Obert Gutu slated for his Gukurahwindi statements
Obert Gutu who chairs the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) has come under fire for his remarks on Gukurahundi.
Speaking in Harare on Monday, Gutu who recently joined the ruling ZANU PF said Gukurahundi was a very small, tiny fraction of the various other disputes the commission was talking about.
This comes as the nation is divided over the massacres carried out in Midlands and Matabeleland by the North Korean-trained fifth brigade in the 1980s.
Responding to Gutu’s remarks, exiled former Information Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo said:
_Criminal for ObertGutu to say gukurahundi is “a very small, tiny fraction of the various other disputed we are talking about”. Gukurahundi is not a dispute, it is a genocide whose penetrators have not been held to account through the law for the justice of victims & survivors!_
Others said there will be no peace, no reconciliation “if partisan and stupid chair (Gutu) puts a value of “very small & tiny” to Gukurahundi. Said one Itayi Zimunya@tanatsei:
_Gukurahundi is BIG. That’s where the Zimbabwe dream died. Wake up Obert._
Meanwhile, some argue that Gutu did not trivialise Gukurahundi but just said there are many other disputes which came before, after and others during Gukurahundi that also need to be addressed.
Others claimed that the Unity Accord of 1987 between ZANU and ZAPU put an end to the Gukurahundi issue and anyone talking about it was a political opportunist.
Scores of people, approximately 20 000 were killed during the Gukurahundi era, described by the late former President Robert Mugabe as a moment of madness, while some fled from homes and some are still unaccounted for.
The NPRC was mandated to find solutions to the matter that has dragged for years with authorities not comfortable to have it on the national agenda.
–Pindula
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