Jonathan Moyo responds to Mnangagwa

Exiled former Cabinet Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has blasted the initiative started by President Emmerson Mnangagwa to deal with the issue of Gukurahundi genocide.

Moyo said Mnangagwa's plan is a calculated ploy to cover his tracks by leaving out the truth telling part.

Moyo who tried to push for a Gukurahundi Bill said the government needs to enact a Gukurahundi Law to deal with the genocide.

Read Moyo's statements below:

Justice ministry permanent secretary, Virginia Mabhiza, gave a presser today on Matabeleland issues, including some that deeply affect victims of gukurahundi atrocities. The presser exposed Mnangagwa's dirty ploy to cover up his gukurahundi tracks.

The minute with the matrix of actions to be taken by Home Affairs, Health & Public Service ministries is in the name of Virginia Mabhiza; a permanent secretary in a line ministry with no legal power or authority to direct other permanent secretaries, let alone any minister.

The recipient of Mabhiza's minute is something called "Matabeleland Collective". Whatever this "Collective" is; it is not a legal entity. There's no legal body out there, called "Matabeleland Collective"; with legal power to act for the State on gukurahundi or any issue!

While the Virginia Mabhiza matrix refers to "implementation MODALITIES", there are actually no modalities given, spelt out or detailed on HOW it will be DONE. To say "facilitate birth certificates of victims affected by Gukurahundi" is not an implementation modality!

The tragedy of this woolly process is exposed by the fact that the exhumation of bodies of victims of gukurahundi atrocities requires a REQUEST. What is a request? is it an application or a mere formality? Can a request be DENIED? And what's "reburial in an ORDERLY MANNER?

The reference point of Virginia  Mabhiza's matrix is a meeting Mnangagwa held with the so-called Matabeleland Collective in Bulawayo on 21 March 2019. The meeting was just that, a meeting. There's no evidence that the matrix was approved by Cabinet in the usual legal manner.

While it's significant that the Virginia Mabhiza matrix refers to GUKURAHUNDI VICTIMS; their long documented need for death certificates, reburials, birth certificates or healthcare as the case maybe; it's disappointing that this is personalised between Mabhiza & Mnangagwa!

It is ironic that Virgina Mabhiza announced her matrix on Cabinet day. It would have been far more assuring if the matrix had been announced as a Cabinet decision by the Minister of Information flanked by the ministers of home affairs, public service & health respectively.

Virginia Mabhiza's matrix-presser on Mnangagwa's behalf was full of sound & furry yet it signified nothing & was not worth the paper it's written on from a policy & legal point of view. It's notable though, that Mnangagwa has used Mabhiza to FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGE.

It's not enough for Mnangagwa, THE CHIEF GUKURAHUNDI ENFORCER, to use his sidekicks like Virginia Mabhiza to just acknowledge gukurahundi. Gukurahundi closure is impossible without TRUTH & JUSTICE. There's an urgent need for a Gukurahundi Law, not a self-indulgent matrix.