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Jonathan Moyo says 'Mugabe wrong on Gukurahundi'
08 Apr 2018 at 17:20hrs | Views
Former High and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo has said ex-president Robert Mugabe's claim that Zapu and the Ndebele people were responsible for the Gukurahundi atrocities is wrong.
Moyo has been at loggerheads with President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the Zanu-PF leader's alleged role in the atrocities where 20 000 people died at the hands of the Fifth Brigade, but is a vocal supporter of Mugabe.
Mugabe recently told journalists that the Ndebele people and Zapu were to blame for the killings.
"It can neither be correct nor true that the Ndebele people and Zapu were responsible for Gukurahundi," Moyo said in response to emailed questions from The Standard.
"The indubitable fact is that Gukurahundi was an atrocity whose victims were the Ndebele people and Zapu as a political party.
"It cannot, therefore, be right that victims are blamed for the tragedy they suffered.
"It should be noted that what President Mugabe said is the official Gukurahundi and wrong narrative. That is the reason why some of us have always insisted on the need for a truth and reconciliation process to deal with this matter."
However, the former Tsholotsho North MP insisted Mugabe and Mnangagwa's views on Gukurahundi were not the same, saying the former leader had acknowledged that the atrocities happened and described them as "a moment of madness. "
Moyo said on the other hand, Mnangagwa had declared that the past was dead.
Moyo has been at loggerheads with President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the Zanu-PF leader's alleged role in the atrocities where 20 000 people died at the hands of the Fifth Brigade, but is a vocal supporter of Mugabe.
Mugabe recently told journalists that the Ndebele people and Zapu were to blame for the killings.
"It can neither be correct nor true that the Ndebele people and Zapu were responsible for Gukurahundi," Moyo said in response to emailed questions from The Standard.
"The indubitable fact is that Gukurahundi was an atrocity whose victims were the Ndebele people and Zapu as a political party.
"It cannot, therefore, be right that victims are blamed for the tragedy they suffered.
"It should be noted that what President Mugabe said is the official Gukurahundi and wrong narrative. That is the reason why some of us have always insisted on the need for a truth and reconciliation process to deal with this matter."
However, the former Tsholotsho North MP insisted Mugabe and Mnangagwa's views on Gukurahundi were not the same, saying the former leader had acknowledged that the atrocities happened and described them as "a moment of madness. "
Moyo said on the other hand, Mnangagwa had declared that the past was dead.
Source - the standard
