MTHWAKAZI Republic Party (MRP) has challenged the constitutionality of the government-initiated public hearings into the 1980’s Gukurahundi massacres.
In a letter dated June 4 addressed to Local Government minister Daniel Garwe, the MRP demanded answers on why the Midlands province was being excluded from the hearings despite that it also bore the brunt of the massacres.
The hearings are set to start this month.
MRP leader Mqondisi Moyo, however, expressed concern over the manner in which the exercise is being executed.
“We are especially concerned about the role the government has given to chiefs, to chair the hearing meetings in their respective communities,” the letter read.
“We know that the presence of chiefs is constitutional, but we want to know according to what constitutional provision has the government assigned the chiefs to chair such sensitive hearings.
“Our concern derives from our fear of the obvious incredibility of the outcomes of the hearings, given that government was the perpetrator of Gukurahundi and the chiefs are chief among those loyal to Government than they are to the actual responsibilities of chieftainship.”
Added Moyo: “We further demand that the ministry gives us, within the same period, a comprehensive reason why communities in the Midlands province have been left out of the hearings, yet they were equally affected by the Gukurahundi genocide.”
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The letter was copied to deputy minister Benjamin Kabikira, permanent secretary John Basera, Chief’s Council president Mtshane Khumalo, Matabeleland South acting provincial director Zachariah Jusa and Matabeleland North acting provincial director Tapiwa Zivovoyi.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched the outreach programme at State House in Bulawayo last year, but the exercise has failed to take off due to lack of an operational budget.
The exercise seeks to find reconciliation and closure to the 1980s mass killings in the Midlands and Matabeleland regions.
According to the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe, more than 20 000 innocent people were massacred by the North Korea-trained 5 Brigade military unit deployed by the late former President Robert Mugabe to track alleged dissidents.
