MP pushes for Gukurahundi legislation

Nkulumane Constituency Member of Parliament, Desire Moyo, says he hopes that the Gukurahundi hearings will be conducted in a way that allows the victims freedom to forgive, rather than being forced into healing.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially launched the Gukurahundi Community Outreach programme on Sunday in Bulawayo. This programme will enable victims and survivors to express their grievances before a 14-member panel led by a chief.

Gukurahundi refers to a series of massacres carried out in the 1980s in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. The violence was perpetrated by the Zimbabwean National Army’s Fifth Brigade, targeting primarily the Ndebele people. The term Gukurahundi is a Shona word meaning “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains.”

While the launch on Sunday indicated that the chiefs can now begin engaging with survivors and victims of the genocide, the exact date when the actual hearings will start remains unknown.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, MP Moyo said the Gukurahundi outreach programme has the potential to bring about national healing and reconciliation if conducted properly.

“I rise on a point of national interest, noting that over the weekend, the Government launched an outreach programme on Gukurahundi hearings. The hearings will be led by the respective Chiefs in Matabeleland. I note that this process has the potential to bring about national healing and reconciliation if it is conducted in a good manner, devoid of political disturbances and submissive commentary. It has the potential to even heal the dead,” he said.

Moyo called on the August House to complement the Gukurahundi outreach process by developing legislation that will criminalise justification for Gukurahundi and also criminalize the denial that Gukurahundi happened in Matabeleland.

“In this regard, I call upon this House to establish legislation,” he said.

The MP was, however, cut short by the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda, who ordered him to wait for the process to be rolled out.

“Switch off your mic, please. If you listened very carefully to the launch of the programme, it is an outreach programme where all those who feel they have something to say about the outreach programme are given the responsibility and opportunity to do so, and what you are proposing is crisscrossing the outreach programme unnecessarily,” said Mudenda.

He added that MP Moyo has ample time to state his case during the outreach program.

“Let us wait for the results of the outreach programme, and obviously in terms of our processes, the report may be tabled before the House if it pleases His Excellency, the President,” said Mudenda.

Moyo, however, reiterated, “I hope it will be done so that we have the freedom to forgive rather than being commanded to heal.”