Opinion / Columnist
Kindness Paradza must apologise for 'ZIPRA babies' statement
04 Apr 2014 at 03:30hrs | Views
Kindness Paradza
In the interest of tolerance and national unity, Kindness Paradza should have carefully considered his statement in Parliament when he said that women in his constituency of Makonde were left with fatherless children by ZIPRA forces from Matabeleland during the liberation struggle.
Yes! It can't be ruled out that ZIPRA forces indeed may have operated in Makonde in Mashonaland West based on its magnitude and level of penetration into the country. It is also fact that ZIPRA did not only recruit its forces from Matabeleland regions but the entire country and across all tribes and races. It cannot be ruled out also that maybe one or two or three Chimbwidos in his constituency may have been impregnated by a Ndebele speaking soldier in the ZIPRA regiment.
For him to then make a blanket speech and blame Ndebele speaking soldiers for the "fatherless" children of the liberation struggle in his area is very divisive and against the spirit of truce and reconciliation.
Do we need to mention how many "fatherless" children are in Matabeleland today as a result of rapes and murders committed by an entirely Shona speaking Gukurahundi regiment made up of people from say Mashonaland West or his Makonde Constituency?
Did Paradza consider that the relations between soldiers and Chimbwidos during the liberation struggle were mostly between consenting adults and cosy while those of Gukurahundi were cruel and brutal gang rapings? Some of the children were results of incestuous forced sexual encounters which the Gukurahundi forces would watch and enjoy as a live p*rnographic movie, BUT in the spirit of goodwill, we choose not to speak about that.
What was difficult with him just saying that the children were born of soldiers of the liberation struggle without the provocative tribal and divisive blanket accusation? Who then can stand up now and blame the people of Matabeleland when they stand up and complain that the Ndebele name is more often than not brought into the fore only when a bad picture needs to be portrayed?
The fact that parliament let his speech through without asking for its retraction may mean that it was parliamentary correct but from an ethnicity point of view it is very wrong and provocative and calls for the Member of Parliament to retract it and apologise to the entire people of Matabeleland and MORE SO the ex ZIPRA forces in Matabeleland.
Source - Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo (Facebook update)
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