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Mutsvangwa lambasted over gukurahundi comments

by Staff reporter
11 Dec 2017 at 16:13hrs | Views
SPECIAL ADVISER to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Christopher Mutsvangwa, has been lambasted for suggesting that it is "irresponsible" to continue talking about Gukurahundi.

Mutsvangwa told Aljazeera that bringing up the Gukurahundi issue was "simply unhelpful" and "irresponsible".

"Zimbabwe needs a break," he told Al Jazeera.

"To continuously re-dig its past, to settle scores from the past, as if it cannot grasp the future … It diverts energy away from what should be done.

"Every country followed a tortured history … You make mistakes. You make false starts."



Former Sunday Mail editor Brezhnev Malaba said it will be irresponsible to sweep the gukurahundi matter under the carpet.

Malaba wrote, "President Emmerson Mnangagwa's advisor Christopher Mutsvangwa says it is "irresponsible" to continue talking about Gukurahundi. He's wrong. It's actually irresponsible to sweep this matter under the carpet. You're compensating white farmers, but to hell with victims of genocide?"


Tau Moyo said the war veterans leader will make President Mnangagwa look bad.

He wrote, "Mutsvangwa will make @edmnangagwa look bad, this Gukurahundi need to be addressed, it will open wounds but at least some responsibility has to be taken and full acknowledgement of the atrocities, there must be an apology for continuity and closure to the matter. Very Necessary!"


"True because I think it is a golden opportunity for @edmnangagwa to come open and address the "moment of madness" as it was put by RGM, I believe it won't cost him anything, It happened and we can't just forget it, its a bit unfair to those who seek answers in affected regions!"


Mpho Mpofu questioned whether Mutsvangwa was serious with his suggestion.

Mpofu wrote, "Is this man serious?? So victims should just pretend this didn't happen🤷🏽‍♀️because it somehow points fingers to them!! This is hypocrisy at its best and if the new Zimbabwe is like this then no need to call it new. Same old rubbish with selective justice."


Jacob Gono said burying our heads in the sand thinking, that sad chapter of history will just burn itself is not only insensitive but irresponsible.

He wrote, "Burying our heads in the sand thinking, that sad chapter of history will just burn itself is not only insensitive but irresponsible,, the ppl who were involved in these massacres are in the corridors of power and this is the time, start with a national apology!"

In January 1983, when the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade (5 Brigade) of the army was deployed in Matabeleland North, Mnangagwa was Mugabe's minister of state security. That portfolio brought with it control over the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), a Rhodesian institution that was partly reconfigured in 1980 when Mugabe took power at independence.

Ordinary Zimbabweans are wary, whispering anxiously about his alleged role in the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres.

Around 20 000 Zimbabweans are believed to have died in the massacres as the military crushed perceived dissidents in Matabeleland and Midlands regions. "Gukurahundi" is Shona for "the first rains which washes away the chaff (from the last harvest), before the spring rains."

Source - online