VP Mphoko opens up on Gukurahundi - Height of Hypocrisy

Mr Phelekezela Mphoko's interview that appeared in the Sunday Mail of the 15th February is a very provocative and insensitive piece of untruths as far as the gukurahundi/fifth brigade crusade is concerned. He said: "civil disturbances that rocked Zimbabwe in the early years of Independence were part of a region-wide conspiracy to destabilize Southern Africa and not part of an anti-Ndebele agenda by shonas". What trash and an untruth. Where does he get this anti-ndebele by the shonas thing? Is he telling us something that we do not know. Where does he get this notion that the two are in were in a war. It was a war inflicted on ZAPU by ZANU oh  God!

Where and in which planet was this gentleman during that moment of madness?  From this interview it is clear that he must have been one of the architects of what transpired. The number of victims and witnesses to this massacre is overwhelming in identifying, without any doubt, who was responsible for this massacre. Why deny the facts that have been known for decades now.  Shame on him.

Firstly,  there was no civil disturbance in the  sense of the word civil. There were concerted efforts to eliminate leaders and members of ZAPU. The Fifth Brigade/Gukurahundi was formed specifically for this purpose and true to its doctrine it was formed outside the structure and command of the National Army answerable to the ZANU hierachy. Joshua Nkomo, ZAPU President, wrote that when he questioned President Mugabe about the formation of the Fifth Brigade/Gukurahundi outside the National Army without consultation, the President(RG Mugabe) angrily replied and said "Who are you to be consulted? This Brigade has been formed to crush those who try to subvert my government, if you attempt that, they will crush you." ZAPU was at the time and  remains the only mother of all nationalist movements in Zimbabwe that can and will rescue the country from a one party state/dictatorship. Therefore ZAPU had to be destroyed to facilitate the formation  of such a state.

Secondly, listen to this:
 - two weeks before the 1980 elections in  March Lord Soames, Governor of Southern Rhodesia, called all leaders of parties that were contesting in the elections and told them "because of the security situation in the Eastern Districts of Zimbabwe there could not be  a free and fair election there" This meant that elections would not in fact be held there.

 -  three days or so before the elections Lord Soames, unilaterally, without further consultation,  announced that that elections will take place in all districts in the country including the eastern districts. It is near impossible that 'with all the good will in the world the good governor would have made the security situation  in the eastern districts so stable in less than two weeks for a free and fair election to take place. The ZAPU leadership argued, rightly so, that the unstable security situation in the eastern districts was caused by ZANU PF, under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, which maintained armed ZANLA combatants throughout that area; these combatants terrorized  people by beatings, torturing and even killing anyone who did not agree with their indoctrination. They made it impossible for other political parties to campaign or operate in those areas. Before ZANU PF  unleashed that reign of terror ZAPU and its leadership enjoyed unparalleled acceptance in those districts. During that period two ZAPU candidates and 18 party workers were killed, while several other party members were severely beaten up and others were permanently maimed. Unfortunately some disappeared without trace to this day.
   
 - In 1982 two Nitram farms, Ascot and Woody farms were invaded during the night by Police and arms caches were found there. Nitram – was a private company formed by ZIPRA veterans who each contributed $50 to purchase  properties which were to be used by those veterans who were not attested into the National Army, ZRP or other state institutions for their sustenance. It must also be remembered that the so called arms caches were discovered only in these two farms.

 - All properties  owned by Nitram,  including the Nest Egg where ZAPU archives were kept, ZAPU properties and businesses such as the Lido Motel, Salisbury Motel, the Snake Park in Harare,  Nijo Products, a composite agricultural project along Domboshawa road, properties owned by ZAPU and other members were expropriated. These were expropriated without compensation rendering the ZIPRA veterans, ZAPU members who owned businesses   destitute these were in thousands.

The period between 1982 and December 1987 was the darkest in the history of this country given the number of Zimbabweans who were killed, maimed, left destitute or orphaned. 

 - The Smith regime laws were and are still being used to e.g. Law and Order Maintenance Act  to persecute liberation struggle heroes specifically ZAPU members and ZIPRA veterans.

 - Fifth Brigade, Youth Brigade, Militia were all involved in this diabolical crusade to crush ZAPU

 - In 1983 the Roman Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral statement/letter detailing the brutality and atrocities that were being perpetrated by state agents. By the way these Bishops and other church organizations did support/sympathise with the ideals of  the struggle for liberation

 - In response to this pastoral letter then Minister of Information, now deceased Nathan Shamuyarira dismissed the Catholic Bishops' statement as "irresponsible, contrived propaganda". May his soul rest in eternal peace,   I am sure he has now met his judge, The Almighty.

 - Dumiso Dabengwa, Lookout Masuku and others are arrested on frivolous treason charges

 - Some ZIPRA members are demobilised or consigned to the AG's Pool

 - State vs Dabengwa and others(CIO  Fraser and DSO Kaurayi) these are men who tortured liberation heroes during the struggle who were now being used by a government supposedly of the people by the people for the people. They used threats and bribes to extract information

 - Joshua Nkomo, Josia Chinamano, Joseph Msika, JG Ntuta are dismissed from cabinet

 - Clement Muchachi resigned from cabinet in sympathy with his dismissed colleagues

 - Other ZAPU leaders  and members were thrown into detention without detention orders and without trial, killed  whileothers disappeared without trace to this day.

 - During the armed struggle, in the main, people did not disappear without trace

 - Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Masuku are found not guilty and are released by the High Court

 - Dumiso Dabengwa and Lookout Masuku are immediately arrested and detained after the High Court found them not guilty. Again the Rhodesian laws are used, by a black government, to detain those that fought the same laws and who are supposedly now free.

Lookout Masuku becomes sick in detention and eventually passes on. What a shame!

 - Joshua Nkomo – Father Zimbabwe - flees the country for dear life

 - Joshua Nkomo – Father Zimbabwe - comes back to Zimbabwe and a one sided so called Unity Accord is signed. This was an agreement of entered into to stop the carnage of ZAPU members which had reached genocidal proportions.

 - December 2008 ZAPU reconsidered its position in the unity accord in the face of fundamental breaches of that accord by ZANU-PF and at a convention resolved to withdraw therefrom and resuscitate itself as a political party.

From the foregoing it is evident that there was no external  agenda as claimed
In all this there is no iota of evidence that this was an agenda by the west to destabilize Southern Africa. How does Phelekezela Mphoko, in his normal self, even start to imagine such a concoction.  The evidence that this was a planned elimination mission to get rid of ZAPU as a political party that would ensure the total political and economic independence of our country is overwhelming and documented. ZAPU did not support the creation of a one party state dictatorship which is in violation of the founding principles of the liberation  struggle hence the major departure with ZANU-PF.

Why has ZANU-PF consistently refused to appoint an independent truth and reconciliation commission to find out what actually happened, reconcile the nation and move on with the development of our country. Why is it so scary to establish such a commission. All this unnecessary bickering will be put to rest with appointment of such a commission. Only the guilty are afraid. But remember the saying that its NOT THE TRUTH THAT SETS YOU FREE BUT THAT KNOWING THE TRUTH SETS YOU FREE.

A ZAPU member – provocative, insensitive, naïve – a resounding NO.

Our departed heroes like  National Chairman Samuel Munodawafa, Sydney Malunga,  Lazarus Nkala, Amon Jirira, Tichafa Parirenyathwa, Ariston Chambati, Daniel Madzimbamhutho, George Silundika, JZ Moyo, Nikita Mangena,  Willie Musarurwa, Josia Chinamano, Philimon Makonese, Clement Muchachi, Nyashanu of course Father Zimbabwe and others, too numerous to mention, must be turning in their graves.

ZAPU founded in 1961, the mother of all nationalist movements in Zimbabwe, is ready to accomplish the unfinished business of achieving the founding principles of our struggle.

It is necessary for me to remind the people of this country that our struggle for independence and freedom, including the resort to arms, was driven by the vision and burning desire for a democratic nation state - a state anchored on the promotion of human rights without distinction(race, ethnicity, language, religion, sex, political and other opinion), a state committed to balanced economic development, proportional representation, devolution of power to the provinces, minimization of corruption and corrupt tendencies, poverty eradication, job creation, investment in production and management skills, a vibrant domestic private sector among others and promotes international charters and obligations. A state that is truly accountable for its actions or lack of it.

The country today is torn to pieces by the fear that has been instilled in the people since the dawn of independence by the elite ZANU-PF ruling class who blames all the ills in the country to foreigners and others, the latest being the denial of responsibility by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko. There is so much fear in the country today that people cannot freely express themselves  for fear of so much that they think can be done to them because they are witnesses to such unbridled brutality. For instance people in the resettlement areas, A2, A1 and other resettlement areas, people are threatened with eviction or victimization if they do not vote ZAPU-PF because these areas are said to belong to ZANU-PF. Please every Zimbabwean participated in the liberation struggle and freedom for this country one way or the other. Everyone is entitled to it without distinction – it is a fundamental human right. But of course it is imperative that those that have the land or other means of production  put them to productive use all the time.

Jacob JD Dube, Treasurer General/Finance and Resource Mobilization Secretary
Zimbabwe African Peoples Union(ZAPU)