President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba said that it was unfair to blame the President for being the mastermind of Gukurahundi. He said that Mnangagwa was only following Mugabe’s orders. Mugabe was the Prime Minister of the newly independent Zimbabwe in the 1980s and Mnangagwa was the Minister of State Security.
The government recently announced that it will assist Gukurahundi victims to get birth certificates and death certificates for their relatives who lost their lives during that era.
Charamba also said that Mnangagwa’s government is going to indulge in a process called exhumation a which is an act of digging something buried. This is done to give a proper burial to those who lost their lives during Gukurahundi.
He also spoke of compensating white farmers who lost their land illegally during the fast track land reform programme which happened in the early 2000s.
The Gukurahndi was a series of atrocious massacres of Ndebele civilians carried out by the Zimbabwe National Army from early 1983 to late 1987.
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Mr Munangagwa might not have been the architect of Gukukurahundi. He however knew his boss’s order was killing unarmed innocent civilians and should have resigned in protest. He failed to do so meaning he was in agreement with Mr Mugabe’s scorched earth policy. The jury came in long ago with a guilty verdict and all that should be happening is offering apologies and compensation to the affected families instead of tired unconvincing denials of capability.