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MDC Alliance pledges to heal Gukurahundi victims
07 Jun 2018 at 15:45hrs | Views
The MDC Alliance has promised to embark on national healing for victims of Gukurahundi and other human rights violations of the past.
The Nelson Chamisa led alliance said a comprehensive programme of transitional justice will be formulated and implemented by its Government.
This program of Transitional Justice and National Healing, they said will be based on the principles of victim-centred approach, comprehensive, inclusive, consultative participation of all stakeholders, particularly survivors and victims.
Presenting the SMART pledge manifesto in Harare, the coalition of opposition parties said the country is in need of national healing due to years of protracted attrition and injustices against citizens.
"There have been so many injustices over the years, the wounds of which have never healed. Top-down approaches have suppressed the voices of survivors and victims. In order to move forward, wrongs of the past must be corrected, but in an inclusive, just and non-vindictive way."
The SMART Pledge, they said, "places a huge obligation on the State, the religious fraternity and civic society to initiate a protracted programme of national healing.
"Such a programme must be organic, deriving its roots and inspiration from the grassroots. It has to be inclusive and ensure genuine public participation."
In the manifesto, MDC Alliance said there shall be a specific legislation designed to address healing and reconciliation should they win the election.
"The State should provide the requisite budget to finance the institutional structure that oversees the process."
Conflict, attrition and intolerance, the coalition of parties said, have contributed to the decimation of the Zimbabwean economy.
To reclaim Zimbabwe, the MDC Alliance said, mechanisms must be created that eradicate political violence.
According to the alliance, the future must not be a prisoner of the past, but equally so, past grievances must not be sacrificed at the altar of future dreams.
The MDC Alliance identified five key periods of violations and these are the 1970's Liberation Struggle, the 1980's Gukurahundi, and the early 2000's violence associated with the Land Reform, operation murambatsvina (2005 Clean out operation) and political violence around the 2008 election.
According to the MDC Alliance it is the duty and obligation on the State to apologise for all atrocities and also to acknowledgement of wrong doing.
The Nelson Chamisa led alliance said a comprehensive programme of transitional justice will be formulated and implemented by its Government.
This program of Transitional Justice and National Healing, they said will be based on the principles of victim-centred approach, comprehensive, inclusive, consultative participation of all stakeholders, particularly survivors and victims.
Presenting the SMART pledge manifesto in Harare, the coalition of opposition parties said the country is in need of national healing due to years of protracted attrition and injustices against citizens.
"There have been so many injustices over the years, the wounds of which have never healed. Top-down approaches have suppressed the voices of survivors and victims. In order to move forward, wrongs of the past must be corrected, but in an inclusive, just and non-vindictive way."
The SMART Pledge, they said, "places a huge obligation on the State, the religious fraternity and civic society to initiate a protracted programme of national healing.
"Such a programme must be organic, deriving its roots and inspiration from the grassroots. It has to be inclusive and ensure genuine public participation."
"The State should provide the requisite budget to finance the institutional structure that oversees the process."
Conflict, attrition and intolerance, the coalition of parties said, have contributed to the decimation of the Zimbabwean economy.
To reclaim Zimbabwe, the MDC Alliance said, mechanisms must be created that eradicate political violence.
According to the alliance, the future must not be a prisoner of the past, but equally so, past grievances must not be sacrificed at the altar of future dreams.
The MDC Alliance identified five key periods of violations and these are the 1970's Liberation Struggle, the 1980's Gukurahundi, and the early 2000's violence associated with the Land Reform, operation murambatsvina (2005 Clean out operation) and political violence around the 2008 election.
According to the MDC Alliance it is the duty and obligation on the State to apologise for all atrocities and also to acknowledgement of wrong doing.
Source - Byo24News
