Mnangagwa, Dabengwa clash over Matabeleland massacres

Mnangagwa, Dabengwa clash over Matabeleland massacres

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By Nkululeko Sibanda

SPEAKER of Parliament and Zanu PF national secretary for administration, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has provoked the ire of the old PF-Zapu guard by reliving the Gukurahundi era and laying some blame on the PF-Zapu leadership, for the onslaught on Matabeleland and the Midlands by 5 Brigade in the mid-1980s.

Mnangagwa was quoted in the Financial Gazette as saying that he had not participated in the killings, but had only passed on intelligence to the authorities as to what was happening on the ground, including the discovery of arms caches.

He went on to say that the atrocities which claimed over 20 000 lives and left many maimed and displaced were caused by the PF-Zapu leadership’s failure to accept the result of the 1980 elections.

Even former Zipra intelligence chief, Dumiso Dabengwa, who hardly talks about the past, including the period he was incarcerated on allegations of attempting to topple President Robert Mugabe’s government, has for once broken his silence, albeit in a diplomatic manner.

“That is a very sensitive issue that we are still consulting other people on. We thought that with the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987, everything had been buried. But it appears that some people are digging into the history and opening up the wounds that were inflicted by that era.

“It is unfortunate that someone is doing that (digging up the graves) 17 years down the line and after a proclamation by the State President that the situation should not happen again. But as I said, we are still consulting and making statements now will create problems,” he said.

Dabengwa, a former Cabinet minister, is also a member of the Zanu PF Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the party outside Congress. Another member of the PF-Zapu old guard, who is also in the Politburo, said Mnangagwa’s utterances had infuriated the PF-Zapu old guard, which had vowed to seek an explanation from Mnangagwa when the Zanu PF Politburo convenes this week.

He said that the statements by Mnangagwa were in bad taste as they revived memories of the adversities that afflicted the people of Matabeleland after the 5 Brigade descended on innocent civilians in the province.

Thousands of people were killed in the clampdown, codenamed Gukurahundi, an act that President Robert Mugabe later admitted was “a moment of madness that is regretted and should never happen again in the history of Zimbabwe”.

The top PF-Zapu leadership then comprised the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo, the late Josiah Chinamano, and the incumbent Vice-President, Joseph Msika.

“Politically, if the Zapu leadership had accepted that they had lost the elections and that the number of seats they had were equal to their popularity and convey(ed) that message to their forces, then it could not have happened. It was necessary for them to have accepted democratic decisions,” the Zanu PF secretary for administration was quoted as having said.

The PF-Zapu member said a number of his colleagues from the old party were not amused by Mnangagwa’s utterances.

“As is the trend in Zanu PF politics and the Politburo, we do not dress down each other, talk or address each other through the media and in public, even if one of us says things that are in bad taste as regards the party or the government. We have a systematic way of addressing these things.

“In the forthcoming Politburo meeting, we will demand that our fellow comrade explain why he made these statements, because as far as we are concerned, they were in bad taste and have ripple effects on the Unity Accord that we, together with Zanu PF, signed in 1987,” he said.

This was not the time to start pointing fingers and apportioning blame to anyone, but a time for healing the wounds that were inflicted as a result of Gukurahundi.

“This regrettable move by the aspiring president in Mnangagwa is very unfortunate. We then wonder how a person intending to occupy such a high office as the presidency would make such irresponsible comments on an issue that the State President deplored, later extending a hand of reconciliation to all those that were affected by the atrocities.

“It goes on to show how someone is trying to use the Matabeleland atrocities issue as his ladder to rise to stardom, but I do not think this is the right way to do it,” the member of the old guard said.

Adding his weight to the ex-official’s sentiments, Bulawayo Agenda chairman, Godden Moyo, said that the statements had reopened healing wounds.

“I would like to implore the ruling party to discuss this issue at its upcoming congress and come up with some solutions to the issue because I believe that this congress is being held to discuss the way forward on fundamental issues, and the Matabeleland atrocities are an issue that should be addressed by the congress.

“The Congress should set up a truth, reconciliation and justice committee on the atrocities, so that those who were involved would be able to come to the committee and make a public apology, which in my view, is the best way forward,” Moyo said.

Efforts to get a comment from Mnangagwa were fruitless.
Daily Mirror
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