The government is facing growing calls to suspend the ongoing Gukurahundi public hearings as various stakeholders, including civic groups and Matabeleland-based political parties continue to push for regional and international attention over the matter.
Over 10 political parties that include Zapu and Freedom Alliance formed an alliance to challenge the government initiated public hearings led by traditional leaders citing lack of transparency.
The public hearings are being held away from the public glare and the media in what the political parties and civic groups have said exposed the lack of genuineness to address the country's dark past.
Critics have vowed not to ‘sanitise the process or be complicit in a ‘grossly flawed process that is unashamedly dishonest.’
Human rights advocacy group, Ibhetshu LikaZulu, said the hearings were “deeply flawed” and a “tragic mockery of justice.”
The group’s secretary-general, Mbuso Fuzwayo, expressed grave concern over the process, arguing that it lackEDcredibility, transparency, and meaningful participation of victims and survivors of the 1980s massacres.
“The process is fundamentally flawed because it is led by the very perpetrators of the genocide,” said Fuzwayo, in reference to the ruling Zanu PF party under whose leadership thousands of civilians in Matabeleland and the Midlands were killed during the Gukurahundi atrocities.
He added that reconciliation efforts being coordinated through the Office of the President and Cabinet and implemented by chiefs have side-lined victims, ignored historical injustices, and failed to establish safe, victim-centered platforms for truth-telling.
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Fuzwayo criticised what he termed the micro-management of the initiative by the state, saying it undermines any appearance of impartiality.
“Chiefs have been roped into a political agenda, not a justice process,” he said.
“The hand that committed the atrocities is the same hand dictating the terms of ‘reconciliation.’”
Ibhetshu LikaZulu also questioned the lack of transparency in how testimonies were being collected and how final reports will be compiled or verified.
“Survivors do not even know who is documenting their pain, or whether their narratives will be distorted or silenced altogether,” he said.
The group warned that the process is unfolding in a context of ongoing fear, surveillance, and political repression, which severely limits open and honest participation.
“This is not reconciliation—it is propaganda,” he said.
“Suggesting that victims should be grateful for such a process is not only insulting, it is retraumatising.”
MRP leader Mqondisi Moyo said they were awaiting a response from the United Nations following their petition to the global body seeking intervention.
The MRP submitted its petition to the UN offices in Pretoria on July 4 this year.
“We told them we anticipate a response within a period of one month to three months and we are eagerly waiting for them,” Moyo told Southern Eye on Sunday.
“Secondly, we have beaned escalating our issue of self-determination and the Gukurahundi genocide; we have also petitioned the South African government over the continued harassment of our people domiciled in South Africa.
“You reckon that that there are several thousands of people form Matabeleland and Midlands domiciled in South Africa; whereas the majority don’t have people, but all those people are victims and survivors of the Gukurahundi genocide.”
In a joint statement, Matabeleland political parties said they were also escalating the matter regionally and internationally.
“We are building an all-stakeholders alliance for the justice campaign for Gukurahundi genocide...and inviting all progressive forces to join in this noble campaign for a resolution to this Zimbabwean genocide,” they said in a joint statement.
“This alliance shall campaign locally, nationally, regionally, and internationally for a genuine, transparent, and just process to address Gukurahundi and bring healing and national reconciliation.”
They added: “Without appearing to measure victimhood and apportioning it on either a high or low scale, we strongly believe that the government of Zimbabwe set a precedent after the unfortunate shooting of six innocent civilians on August 1, 2018, by drawing an eminent team led by President Kgalema Motlanthe to make an enquiry on what happened.
“It is only fair that a commission similarly led by an external eminent person be appointed on Gukurahundi.”
