Gukurahundi Ghost Haunts ED

Under fire President Emmerson Mnangagwa has accused politicalparties and community leaders of weaponising the Gukurahundi atrocities in a bid to get political mileage.

The president who was active during the execution of the Gukurahundi was speaking at the launch of the Gukurahundi Community Engagement Programme at Bulawayo State House this Monday.

Mnangagwa said his government wants peace, accusing “external forces” of working with opposition parties in weaponising the atrocities that claimed an estimated 20 000 people in Midlands and Matabeleland provinces. He claimed:

“You will have noted that whenever we approach elections, external forces using political parties which they control, make a concerted effort to incite citizens to engage in divisive conduct, ostensibly all under the quest of achieving what they term justice for the region.“

Gukurahundi, derived from a Shona language term which loosely translates to “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains,” refers to killings that happened in Midlands and Matabeleland provinces in the 1980s.

Then Prime Minister, Robert Mugabe deployed the North Korean-trained 5th Brigade to “deal” with the alleged threat of “dissidents” in those provinces.

An estimated 20 000, mostly Ndebele-speaking people died in the conflict.

Government critics including the opposition have over the years been calling upon authorities to compensate the families of Gukurahundi victims.