'Mnangagwa plotting second genocide'

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa's threats that those calling for a separate state will have their lives cut short is declaration of a second genocide synonymous with the Gukurahundi atrocities that saw over 20 000 people killed in the 1980s, the Mthwakazi Republic Party and several pressure groups said yesterday.

Mnangagwa is known for issuing chilling threats against critics that are usually followed with action and his latest warning has sent shivers down the spines of activists who view them as a danger warning sign of what lies ahead.

During his address at an election campaign rally at St Mary's in Chitungwiza, Mnangagwa, in apparent reference to the Mthwakazi Republic party and pressure groups calling for secessionist agenda, said: "No one will divide this country into small states. You will be looking for a premature end to life. Walk in a way that gives you life, a path that builds. We want unity, peace and harmony."

But MRP leader Mqondisi Moyo said Mnangagwa's threats were declaration of a second Gukurahundi, but warned that they will not be intimidated.

"We regard his utterances as declaration of the second Gukurahundi. We are not going to take those threats lightly and our warning to him is that it won't end well because we are not going to take his threats lightly," Moyo said.

"As Mthwakazi Republic Party, we heard what Mnangagwa said when he addressed in St Mary's in Chitungwiza where he spoke hard against us. We are not surprised about his utterances as the architect of Gukurahundi around 1983 to 1987," he added.

"If you reckon that sometime in 1984 he said our people are like cockroaches who need DDT and the following day at a place called Cewale in Lupane, 55 people were butchered. As he said that, we are not even surprised though we are now saying to him, we are yet another generation that is totally different from (the late former Vice-President) Joshua Nkomo's generation."

"Whether he threatens us with death with arrests or anything at all, we are not afraid of him and we are going forward with our agenda for a separate state."

Pressure group Ibhetshu Likazulu coordinator Mbuso Fuzwayo said Mnangagwa still has same criminal mind that contributed to the Gukurahundi massacres and his claim that he is eager to address the 1980s atrocities is "nonsensical."

"Some of us are not surprised," he told The NewsHawks yesterday. "Always when they are cornered they will always resort to violence. It must not be taken lightly. He is a man who issues threats and has followed up on them."

"lf you are to go back to the killing of Mboneni Ncube in Kwekwe recently, it came after (Vice-President Constantino) Chiwenga uttered careless statements that incited and what Emmerson has said now it is clear that he is mobilising to commit a second genocide," Fuzwayo said.

Ncube was killed by Zanu-PF thugs during a Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) rally a day after Chiwenga said the opposition in Zimbabwe would be crushed like lice.

"It must not be taken lightly and the question is how do his people interpret it - including the military - because the Commander-in-Chief has spoken. He is mobilising for a genocide."

"If you go back to the '80s, it is the same statement that led to the killing of more than 55 people a day in Lupane and so it is not surprising because he is a person who has DNA for genocide so he is not someone whose statements can be taken lightly," Fuzwayo added.

"The way forward is to unite and make sure they are voted out of power and the international community must not sit and allow them to commit a second genocide," he added.

"These utterances by somebody who claims to be head of state makes it clear he is speaking like a criminal and his criminal mind is still with him. It then tells you that what he has been telling people that he was working to address the Gukurahundi issue is just nonsense. He is not going to address anything, but in fact it must be known that if he is under political pressure he will resort to violence."

"What if his people tomorrow start killing people? What will be done, because we have seen it in Kwekwe a day after Chiwenga threatened that the opposition will be crushed like lice, someone was killed?"

His statements has caused both anger and panic, particularly among victims of Gukurahundi, a genocide which left an estimated 20 000 dead in the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces.

Former President Robert Mugabe described the killings as "a moment of madness" but refused to apologise. Mnangagwa, then a minister of State Security, described a small group of freedom fighters who refused to demobilise after Independence as "cockroaches" who needed a pesticide to deal with them.