Political parties in Matabeleland have rapped traditional leaders in the region for dining with the ruling Zanu PF leaders who masterminded the Gukurahundi massacres.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday met tradional leaders at the State House in Bulawayo and announced that the budget for the Gukurahundi Community Outreach Programme was now available.
Mnangagwa did not, however, disclose the figures.
He also expressed the government’s commitment to ensuring transparency and accountability in the process, adding that the figures will be reviewed before being made public.
However, Mnangagwa’s meeting with the traditional leaders did not go well with the Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) and Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MFL) party which accused the chiefs of betraying their subjects.
MRP leader Mqondisi Moyo said they were shocked that Mnangagwa was pushing ahead with his agenda to use traditional leaders in Matabeleland in the emotive issue.
“He presided over the genocide with his comrades; the late former President Robert Mugabe, Sydney Sekeramayi former Minister of Defence, Perence Shiri — former Fifth Brigade commander, Constantine Chiwenga (Dominic Chinenge), the current Vice-President who, during the Gukurahundi genocide was the commander at 1 Brigade Barracks in Bulawayo,” Moyo said.
“He was also the chief logistics officer of operations of the Fifth Brigade. If Mthwakazi/Matabeleland chiefs care about the people they are leading, they should all speak with one voice and refuse to be used by the Zanu PF government led by Mnangagwa.”
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He said the traditional leaders were both victims and survivors of Gukurahundi genocide. “People in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces are treated as second-class citizens in Zimbabwe as one of the after-effects of genocide.
“Our chiefs do not have a say on their land which is being invaded daily by people from Mashonaland, with Mnangagwa being the chief culprit. Mines in Mthwakazi are now in the hands of Mashonaland people,” Moyo said.
He also bemoaned lack of employment opportunities in the private and public sectors.
“Surely, if our chiefs cannot protect their subjects on such important issues, how can they be trusted on the emotive Gukurahundi genocide?
“We are convinced that the physical genocide of 1982 to 1987 might have been stopped then but we are now on another painful episode of the genocide,” Moyo said.He warned Mnangagwa that the liberation struggle was necessitated by land imbalances and cruel laws during colonial rule.
“I urge our chiefs to stop selling out on the people. As MRP we urge our people not to be swayed by this useless programme where Zanu PF as the murderers want to cry more than us the bereaved.
“The truth remains that Mnangagwa and his cabal are the perpetrators of genocide. As such, an International Independent Truth and Justice Commission must be set up to oversee the handling of this emotive issue,” he said.
MLF senior member Bonhomie Ndlovu also dismissed Mnangagwa’s Gukurahundi programme.
“Mnangagwa should be reminded that the moment of madness that Mugabe insinuated will not derail our mission to restore Mthwakazi. The truth has to be told that, Mnangagwa will not hold people of Matabeleland at ransom, never,” he said.
“As MLF we feel he is fooling people of Matabeleland. As a restoration organisation, we want him to know that he has to go and hang as this will not take us anywhere.”Meanwhile, Chief Mathema from Matabeleland South urged citizens and the government not to take the emotive Gukurahundi as a small issue.
He said it would take several years to bring it to closure amid indications by Mnangagwa that the process will be completed within a year.Mathema said a lot needed to be done before the issue was brought to finality.
