MDC-T Leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has said ongoing efforts to promote so-called national healing will come to naught unless authorities are prepared to address the explosive Gukurahundi issue.
Addressing party supporters at a rally in Bulilima East, Plumtree over the weekend Tsvangirai said continuing silence in government over the 1980’s atrocities would not help resolve the problem.
“Silence is not a solution. We have to confront this,” Tsvangirai said.
“If we don’t confront it, it will continue to be a burden to this nation. Any idea of national healing would be fruitless.”
After independence in 1980, President Robert Mugabe unleashed a North Korean-trained army unit to deal with what was described as a dissident menace in the Matebeleland and Midlands regions.
Rights groups say over 20,000 civilians, mainly supporters of Mugabe’s then chief rival Joshua Nkomo, were killed and thousands more driven away from their homes in the two regions in the crackdown.
The Zanu PF leader has not directly apologised for the crackdown, only describing it as a “moment of madness that was regrettable” while the findings of a commission of inquiry into the disturbances were never made public.
The party appears divided over how to deal with the issue which analysts say is responsible for its poor electoral performance in the two regions.
In June this year, Vice President John Nkomo urged dialogue over the issue while Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa – who was state security minister at the time of the atrocities – said the subject was a ‘closed chapter’ adding revisiting the disturbances was equivalent to ‘re-opening healed wounds’.
However, former information minister and politburo member ,Jonathan Moyo warned that Zanu PF’s reticence at dealing with the issue risked allowing “charlatans and vile opportunists” to exploit the sensitive subject for cheap political advantage.
Moyo said “it cannot be true that the wounds were ever closed” and urged the party to lead efforts to resolve the issue.