Gukurahundi steering committee to hold final meeting today

A STEERING committee comprising 12 chiefs from Matabeleland North and South provinces will today hold its final meeting to deliberate on the finer details of how the Gukurahundi community hearings will be rolled out ahead of the official launch by President Mnangagwa on Sunday.

The launch will be held at the State House in Bulawayo leading to the commencement of community outreach led by traditional leaders.

The resolutions from the steering committee will be tabled before the National Council of Chiefs which will sit tomorrow.

In an interview yesterday, the National Council of Chiefs’ president Chief Mtshane Khumalo said they were ready to start the public hearings. He said the launch will kick-start the public hearings expected to be concluded in three months. The public hearings are aimed at bringing closure to the early 1980s disturbances that affected Matabeleland North and South and parts of the Midlans province.

“Tomorrow we have a meeting of the Gukurahundi steering committee which has been doing preparatory work and the committee is expected to finalise everything at this meeting,” he said.

Chief Mtshane Khumalo said the resolutions and recommendations of the committee on how the hearings will be conducted will then be tabled at the National Council of Chiefs meeting on Saturday.

“Since the beginning of the year we have been preparing for these public hearings and we are now ready to take the programme to the communities,” he said.

Chief Mtshane Khumalo expressed optimism that citizens will come forward to participate in the public hearings.
“We are therefore looking forward to the commencement of the community engagement programme. We have prepared and we hope it will be well received by the communities who have long awaited for this programme to start,” he said.

The Gukurahundi community engagement programme will be led by chiefs who will be working with other members of the community that include elders, religious and cultural leaders, youth, women and counsellors.
Zanu-PF politburo member Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube said the Government under the Second Republic is taking a bold step towards national healing.

“What the President has done to create a platform where the people can openly speak on Gukurahundi will result in the country successfully burying its painful past. Many people had bottled-up emotions for a very long time,” he said.
Rtd Col Dube said in South Africa, they established the peace and reconciliation commission soon after the country’s independence and it enabled the nation to go through a healing process.

He said through open discussions, expectations are that the country will bury its painful past and move forward.
Rtd Col Dube said there was a need for a sober approach as traditional leaders lead the Gukurahundi Community hearings.

He commended President Mnangagwa for tackling the Gukurahundi issue head-on.
“President Mnangagwa understands what the people need. It does not help to sweep the issue under the carpet,” he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo’s 25th death anniversary commemorations yesterday Dr Nkomo’s daughter, Mrs Thandi Nkomo Ebrahim said the Second Republic is fulfilling the work that Dr Nkomo together with late President Robert Mugabe started when they signed the 1987 Unity Accord.

She said putting victims at the core of the hearings will ultimately resolve the Gukurahundi issue.
“This issue is of utmost importance and those affected should be at the centre of these hearings.
These people’s voices should be heard if we are to bring closure to this dark past,” said Mrs Nkomo Ebrahim.

She said her father sacrificed his life to ensure peace prevailed in the country.
“He was a champion of peace and unity and these hearings, which are going to be undertaken should consolidate this peace and unity,” she said. — @nqotshili