Opinion / Columnist
No Gukurahundi reburials, Hon Mnangagwa, not as yet
17 Aug 2016 at 19:41hrs | Views
A pronouncement made by the Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly, who is also Justice Minister and Vice President of the country, Hon Emerson Mnangagwa gives a very sad reading.
Hon Vice President Mnangagwa is alleged to have, in response to Hon Priscilla Misihairabwi's inquiry, said that the victims of Gukurahundi need decent reburials. He is alleged to have further gone on to say the Ministry of Home Affairs should assist with the reburials in Matabeleland.
Very well then Hon Mnangagwa. Here is the problem with your response to Hon Misihairabwi's concern. First of all, who knows where these people lie unburied and in shallow graves since the government of the day is on record denying the genocide?
Who will identify the mass graves, the shallow grave, all unmarked? Who will identify the victims, Hon Mnangagwa? What method will be used to identify the dead victims especially considering the levels of fear the killers induced in the affected communities? Will anybody come forward to identify their loved ones when the killer is the one carrying out the identifications, since the same killer is coming carrying a shovel in one hand and the same weapon they used during the genocide in the other hand?
How on earth does a Vice President of a country speak of reburying people without first speaking about those who killed them? Yebo, as you now reckon, those people need reburials, but why are you not also saying what the killers need, that is to account and face the law?
What about providing closure for the victims, both dead, living and their families? What about those who were maimed? Is the Hon Mnangagwa going to provide artificial limbs to them? What about those who disappeared without existing trace?
What about the underdevelopment of the region due to the embargo imposed on Matabeleland during the genocide? Is the Hon Vice President going to compensate the victims? How?
As ZAPU, we do not believe the depth of this man's insensitivity. He is on record saying he his not guilty of the genocide in Matabeleland. His government is also on record denying responsibility for loss of the 20 000+ lives. But then we do not expect any less from someone who poured sand into the food of his supporters after his wife had lost an election.
We therefore take this opportunity to advise the Hon Vice President that the time for reburials has not come yet. Not until closure to the genocide is given. Not until a full investigation to the murders is carried out and justice is served, restorative or otherwise. Not until a comprehensive healing process has been instituted and running. Only then, Hon Vice President, only then can you shed crocodile tears, only then can you speak of reburying the victims.
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Iphithule Thembani KaMaphosa <iphithule.thembani.kamaphosa@gmail.com
Source - Iphithule Thembani KaMaphosa
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