MDC condemns police stance on Gukurahundi

The Welshman Ncube led MDC has castigated police in Bulawayo for barring activists from commemorating the Gukurahundi atrocities.

The police has in the past three months blocked two events meant to commemorate the Gukurahundi mass killings that claimed the lives of an estimated 20 00 people.

MDC national spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube said, "we believe that as long as there is a part of the population, no matter how small, which is still feeling as though their state is that of second class citizens and that their real pain is frowned upon as some vexatious annoyance then real healing, peace and nation building will not be achieved.

"We insist that dealing with the social, psychological and economic impact of the aftermath of the Gukurahundi campaign is not only essential but a sine qua non for the development of a solid state called Zimbabwe," Dube said.

"The continued attempt by the state and its instruments of coercion to approach this reality in the same way an ostrich approaches impending horror is unhelpful and only serves to engrave the painful memory into many more generations than is necessary."

Dube said the behavior by police, "that of acting as if they are gate keepers and constrictors of freedom of expression suggests that there is more they know and fear from allowing people to talk about their memories and their loved ones who disappeared without trace and thus never mourned, never buried, never afforded traditional rites and thus no closure achieved.

"It would almost seem as though the ZRP are protecting someone or some people from the truth yet the need to engage on this matter and to remember the departed is the right of all the affected families and communities generally," Dube said.

"We urge the authorities to stop operating from behind a curtain of fear and allow all citizens to participate in activities which they clearly need to for the healing of families and the nation."