Zenzele Ndebele, a Bulawayo-based journalist and human rights activist, says most negotiations and agreements entered into before independence and after have so far failed to solve Zimbabwe’s political crises.
He mentioned several agreements including the Unity Accord of 1987 which was signed between ZANU and ZAPU leaders, Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, respectively. He said:
Following the Gukurahundi Genocide between 1983-1987, the Unity Accord was signed on 22 December 1987 between Prime Minister Mugabe and the ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo. A blanket amnesty was given to everyone who was involved.
Major weakness: The best way to bring peace and reconciliation in communities is through truth-telling and a shared willingness to reconcile The 1987 agreement did not mention anything about Gukurahundi victims.The 1987 Unity Accord ended the Genocide but did not bring peace and reconciliation.
In all the examples he provided, Ndebele observed that the major weakness of the agreements was the failure to involve all concerned parties.
His remarks come as some political players and analysts are calling for national dialogue to put an end to the southern African country’s socio-economic and political crises.
Some believe dialogue with the ruling ZANU PF will not work saying confrontation is the way to go.
This is a foolish and jingoistic kind of thinking. Where are you not experiencing peace after the unity accord?
If you think confrontation is the way to go, is that peace? You seem to be a war prone character who is not opinionating for peace.
You deliberately disregard the fact that the 1981 to 1987 war was between zanu and zapu and that the unity accord signed in 1987 was by zanu and zapu. Who , according to you was excluded?
Current narratives about Gukurahundi are nothing but fund raising gymic by those who were never affected but want to make money out of those who died. If you claim to have been affected, why are you alive?
If you think confrontation is the way to go, why are you not mobilizing and start the chapter so that war that you prefer to peace prevailing can rage on?