi Genocide Survivors For Justice
have covered so far in their attempt to see justice done for
gukurahundi atrocities.
M.T. Good morning and welcome back to Mthwakazi Research
Institute's Question and Answer Time.
M.K. Thank you.
M.T. You have been quiet for too long, does that mean you are
done with the gukurahundi redress inquiry or somethings are
happening behind closed doors. Tell us what program is
Gukurahundi Genocide Survivors For Justice, pushing behind those
closed doors.
M.K. We may have been quiet but there's a lot we've done in our
period of silence. The programme of paramount importance that
we've been pushing behind the scenes is that of making contact with
the justice bodies. We can not divulge which bodies exactly have we
contacted but I must say we're happy with the progress we've made
so far and we can now see light at the end the tunnel
M.T. How has been the response of the survivors in as far as
coming forth to testify on gukurahundi?
M.K. To be honest with you, most survivors are sceptic about
coming out to testify. The reasons are two fold: 1- They've been
interviewed before so many times by different bodies and nothing
has happened yet in as far justice goes .
2- Some have been threatened with their lives should they ever
testify.
M.T. A gukurahundi prayer organized by the iBhetshu likaZulu in
Bulawayo, where Pastor Pius Ncube and Hon Mzila Ndlovu
resurfaced after a long time concealed from the issue affecting
Matebeleland, was dispaced by the Zimbabwe Security Forces. Isn't
that speaking volumes that Zimbabwe regards the issue of
gukurahundi as a really non existing issue and those who are trying
to redress it are just wasting their energy and time?
M.K. It is not proper to say Zimbabwe regards the issue of
Gukurahundi as nonexistent. Zimbabwe knows for a fact that
Gukurahundi happened and as long as this is not spoken about
openly and redressed, Gukurahundi will forever haunt Zimbabwe.
The perpetrators of Gukurahundi whom most of them happen to be
high ranking officials in the Zimbabwean government are afraid of
the damage that may happen to their carrers and personal images
if the issue of Gukurahundi is brought to light. This is why they go
out of their way to crush all efforts being done to speak out about
Gukurahundi. Then we have the likes of Mr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu who
blindly toe the perpetrators line and and throw vernom at those
trying to redress Gukurahundi.
Well, Ndlovu may be singing for his supper but what he must know
is that no matter the amount of intimidation from the likes of him,
we won't back down till we attain justice. We applaud Ibhetshu
likaZulu, Mr Moses Mzila Ndlovu and Archbishop Pius Mvundla
Ncube for their bold stance to speak out on Gukurahundi. They are
showing the repressive regime that nothing whatsoever can stop the
will of the people to get justice over this atrocity.
M.T. The new constitution of Zimbabwe drafted and agreed on by
all political parties, states that, Zimbabwe can never look back into
the cases of human right abuses that fall way behind year 2002,
but recently in Gwanda, Zapu, the two MDC faction as well as the
new Mthwakazi political party M.R.P, agreed onto it that it was high
time that the gukurahundi perpetrators are brought to book. How
much genuine do you think are such calls from the people who
agreed on that article of the constitution?
M.K. I want to believe the people who made this call in Gwanda
~Zapu, MDC, MRP) are as genuine as anyone who wants to see to
it that Gukurahundi is addressed. We were surprised that parties
like MDC and Zapu agreed that cases of social injustices spanning
before 2002 should not be entertained. How can that be when we
have so many bodies lying around crying for proper burial, when we
have tens of thousands of people from Matebeleland without ID
documents, when we've tens of thousands of maimed people in
need of medical care and psychiatric care.
M.T. A week or two, we read about an organization called PAMU,
calling the gukurahundi survivors to come and testify before the
South African lawyers. How much punch do you think that can add
onto your calls for the redress of Gukurahundi, if many more
organizations are joining in?
M.K. The issue of seeking redress over Gukurahundi is approached
by different organisations from different perspectives. We're
tackling it from one angle and PAMU is doing it from another angle.
At the end of it all these different angles sort of dovetail. We do not
have any hard and fast rules on how best we can reach justices so
we keep trying these different routes. However l must emphasis
that us (GGS4J), PAMU and Ibhetshu likaZulu are working together
on this.
M.T. When possibly can we see you guys holding a public event and
where can that be held?
M.K. We'll have our first public event this year in April (round about
Zimbabwe's independence) in Pretoria. It's a march in remembrance
of all who died for crimes they'd never committed ( the victims of
Gukurahundi) in a so called 'independent' state.
M.T. Nomagugu, thanks for your time and good luck.
M.K. My pleasure. Hope to talk to you again soon
Aliqunywe Mthwakazi.....
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