Only Zanu-PF can resolve Gukurahundi issue: Jonathan Moyo

ZANU-PF is the only political party that can lead the process of bringing the Gukurahundi issue to closure, building on what President Mugabe said in the year 2000, Professor Jonathan Moyo has said, The Sunday Mail reported.

Professor Moyo, who is a Politburo member and MP for Tsholotsho North, told The Sunday Mail in an exclusive interview that the country's detractors were now trying to use the Gukurahundi issue to divide the country because it has remained unresolved for too long.

He added that "some comrades in the nationalist movement and in Zanu-PF seem to believe that this issue is a closed chapter in our country's history", yet it is not.

"The Gukurahundi issue is not a closed chapter. President Mugabe made a paradigmatic statement in 2000 when he described it as a moment of madness, which it indeed was, but there's nothing that has been done since 2000 to use that very important statement by the President to bring the matter to finality or closure.

"I strongly believe that only Zanu-PF can lead the process of bringing that matter to closure building on what President Mugabe said in 2000. And the party can do that by being willing to publicly engage the issue in an open, honest and non-defensive way, which has characterised our attitude thus far.

"That was a dark point in our history as an independent nation which not only involved dissidents who committed atrocities and wantonly destroyed property but also the State whose response to the dissident menace, which clearly had illegal and mercenary support and direction from apartheid South Africa, was so outrageously disproportionate as to cause unnecessary suffering among ordinary people which could have otherwise been avoided," he said.

Sad history
He, however, said this was now a matter of "history, a sad history", but the country has to move forward without allowing "charlatans and vile opportunists" to exploit this sad history.

Said Prof Moyo: "As we move forward, let's face it, the calls from some destructive quarters for a fresh probe on this matter are as irresponsible and unacceptable as the claims from our own ranks that the matter is now a closed chapter whose discussion will open old wounds.

"The facts are that there's nothing about the Gukurahundi period which we do not know to warrant a fresh probe and that, while we know everything there's to know about the scourge, it cannot be true that the wounds were ever closed.

"Therefore, the only outstanding issue about Gukurahundi is not to probe some more but to close the wounds and close the chapter in a responsible manner once and for all.

"Quite clearly, those who have called for a fresh probe are pursuing cheap politics in the hope of winning cheap votes.  But this is not a matter for cheap politics.  Only Zanu-PF is capable of understanding this and doing the right thing to heal the wounds and close the chapter."

Also in the interview, Prof Moyo said by calling for "Generation 40" to be given the real "responsibilities in the running and management of our public affairs", he was not calling for the replacement of the older generation with the younger generation.

He also spoke at length about corruption and violence in Zanu-PF, declaring that Zanu-PF does not have a culture of violence while there were few individuals who tarnished the image of the party by engaging in corrupt activities.