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Columbus Mabika
Herald Reporter
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) yesterday welcomed the nationwide mobile registration, which Government has embarked on as part of efforts to ensure all citizens have access to primary documents.
The mobile registration drive will also address documentation challenges particularly in Matabeleland where some people had challenges getting them following the Gukurahundi episode.
President Mnangagwa held an indaba in Bulawayo with traditional leaders from Matabeleland region that focused on a number of issues including disturbances that took place in Matabeleland and parts of the Midlands Province in the 1980s and it was revealed that some people still lack access to primary documents.
In an interview, NPRC Commissioner and spokesperson, Advocate Obert Gutu said the development was in tandem with President Mnangagwa’s initiative on the Gukurahundi issue.
“The NPRC is fully and wholeheartedly in support of the Presidential initiative, working together with the relevant traditional leaders to finally bring closure to the Gukurahundi issue.
“In fact, as the constitutional body mandated with the responsibility to engage in peace-building activities, we are working together with all key stakeholders in tandem with President Mnangagwa’s Presidential initiative on Gukurahundi,” he said.
Adv Gutu said the countrywide mobile citizen registration blitz will help people to obtain birth certificates, national identity documents and other important documents particularly considering the fact that many people in Matabeleland had not yet had the opportunity to acquire such crucial documents.
Advocate Gutu said the development will further contribute towards achieving national healing and reconciliation, adding that the exercise was testimony to the commitment to finding a lasting solution to the Matabeleland disturbances, among many other issues affecting the region.
The NPRC, said Adv Gutu, was ready to play its role as mandated by the Constitution, which is to unite Zimbabwe for sustainable peace by developing mechanisms for resolving violent conflicts of the past and present and preventing their recurrence.
He said the NPRC would remain guided that the country has to openly speak about Gukurahundi in order to resolve the sensitive matter and vowed to resolve matters to do with political disturbances that took place soon after independence, as part of promoting national healing.
Besides the Gukurahundi issue, NPRC is handling other conflicts and post-election violence that rocked the country in the past.
“We are in the process of conflict mapping and on a daily basis we deal with several conflicts,” he said.
The Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) and the church have added weight to the call, imploring Zimbabweans from across the political divide to desist from violence, disunity, polarisation and disharmony.
Under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, the Second Republic, has made re-engagement one of its key priorities and has established a platform for dialogue with political parties, churches and civil society organisations to put closure to past conflicts.
Online Reporter