Charles Thomas, Ibhetshu likaZulu and ZAPU members who are survivors of the 1980s massacre of the Ndebele people are seeking to bar president Emmerson Mnangagwa from conducting Gukurahundi exhumations, Newsday reports.
The survivors have already approached the High Court and have filed a chamber application to bar President Mnangagwa who last week committed himself to conduct the exhumations and oversee the reburial of the victims of the genocide that killed 20 000 people in Matabeleland and Midlands Provinces.
According to the survivors, the president has no locus standi (capacity) to conduct the reburials without the consent of the relatives of the victims. Court papers seen by the publication about the case reads in part:
In this matter, there is certain illegal conduct or action of the first, third and fourth respondents sought to be interdicted on an urgent basis that they contravened a number of laws as follows: the Inquest Act Chapter 7:07 which regulates the issue of disinterment of people who have died violent deaths, the Births and Deaths Registration Act Chapter 5:02 which regulates the issue of giving a notice when a person dies and the associated process thereof, the Burial and Cremation Act Chapter 5:03, which regulates the burial and associated processes, section 111 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 which criminalises the violation of corpses
The application cited President Mnangagwa, Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe, Matabeleland Collective Group leader Jennifer Williams and National Peace and Reconciliation (NPRC) chairman Selo Nare and NPRC. The government is yet to comment on the court case.
More: Newsday
The only time these exhumations would be worthwhile is if they led to the prosecution of those murderous thugs in the fifth brigade and other branches of the armed forces, who carried them out. That will never happen, as ZANU-PF will protect those murderous thugs every way they can, if only to make sure top brass butts are covered.
I think the exhumations are a knee-jerk reaction that is never sustainable. The Gukurahundi, like the Rwanda genocide had Shonas and moderate Ndebeles as victims of the dissident menace. Lot’s of Shonas and moderate Ndebeles died at the hands of dissidents and no one seems to care about them. Confining the issue to Matebeleland is unfair because the dissidents also caused havoc in the Midlands and parts of Mashonaland West provinces. This explains why the notorious Gwesela was accounted for in Sanyati! I am a survivor of the dissidents’ atrocities. My only crime was being deployed as a student teacher in an area with mixed tribes – the Ndebele being dominant. I think most people who talk about the Gukurahundi do not give an accurate account of what actually transpired. As long as we apply half-baked and politically populist measures, the issue will never be permanently solved. Dissidents killed people, raped school children and adult women. They maimed alleged Zanu Pf sympathisers. I do not know why we are avoiding talking about dissidents. We need to hear their stories! Villagers in parts of Matebeleland and Midlands provinces should give testimonies on both Gukurahundi and dissident atrocities. Further, people are deliberately sidelining the Support Unit who were first deployed in Matebeleland to deal with the dissident menace. This was a professional force that can give an accurate account of events. Of course, the extremes of the Fifth Brigade cannot be ignored.
Only Matabele should be allowed to coordinate exhumations and they should have a free press ground to record and film what they find and be allowed to express thier true opinions end of story
Go to hell Ed and hurry up mugabe is waiting for you in hell
While crocodile Ed is in Bulawayo take him for a walk to one side then burry him alive screeming for his mummy in a shallow grave