Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, [email protected]
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa is expected to officially launch the Gukurahundi community hearings in Bulawayo this Saturday to mark the rollout of the victim-centred reconciliation outreach programme in the Matabeleland region.
Traditional leaders will converge in the city starting tomorrow to put the final touches on preparatory work ahead of the historic launch at the State House in Bulawayo.
The Government has mandated chiefs to lead the public hearing process, which should resolve the matter, and pledged to avail adequate financial and material resources to ensure the success of the programme. Chiefs have already received equipment including laptops, recorders and printers to be used in the documentation of witness responses.
The National Chiefs Council is expected to receive a report from the steering community before the community hearings are launched. The hearings are aimed at bringing closure to the unrest that occurred in the early 1980s and fostering lasting peace and unity that promotes inclusive national development.
Attorney-General, Mrs Virginia Mabhiza, who is also the national coordinator for the programme, yesterday confirmed the much-awaited launch of the programme this Saturday.
“As the head of the secretariat for the programme, I can confirm that His Excellency, the President will launch the Gukurahundi Community Hearings this coming Saturday,” said Mrs Mabhiza.
The programme will cover 72 chiefs from Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces.
She referred further questions to National Council of Chiefs president Chief Mtshane Khumalo who said traditional leaders will have meetings during the week as a precursor to the grand launch of the programme.
“We are going to have a feedback meeting on the preparatory work on Gukurahundi starting on Wednesday,” said Chief Mtshane.
“The meeting will cover the Steering Committee, Senate chiefs and National Council of Chiefs presidium, which is Chief Charumbira and myself.
“Remember everything that we do on Gukurahundi should be presented before the National Council of Chiefs. So we hope that briefing will take place between Thursday and Friday.”
He said most of the preparatory works have been concluded with the Government committing financial resources for the programme.
“Yes, we still have some of the gaps. But I can safely say we have covered 90 percent of the preparations. We might need to work on the 10 percent of what is required and we hope at the end of this week, we would have closed those gaps,” said Chief Mtshane.
“Government has availed resources for the programme but we hope all the required items will be finalised before chiefs go to the ground.
“There might be a need to provide additional cars ahead of the launch of the programme because a programme this extensive will need vehicles, especially for the chiefs’ panel,” he said.
Chief Mtshane Khumalo said communities are already expecting the commencement of the Gukurahundi hearings as chiefs had already communicated with communities on the planned programme.
He said before the chiefs start the hearings; they will be provided with ample time to inform their subjects about the programme rollout. The Gukurahundi community hearings will be held in rural areas and it is expected that the programme will be concluded within three months.
During the hearings, the chiefs and their panel will receive feedback from communities on how they want the issue to be addressed. Discussions on Gukurahundi were taboo under the previous dispensation until President Mnangagwa came to power and encouraged citizens to openly discuss the issue while making a personal commitment to addressing the emotive matter.
President Mnangagwa initially held meetings with civil society organisations under the banner “Matabeleland Collective” before scaling up the engagements with traditional leaders from the Matabeleland region and Midlands on tackling the Gukurahundi matter.
It was then resolved that the first phase of the Gukurahundi hearings would be held in the Matabeleland region before moving to Midlands Province. In the past few years, traditional leaders have held a series of meetings with President Mnangagwa as part of measures to address the matter.
The chiefs have also come up with a Gukurahundi community hearings manual, which will be used to guide how traditional leaders will handle themselves as they engage the public and the manual was recently translated into local languages. Traditional leaders and their panels, which consist of 14 individuals, have undergone training as the process is expected to be victim-centric.
—@nqotshili
Online Reporter