News / Local
Death stalks Mnangagwa family
20 Apr 2019 at 12:35hrs | Views
President Emerson Mnangagwa, former president Robert Mugabe, and all the architects of Gukurahundi - the 1980s massacre of unarmed civilians in Matabeleland and the Midlands - carry a deadly curse that will affect their families for many generations, Zimbabweans have said.
At least 20 000 people are suspected to have been slaughtered in the most horrific manner imaginable during a purge that stretched between late 1982 and 1987.
Mugabe is said to have had a rabid deep seated hatred of the Ndebele people that he grew up among and is suspected to have planned the genocide of the ethnic group even before independence in 1980.
Mnangagwa who was in charge of the army was his main enforcer as a crack military unit that was trained by Koreans was unleashed on the civilian population.
A traditional healer, Khulu Moyo, from Bulawayo told Bulawayo24.com that the killings were so evil their consequences go beyond the physical suffering of innocents.
"Mnangagwa and his friends need more than just a public acknowledgement and apology for the atrocities, they must consult real Matabeleland traditional leaders with genuine contrition. They must undergo special rites and pay prescribed compensation to save their families from the curse they brought on their family lines by spilling the blood of innocents," said Khulu Moyo.
" Some may think they are enjoying their flashy lifestyles spending the country's money all over but the truth is, in their hearts and in reality they have no peace. Uzimu/ngozi (avenging spirits are nothing compared to what everyone who endorsed the 80s brutalities and their families are going through. It will only get worse until they swallow their pride and approach the real leaders in the region."
Khulu Moyo said recent interactions with civic society in Matabeleland over the mass killings was a commendable but useless step if the butchers of the people wanted peace.
"They can grandstand in the media and meet partisan people to cleanse themselves in the eyes of the public but the truth is time is running out for them and their families. I pity those who have died because their families are marked and it would be more difficult to lift the curse without the principals' direct input," he said.
A Bulawayo resident who said almost his entire family was killed in Tsholotsho in 1984 said he believed Gukurahundi was aimed at wiping the Ndebeles and their history from the face of the earth.
"It was thoroughly planned executions designed to strike at the very heart of everything Ndebele. It was evilier than the holocaust where Hitler and his Nazis killed about 6million jews. In 1984 I saw government soldiers raping entire villages. Pregnant women had their bellies ripped open with bayonets by soldiers who gleefully announced they had put an end to Ndebele genes," said Busani Moyo (not real name).
With tears flowing freely down his cheeks, Moyo said traditionally no matter what wrong someone has done they can redeem themselves through prescribed rites.
He said gukurahundists seemed to have researched on the Ndebele ways and ensured they cut off victims from means of retaining their identity and dignity.
"They made hapless civilians to commit the ultimate cultural taboos by forcing children to have sex with their parents and making them chop up their parents or siblings as others were forced to cheer and dance. It is the Ndebele way that when someone dies their spirit will only rest if tears are shed appropriately and the person is buried according to tradition that has existed for centuries.
"The gukurahundists banned shedding of tears and forced villagers to bury their dead in mass graves. They made people dance over the graves further desecrating the dead. Thus they ensured victims were cut off from spiritual salvation. No one was allowed to conduct umbuyiso (a vital traditional ceremony to welcome the spirit of the dead into the home). Without spiritual support, it was Mugabe and Mnangagwa's aim to break the will of the Ndebeles and make themselves think they are subhuman," said Moyo.
He said over the years he has heard people who did not witness the dark period trivialising the suffering of the victims and denigrating their need to find closure.
"I can only say a crime is not evil until it comes to your door. The axe may forget but the tree never forgets. If you spit in the sky it will come back in your eye so Mugabe and company and their families face a fate worse than death," he said.
An academic at one of the country's universities said Gukurahundi did not end in 1987 when PF Zapu and ZanuPf signed the unity according but has been deliberately perpetuated and institutionalised by the government.
"This was a long term strategy that went beyond the mass killings as we see Gukurahundi in government operations everyday. It's a tribal sickness that was planted by Mugabe and ZanuPf that has deep roots and continues to crucify people from Matabeleland," said the academic who scoffed at president Mnangagwa's recent call to decriminalise discussion of Gukurahundi and preferred anonymity.
"Mugabe and his cronies were so spiteful they literally cut their throats to spite their stomachs. Bulawayo was the hub of industry on which the country's economy was anchored but their blind hatred for people in the region led to formulation of policies that made it unfavourable to invest in the city.
Everything was centralised in Harare and it became increasingly difficult to operate in Bulawayo. Gradually factories shut down while others relocated to the capital. Now the whole economy is on its knees because Harare does not enjoy the centrality in the sadc region that Bulawayo enjoys. There were also no policies to sustain industry in Harare because all ZanuPf leaders saw was the anhilation of the Ndebeles," said the academic.
"Even words of Ndebele origin have been misspelt on official documents and public buildings since independence to deliberately kill the language as we know it. This nonsense of a teacher who can't speak a word of local languages teaching ECD Classes only exists in Matabeleland. It is a well calculated ploy to distirt children's knowledge of their mother tongue at an early age and teach them to take pride in other languages. It is aimed at slow but sure decimation of the Ndebele language," said the academic.
He said the purported equality of ethnic languages in the country was a myth as Mugabe and ZanuPf ensured Shona would always be the superior language.
"It's an undeniable continuation of the master plan to erode all that is not Shona. On public broadcasts since independence information or news is always relayed in perfect Shona first while Ndebele and other languages follow without due diligence to pronunciation, grammar or proper diction. The same can be seen on official document like passports or permits. As long as the government does not acknowledge that Gukurahundi is a tribal issue, the National Reconciliation Commission will labour in vain to bring national healing on the issue."
"I remember as a kid growing up around 1985-86 when Mugabe arrogantly declared in heavily accented Ndebele on national televisions that 'lina bantu be Matabeleland lilele kakhulu (you people of Matabeleland are dull). In his arrogance, the closest he ever came to acknowledging his evil handiwork was when he said it was a dark period in the country's history and a moment of madness. May Mugabe, Mnangagwa, their cronies and descendant burn in hell for eternity for this if they don't truly repent," said the academic.
At least 20 000 people are suspected to have been slaughtered in the most horrific manner imaginable during a purge that stretched between late 1982 and 1987.
Mugabe is said to have had a rabid deep seated hatred of the Ndebele people that he grew up among and is suspected to have planned the genocide of the ethnic group even before independence in 1980.
Mnangagwa who was in charge of the army was his main enforcer as a crack military unit that was trained by Koreans was unleashed on the civilian population.
A traditional healer, Khulu Moyo, from Bulawayo told Bulawayo24.com that the killings were so evil their consequences go beyond the physical suffering of innocents.
"Mnangagwa and his friends need more than just a public acknowledgement and apology for the atrocities, they must consult real Matabeleland traditional leaders with genuine contrition. They must undergo special rites and pay prescribed compensation to save their families from the curse they brought on their family lines by spilling the blood of innocents," said Khulu Moyo.
" Some may think they are enjoying their flashy lifestyles spending the country's money all over but the truth is, in their hearts and in reality they have no peace. Uzimu/ngozi (avenging spirits are nothing compared to what everyone who endorsed the 80s brutalities and their families are going through. It will only get worse until they swallow their pride and approach the real leaders in the region."
Khulu Moyo said recent interactions with civic society in Matabeleland over the mass killings was a commendable but useless step if the butchers of the people wanted peace.
"They can grandstand in the media and meet partisan people to cleanse themselves in the eyes of the public but the truth is time is running out for them and their families. I pity those who have died because their families are marked and it would be more difficult to lift the curse without the principals' direct input," he said.
A Bulawayo resident who said almost his entire family was killed in Tsholotsho in 1984 said he believed Gukurahundi was aimed at wiping the Ndebeles and their history from the face of the earth.
"It was thoroughly planned executions designed to strike at the very heart of everything Ndebele. It was evilier than the holocaust where Hitler and his Nazis killed about 6million jews. In 1984 I saw government soldiers raping entire villages. Pregnant women had their bellies ripped open with bayonets by soldiers who gleefully announced they had put an end to Ndebele genes," said Busani Moyo (not real name).
With tears flowing freely down his cheeks, Moyo said traditionally no matter what wrong someone has done they can redeem themselves through prescribed rites.
He said gukurahundists seemed to have researched on the Ndebele ways and ensured they cut off victims from means of retaining their identity and dignity.
"The gukurahundists banned shedding of tears and forced villagers to bury their dead in mass graves. They made people dance over the graves further desecrating the dead. Thus they ensured victims were cut off from spiritual salvation. No one was allowed to conduct umbuyiso (a vital traditional ceremony to welcome the spirit of the dead into the home). Without spiritual support, it was Mugabe and Mnangagwa's aim to break the will of the Ndebeles and make themselves think they are subhuman," said Moyo.
He said over the years he has heard people who did not witness the dark period trivialising the suffering of the victims and denigrating their need to find closure.
"I can only say a crime is not evil until it comes to your door. The axe may forget but the tree never forgets. If you spit in the sky it will come back in your eye so Mugabe and company and their families face a fate worse than death," he said.
An academic at one of the country's universities said Gukurahundi did not end in 1987 when PF Zapu and ZanuPf signed the unity according but has been deliberately perpetuated and institutionalised by the government.
"This was a long term strategy that went beyond the mass killings as we see Gukurahundi in government operations everyday. It's a tribal sickness that was planted by Mugabe and ZanuPf that has deep roots and continues to crucify people from Matabeleland," said the academic who scoffed at president Mnangagwa's recent call to decriminalise discussion of Gukurahundi and preferred anonymity.
"Mugabe and his cronies were so spiteful they literally cut their throats to spite their stomachs. Bulawayo was the hub of industry on which the country's economy was anchored but their blind hatred for people in the region led to formulation of policies that made it unfavourable to invest in the city.
Everything was centralised in Harare and it became increasingly difficult to operate in Bulawayo. Gradually factories shut down while others relocated to the capital. Now the whole economy is on its knees because Harare does not enjoy the centrality in the sadc region that Bulawayo enjoys. There were also no policies to sustain industry in Harare because all ZanuPf leaders saw was the anhilation of the Ndebeles," said the academic.
"Even words of Ndebele origin have been misspelt on official documents and public buildings since independence to deliberately kill the language as we know it. This nonsense of a teacher who can't speak a word of local languages teaching ECD Classes only exists in Matabeleland. It is a well calculated ploy to distirt children's knowledge of their mother tongue at an early age and teach them to take pride in other languages. It is aimed at slow but sure decimation of the Ndebele language," said the academic.
He said the purported equality of ethnic languages in the country was a myth as Mugabe and ZanuPf ensured Shona would always be the superior language.
"It's an undeniable continuation of the master plan to erode all that is not Shona. On public broadcasts since independence information or news is always relayed in perfect Shona first while Ndebele and other languages follow without due diligence to pronunciation, grammar or proper diction. The same can be seen on official document like passports or permits. As long as the government does not acknowledge that Gukurahundi is a tribal issue, the National Reconciliation Commission will labour in vain to bring national healing on the issue."
"I remember as a kid growing up around 1985-86 when Mugabe arrogantly declared in heavily accented Ndebele on national televisions that 'lina bantu be Matabeleland lilele kakhulu (you people of Matabeleland are dull). In his arrogance, the closest he ever came to acknowledging his evil handiwork was when he said it was a dark period in the country's history and a moment of madness. May Mugabe, Mnangagwa, their cronies and descendant burn in hell for eternity for this if they don't truly repent," said the academic.
Source - Byo24News
