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Two-faced Mnangagwa honours Rwanda genocide victims
08 Sep 2022 at 12:31hrs | Views
President Emmerson Mnangagwa Wednesday toured the Kigali Memorial to pay tribute to over 600 000 victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide in a sharp contrast to his continued crackdown on Gukurahundi memorials by activists and survivors.
Mnangagwa is in Rwanda for the #AGRF2022 Summit.
The Zimbabwean leader, fingered as one of the chief architects of the early 1980s massacres on 20 000 Zimbabweans, toured the permanent exhibitions that give insights into the causes and consequences of the Rwandan holocaust and efforts in fostering peace, unity, and reconciliation.
Mnangagwa, who was accompanied by some Rwandan government officials, took time to lay a wreath in honour of the victims.
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 in a horrific 100-day bloodletting orgy which saw members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group killed by armed Hutu militias.
Zimbabweans have however reacted with distaste over their leader's apparent hypocrisy after his government has adamantly banned activities by activists and survivors organised in memory of the genocide that claimed a majority 20 000 Ndebeles in his own country.
Mnangagwa has never apologised or accepted responsibility for the atrocities, let alone visit graves of those who were killed in the government sponsored atrocities.
Bulawayo based Ibhetshu LikaZulu, a group formed in pursuit of justice for the victims of the Gukurahundi genocide, slammed the Zimbabwean leader for patent duplicity.
"Shocking that he poses there when in his country a genocide is still unresolved, thousands are lying in shallow graves, commemorative plaques erected by families are bombed n stolen! The irony of it is astounding," said the group.
A Gukurahundi memorial plaque at Bhalagwe in Maphisa, Matabeleland South province has been vandalised three times by suspected state security agents in just two years.
It was erected by villagers in memory of their loved family members who lie buried in a mass grave at Bhalagwe.
Also commenting on a Twitter thread after images of Mnangagwa's tour were splashed on Twitter Wednesday, former Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane, who has kept interest in Zimbabwe's political situation, also described Mnangagwa's gesture as hypocritical.
"Unbelievable. Hypocritical. Mnangagwa is a perpetrator of genocide," said the South African activist.
Some Zimbabweans accused Mnangagwa of brazen duplicity after the Zimbabwe government was found to have been harbouring Rwanda genocide fugitive Protais Mpiranya for nearly 20 years.
Mpiranya later died and was buried in a Zimbabwe grave, according to independent sources.
Lately, the UN Committee on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination has called on Zimbabwean authorities to lift restrictions they continue to impose on Gukurahundi commemorative events and also pave way for a truth-telling platform for survivors of the government-sponsored atrocities.
Mnangagwa is in Rwanda for the #AGRF2022 Summit.
The Zimbabwean leader, fingered as one of the chief architects of the early 1980s massacres on 20 000 Zimbabweans, toured the permanent exhibitions that give insights into the causes and consequences of the Rwandan holocaust and efforts in fostering peace, unity, and reconciliation.
Mnangagwa, who was accompanied by some Rwandan government officials, took time to lay a wreath in honour of the victims.
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 in a horrific 100-day bloodletting orgy which saw members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group killed by armed Hutu militias.
Zimbabweans have however reacted with distaste over their leader's apparent hypocrisy after his government has adamantly banned activities by activists and survivors organised in memory of the genocide that claimed a majority 20 000 Ndebeles in his own country.
Mnangagwa has never apologised or accepted responsibility for the atrocities, let alone visit graves of those who were killed in the government sponsored atrocities.
Bulawayo based Ibhetshu LikaZulu, a group formed in pursuit of justice for the victims of the Gukurahundi genocide, slammed the Zimbabwean leader for patent duplicity.
"Shocking that he poses there when in his country a genocide is still unresolved, thousands are lying in shallow graves, commemorative plaques erected by families are bombed n stolen! The irony of it is astounding," said the group.
A Gukurahundi memorial plaque at Bhalagwe in Maphisa, Matabeleland South province has been vandalised three times by suspected state security agents in just two years.
It was erected by villagers in memory of their loved family members who lie buried in a mass grave at Bhalagwe.
Also commenting on a Twitter thread after images of Mnangagwa's tour were splashed on Twitter Wednesday, former Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane, who has kept interest in Zimbabwe's political situation, also described Mnangagwa's gesture as hypocritical.
"Unbelievable. Hypocritical. Mnangagwa is a perpetrator of genocide," said the South African activist.
Some Zimbabweans accused Mnangagwa of brazen duplicity after the Zimbabwe government was found to have been harbouring Rwanda genocide fugitive Protais Mpiranya for nearly 20 years.
Mpiranya later died and was buried in a Zimbabwe grave, according to independent sources.
Lately, the UN Committee on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination has called on Zimbabwean authorities to lift restrictions they continue to impose on Gukurahundi commemorative events and also pave way for a truth-telling platform for survivors of the government-sponsored atrocities.
Source - zimlive
