Senator says she is still traumatised by Gukurahundi

While debating the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill which had been introduced in the Upper House for its second and third reading by National Healing minister Phelekezela Mphoko, Bulawayo Metropolitan Senator Dorothy Khumalo said that she is still traumatised by the Gukurahundi atrocities.

Khumalo said that Government should approach survivors of Gukurahundi and not just pass a law. Said Khumalo:

As for us who were involved in this matter, we request that you approach us so that you hear how we feel and what we witnessed. How do I reconcile if you have not approached me so that I can also tell you what is in my heart? As I am here in Parliament, I am prepared to pour out my heart... There is a need for all us to be addressed on this issue so that we can be reconciled on how we can smoke the peace pipe. There is a lot of pain among the people. We actually witnessed some of these things (atrocities). Some of them were bayoneted and we put them in hospital. We saw those things and I would like to be talked to so that I can be reconciled. I still feel pain when I see some of the children of my (late) friend. . . . We still have that bleeding heart especially when we were working for the ministry of Health . . . There are a lot of people who are like me and are still in pain. This is because they were witnesses to some of these things.

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