POLITICAL analysts have called for an independent commission to lead the Gukurahundi healing process, saying the proposal made by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to put chiefs at the forefront of the process is flawed.
Mnangagwa met chiefs in Bulawayo last week where he launched a Gukurahundi manual to guide and initiate the healing process, saying the procedure will be led by traditional leaders.
Mnangagwa pleaded with communities affected by the Gukurahundi atrocities to co-operate with the chiefs.
Analysts, however, said the process must be inclusive if the Gukurahundi genocide of the 1980s, which left an estimated 20 000 unarmed civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces dead, is to be resolved.
“There should be an independent tribunal to look into this, and ideally the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) must lead the process. However, it's quite clear that the NPRC will not be able to effectively do so. There is nothing wrong with the chiefs leading the process as long there is a legal instrument in place to ensure that the process will be independent, credible and separate from the person of the President and the Executive,” political analyst Dumisani Nkomo said.
Rejoice Ngwenya, another political analyst said: “Firstly, it's not chiefs who are aggrieved. Mnangagwa was at the centre of Gukurahundi. He knows the victims. He knows the perpetrators. If he truly wants to bring closure, he should call all victims, survivors, dependants, their relatives and tell them that he is sorry. He should ask them what they want and compensate them and the case will be closed. Running to chiefs is not going to help his case.”
Political commentator Vivid Gwede said: “It would make much sense to let an independent commission do the job in order to reveal the truth of what happened and find justice and closure for the victims. There is no wider engagement of the concerned public in Matabeleland in the current process, which calls into question its transparency and inclusiveness.”
Academic Nhamo Mhiripiri said no amount of intervention from both the State and independent commissions will yield positive results.
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“Whatever structure is put for the conflict resolution process in Zimbabwe will suffer due to perceptions from extremist activists. The so-called independent commission suggested by others will not work too. My plea is to give Zimbabweans a chance, especially those in the Midlands and Matabeleland rural areas, who were the most affected by the Gukurahundi crisis,” Mhiripiri said, adding that they should be allowed to speak for themselves.
In 1983, then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe set up the Chihambakwe Commission of Inquiry into the massacres but its findings are yet to be made public.
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