Opinion / Columnist
International community should intervene in Zimbabwe Gukurahundi genocide
12 Sep 2018 at 10:11hrs | Views
What do we think of when we hear of which such names as Rohingya, Ndebele, Tutsi, Kazakh, Armenia, and Jew - especially, when they are all in one sentence?
...most likely genocide and the Holocaust.
These are the most outstanding names of groups of people that have been subjected to untold suffering, by other more powerful and savage groups of people, over the course of the past century - as they have been brutalised in a brazen attempt to annihilate them from the face of the planet.
As much as these savage and more powerful groups have tried to eliminate them, they have, nonetheless, stood firm and proud against such heinous attacks.
But, there is one thing that is most disturbing about most of these genocides - besides the Holocaust, in which more than six million Jews were massacred by the Nazis - justice has eluded the rest of these groups.
As much as there have been some half-hearted attempts in bringing to book those - mainly Hutu - who were responsible for the slaughter of nearly a million Tutsis in the Rwanda genocide of 1994, there has truly never been any genuine effort to ensure that all those accused of these satanic acts are answerable.
Take for instance, today countless Rohingya have been killed, raped, beaten up, and had their homes touched by the Myanmar army - most having to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh - yet, the world is taking its sweet time in bringing those responsible to justice.
This is in spite of the United Nations (UN) recently releasing a report to the effect that what has transpired in Myanmar is indeed genocide - and its de facto leader is still regarded as a heroine, as her Noble Peace Prize still stands.
One can strip an athlete like Marion Jones of all her Olympic medals for taking a few banned performance enhancement drugs, but when a once reverred national leader sits back whilst countless of her compatriots are butchered, the world does not even revoke her honors.
Another case in point is Zimbabwe, where over 20,000 innocent and unarmed men, women and children of the Ndebele tribe were mercilessly massacred by the ZANU PF regime in the 1980s, yet the leaders responsible are today still highly regarded by the international community!
What manner of obscenity is this?
How can a person like Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa be welcome with open arms in world capitals, yet he was at the forefront of the slaughtering of these poor people.
Mnangagwa - together with his mentor, former president Robert Mugabe - were the architects of the worst butchering of an innocent people in modern Zimbabwe.
Yet, the world sees it fit to look aside!
What would it take for the international community to finally wake up to the fact that tolerating such primitive and savage acts of barbarism has no place in today's society?
Mnangagwa has already shown that he would never seriously institute any real action against all those responsible - as that would be akin to sending a rapist to arrest and prosecute himself!
This calls for the international community to intervene on behalf of the powerless Ndebele people of Zimbabwe, who had their fathers and mothers killed, such that they grew up without an education, as there was no one to pay their school fees.
Some do not have identity particulars, as their parents disappeared without a trace, and there is no death certificate, which is required to obtain these necessary documents - leaving these children as stateless, uneducated, and unemployable.
Who is going to stand up for those victims of Gukurahundi - as the genocide is referred to - who had their limbs cut off by this ZANU PF rogue regime's military?
So many of these mostly Ndebele victims had to flee their country and seek refuge in neighbouring countries, where they are still living as paupers.
What did they do to deserve this?
Does anyone care about their plight, or are they just an inconvenience to those world powers who would want to pretend that none of this took place, so that they can do business with these murderers, in peace?
Mnangagwa is not even interested in issueing an apology, let alone make restitution for all the harm done by him and his cronies in the ZANU PF regime.
What a lucky fellow Mnangagwa is!
Not only has he literally gotten away with murder, but only last year he ousted his erstwhile mentor in a military coup, which the international community saw nothing wrong with!
Are global leaders taking Zimbabweans for fools - erroneously assuming that since we are generally a peace-loving people, we will never rise up against this regime in a manner whose fire would not be easy to extinguish?
We have cried out...and we are still crying out to the global community to come to our aid and ensure that we finally receive justice for all the ills committed against us by this regime.
Mnangagwa is a rogue and illegimate president, whose place is at the International Criminal Court (ICC), not the State House.
This is not about vindictiveness, but about justice.
Why did the world see it fit to arrest and prosecute the Nazis for their Holocaust against the Jews?
Why did they not just 'let bygones be bygones' and just move on, and focus on re-building Europe?
Why is it that in most Western countries, even today, it is a crime for anyone to deny the Holocaust?
This is something that occurred over 73 years ago!
Yet, over 20,000 Zimbabwean Ndebeles were butchered by Mnangagwa and his genocidal buddies only 31 years ago, and we are expected to forget it all!
If the Jews and the international community can forget the Holocaust, then maybe - just maybe - we can also forget Gukurahundi - but, we all know that this would never happen.
The world can not ignore what Mnangagwa, Mugabe and their racist and tribalist regime did to an innocent and unarmed people in the Midlands and Matebeleland provinces of Zimbabwe.
Every drop of blood spilt by these heartless and callous men has to be answerable for - as no amount of wanting to do business with Zimbabwe is worth ignoring the cries of those whose bodies remain undiscovered in mass graves, mine shafts and dissolved in acid throughout the provinces.
Peace Chiwara Marangwanda is a UK based Zimbabwean activist.
...most likely genocide and the Holocaust.
These are the most outstanding names of groups of people that have been subjected to untold suffering, by other more powerful and savage groups of people, over the course of the past century - as they have been brutalised in a brazen attempt to annihilate them from the face of the planet.
As much as these savage and more powerful groups have tried to eliminate them, they have, nonetheless, stood firm and proud against such heinous attacks.
But, there is one thing that is most disturbing about most of these genocides - besides the Holocaust, in which more than six million Jews were massacred by the Nazis - justice has eluded the rest of these groups.
As much as there have been some half-hearted attempts in bringing to book those - mainly Hutu - who were responsible for the slaughter of nearly a million Tutsis in the Rwanda genocide of 1994, there has truly never been any genuine effort to ensure that all those accused of these satanic acts are answerable.
Take for instance, today countless Rohingya have been killed, raped, beaten up, and had their homes touched by the Myanmar army - most having to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh - yet, the world is taking its sweet time in bringing those responsible to justice.
This is in spite of the United Nations (UN) recently releasing a report to the effect that what has transpired in Myanmar is indeed genocide - and its de facto leader is still regarded as a heroine, as her Noble Peace Prize still stands.
One can strip an athlete like Marion Jones of all her Olympic medals for taking a few banned performance enhancement drugs, but when a once reverred national leader sits back whilst countless of her compatriots are butchered, the world does not even revoke her honors.
Another case in point is Zimbabwe, where over 20,000 innocent and unarmed men, women and children of the Ndebele tribe were mercilessly massacred by the ZANU PF regime in the 1980s, yet the leaders responsible are today still highly regarded by the international community!
What manner of obscenity is this?
How can a person like Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa be welcome with open arms in world capitals, yet he was at the forefront of the slaughtering of these poor people.
Mnangagwa - together with his mentor, former president Robert Mugabe - were the architects of the worst butchering of an innocent people in modern Zimbabwe.
Yet, the world sees it fit to look aside!
What would it take for the international community to finally wake up to the fact that tolerating such primitive and savage acts of barbarism has no place in today's society?
Mnangagwa has already shown that he would never seriously institute any real action against all those responsible - as that would be akin to sending a rapist to arrest and prosecute himself!
This calls for the international community to intervene on behalf of the powerless Ndebele people of Zimbabwe, who had their fathers and mothers killed, such that they grew up without an education, as there was no one to pay their school fees.
Some do not have identity particulars, as their parents disappeared without a trace, and there is no death certificate, which is required to obtain these necessary documents - leaving these children as stateless, uneducated, and unemployable.
Who is going to stand up for those victims of Gukurahundi - as the genocide is referred to - who had their limbs cut off by this ZANU PF rogue regime's military?
So many of these mostly Ndebele victims had to flee their country and seek refuge in neighbouring countries, where they are still living as paupers.
What did they do to deserve this?
Does anyone care about their plight, or are they just an inconvenience to those world powers who would want to pretend that none of this took place, so that they can do business with these murderers, in peace?
Mnangagwa is not even interested in issueing an apology, let alone make restitution for all the harm done by him and his cronies in the ZANU PF regime.
What a lucky fellow Mnangagwa is!
Not only has he literally gotten away with murder, but only last year he ousted his erstwhile mentor in a military coup, which the international community saw nothing wrong with!
Are global leaders taking Zimbabweans for fools - erroneously assuming that since we are generally a peace-loving people, we will never rise up against this regime in a manner whose fire would not be easy to extinguish?
We have cried out...and we are still crying out to the global community to come to our aid and ensure that we finally receive justice for all the ills committed against us by this regime.
Mnangagwa is a rogue and illegimate president, whose place is at the International Criminal Court (ICC), not the State House.
This is not about vindictiveness, but about justice.
Why did the world see it fit to arrest and prosecute the Nazis for their Holocaust against the Jews?
Why did they not just 'let bygones be bygones' and just move on, and focus on re-building Europe?
Why is it that in most Western countries, even today, it is a crime for anyone to deny the Holocaust?
This is something that occurred over 73 years ago!
Yet, over 20,000 Zimbabwean Ndebeles were butchered by Mnangagwa and his genocidal buddies only 31 years ago, and we are expected to forget it all!
If the Jews and the international community can forget the Holocaust, then maybe - just maybe - we can also forget Gukurahundi - but, we all know that this would never happen.
The world can not ignore what Mnangagwa, Mugabe and their racist and tribalist regime did to an innocent and unarmed people in the Midlands and Matebeleland provinces of Zimbabwe.
Every drop of blood spilt by these heartless and callous men has to be answerable for - as no amount of wanting to do business with Zimbabwe is worth ignoring the cries of those whose bodies remain undiscovered in mass graves, mine shafts and dissolved in acid throughout the provinces.
Peace Chiwara Marangwanda is a UK based Zimbabwean activist.
Source - Peace Chiwara Marangwanda
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