Sober approach to the Gukurahundi genocide problem

I take a bow to my lovely sister Nomazulu Thata who says she lives in Germany and stays in Berlin and Bremen interchangeably. This is in particular to her article entitled 'Israel Dube: First Things First', which was published in Bulawayo24 I believe on the 24th of June 2019.. I agree totally with Nomazulu, totally.

The Gukurahundi massacres that took away the lives of my father, my relatives, friends and fellow Mathebeleland countrymen was as a result of partly a poor strategy on the two armies Zipra and Zanla integration program and partly it was because of some cowards who took to the bush with guns and claimed they wanted to liberate us from zanu-PF. Yes there was already a plan as the late Brigadier General Emilio Munemo, a commander of the Fifth Brigade(Gukurahundi) in 1982-1984 once said that Gukurahundi was an overwhelmingly Shona assembled army assigned to revenge the old time  Ndebele raids on Shonas, but you can not rule out the fact that our liberation claimants exacerbated and gave it more impetus.

I personally do not like President Emerson Mnangagwa . I never liked him even before he was president, but that does not rule out the fact that he has the power now as the president of Zimbabwe and we can only underestimate that at our peril. He is the man to go through for any endeavour of any kind to succeed. Yes I agree with Nomazulu, it is dangerous and treacherous to make empty threats that may plunge people into a catastrophe and which may end up being a repeat of the Gukurahundi. We need a sober approach to the problem and so far noone has tried any but empty threats of violence through the media which are of cowardice. Yes people have the right to voice out their angers but should exercise extreme caution In matters like these.

About the figure of people that lost their lives during the massacres, 20000 is not a researched figure and it is not accurate.  The figure came about when Nicholus Ndebele, the then Secretary General for the Catholic for Justice and Peace(CCJP), a human rights organisation that produced the first Gukurahundi massacres publication entitled 'Breaking the Silence', was being interviewed by the media and just put the estimate at that figure. I had the priviledge of working with Mr Ndebele in ZimRights(Zimbabwe Human Rights Association), an orgainisation that he founded when he left CCJP. We conducted some findings on the massacres for the benefit of the organisation, the world and Zimbabwe.

We chronicled them in a 70 page book entitled 'Coming into Terms with Matebeleland and the Midlands Disturbances(Building Peace and Development), again we failed to come up with the actual figure and estimated the deaths at 7000 this time. The way bodies were being disposed of and the fear engulfing the communities in terms of being free to tell.the truth made it difficult for us to arrive at the actual figure.

Some of the people killed in Matebeleland North had their bodies thrown in some mine shafts in Matebeland South and no exhumations have ever been conducted and no death certificates were issued and so the figure is still unknown. These massacres  remain an unresolved matter todate with no positive effort insight so far. As a people we should always try the peaceful way of resolving things and encourage others to do the same. I salute Nomazulu Thata and I think her character is emulated in her brave words.

Clemen Moyo
+263 712 708 284/778 662 090
clemenmoyo@gmail.com