ZAPU has called for the establishment of a national Gukurahundi Genocide monument to serve as an educational deterrent and reminder to future generations about the evils of genocide.
In its position paper on Gukurahundi atrocities committed by the government, ZAPU said it is an objective reality that Zimbabwe cannot move forward as a nation towards peace and development until the genocide is effectively addressed.
The pain and suffering can only be lessened through an honest and sincere address of all the concerns of the victims, the opposition party said.
ZAPU national spokesperson Iphithule Maphosa said the monument can be modeled along the lines similar to the Budapest based House of Terror Museum.
“The purpose of this museum is to serve as an educational deterrent against such reactionary and primitive tendencies. The monument will serve to correct history, which has been distorted and doctored to portray the ruling Zanu PF in a good light. All history to do with ZAPU and its affiliate modelled, such as ZPRA has been relegated to the periphery,” Maphosa said.
The Zapu spokesperson said the museum would also attract both local and foreign tourists who would have the opportunity to learn more about the country’s history and about the genocide.
He also implored the government to compensate all victims of the Gukurahundi atrocities.
“ The government must compensate the victims of genocide. This compensation must be at regional, community, family and individual levels. The government of Zimbabwe must also declare all persons who were caused to disappear through being killed or illegally executed by the Fifth Brigade and other coercive organs of the state during the genocide and issue civil documents to their families and descendants,” Maphosa said.
Government has been making attempts to ‘tackle’ Gukurahundi, saying the matter can be discussed openly and freely.
But, critics argue these efforts amount to little compared to an acknowledgment by the government that Gukurahundi was a state crime committed against its citizens.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has met members of civil society organisations and traditional leaders from Matabeleland and Midlands to discuss the emotive Gukurahundi issue of Gukurahundi.
Last week, the president met chiefs at State House in Bulawayo where he said the traditional leaders told him: “we as government should create platforms where the chiefs should participate substantively because it is the communities they preside over that were affected. Any other interest groups in this issue should not have silo dialogues but should not have single platforms where these issues can be discussed and resolutions for way forward agreed.”
