THE Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) has rapped political parties and politicians who use Gukurahundi as a campaign tool during election time.
Several politicians have been campaigning ahead of the August 23 harmonised elections promising to deal decisively with the issue of the Gukurahundi massacres which mainly affected Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.
MRP, in its Non-Academic Standing Committee Research and Development Volume 1 paper released on Monday, said many parties were abusing the Gukurahundi issue.
In the paper titled: Rwanda Genocide and Matabeleland Disturbances: Any Meaningful Diffrence? MRP says: “The Gukurahundi issue is not a campaign tool, it is a living, painful experience which the party cannot afford to ignore.”
MRP likened Gukurahundi to the 1994 Rwanda genocide which claimed more than 600 000 lives after that country’s two main ethnic groups, the Hutus and Tutsis turned on each other with the former being the perpetrator of the murders.
“If the people of Mashonaland can recognise the Rwanda mass killings as having been genocide, why not do the same with Matabeleland massacres?
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“Despite the perpetrators of Mthwakazi mass killings dismissing them as having been mere disturbances, they were a genocide and must be viewed as such,” MRP said.
Independent presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere recently promised US$2 billion towards compensation for Gukurahundi and also pledged to return Zapu and Zipra’s seized properties once he is elected as president.
Nkayi South Citizens Coalition for Change candidate Jabulani Hadebe recently promised to push for the resolution of the emotive issue, adding that he also lost relatives in the killings.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has held several meetings with traditional leaders in the region to initiate dialogue on the matter.