Gukurahundi massacre victims remembered in South Africa

ZIMBABWEANS in South Africa last Saturday remembered the victims of the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland and
the Midlands provinces.The commemoration was organised by a Johannesburg-based civil society group, the Gukurahundi Genocide Survivors for Justice.
The civil group 's founder, Magugu Khumalo, said they will not rest until perpetrators of the killings were brought to justice. Magugu said they will soon approach the United Nations Security Council to seek justice for the victims. She said they first approached the International Criminal Court but were told the
court only dealt with human rights abuses that happened after 2000. They were advised to approach the UN Security Council, she said.
"We will be approaching the Security Council to ensure the Gukurahundi perpetrators are punished. We also want the victims to be compensated.
Remember Gukurahundi was classified as genocide in 2010, " she said. About 20 000 ethnic Ndebeles were killed in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces in the early 1980s when President Robert Mugabe unleashed a crack North Korea- trained military unit to crush a rebellion by former Zipra combatants. A report by the Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice said some of the victims were buried alive while some pregnant women had their wombs slashed open. Speaking at the burial of former Zapu leader Joshua Nkomo, in July 1999, Mugabe described the killings as a "moment of madness".
The killings have remained a major point of grievance for the Ndebeles who have view the massacres as a form of genocide.
Khumalo said they want Mugabe and Perence Shiri who was in charge of the army's Fifth Brigade at the time of the campaign indicted for the Gukurahundi
crimes. She said it was also important that children whose parents were killed be assisted to get proper identification documents.
Khumalo said it was critical to deal with this matter expeditiously before the perpetrators die off the world stage adding that the journey would be long but justice would be delivered at the end . She added that, the fact some Nazi war criminals were still being pursued almost 70 years after the end of the Second World War gave them hope that their efforts will not be in vain.
Mbuso Fuzwayo, the secretary general of Ibhetshu Likazulu civic group , said the government was always frustrating their efforts to hold the commemorations in Zimbabwe. "It's a pity that there are some people who ran away to South Africa during that era and their parents and relatives have passed on without seeing them. Mugabe wants to destroy evidence of Gukurahundi as you can see that some of the witnesses are dying," he said.
He said some of the Gukurahundi victims were orphaned with no one to pay for their education adding there is need to break the cycle of poverty in such families by paying fees for the education of their children. Bonaventure Kageruka from the Community of Rwanda Genocide Survivors in South Africa
encouraged Zimbabweans to pursue the Gukurahundi issue to its logical conclusion.
"Do not be silenced, tell the world what happened and seek justice. As victims you carry a burden in your heart of wanting to know where your relatives are buried. I am with you in this sad moment and one day justice shall prevail," he said.

Mugabe and his thugs may try to intimidate us but justice will prevail one of these days  Mthwakazi.......