WATCH: Chiefs ready to roll Gukurahundi hearings

CHIEFS said yesterday that they are now ready to conduct public hearings for the Gukurahundi disturbances after training of people who will assist them to conduct the hearings has been completed.

Consultations are underway to finalise the date when the hearings will start next year and President Mnangagwa is expected to launch the outreach programme.

The Gukurahundi hearings are aimed at gathering information from the public on what could be done to bring closure to the Gukurahundi disturbances so that victims can move on with their lives.

The Gukurahundi disturbances affected Matabeleland region and parts of the Midlands province.

President Mnangagwa has been engaging the traditional leaders to find how best to address the Gukurahundi issue and it has been resolved that chiefs should conduct public hearings to gather information on what should be done to bring closure to the issue. Several meetings and workshops have been conducted to train traditional leaders who will conduct the public hearings.

President Mnangagwa last year launched a manual and handbook, which traditional leaders produced to guide them during the public hearings. Chiefs have since received laptops, cellphones and recorders which they will use to collect data during the public hearings.

Speaking at a press conference, National Council of Chiefs president, Chief Mtshane Khumalo, said they have prepared adequately for the hearings.

“The outreach programme will be undertaken at the beginning of next year but the date when the hearings will start is yet to be finalised. We will invite His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) to launch the outreach programme before we start the hearings,” he said.

Chief Mtshane Khumalo said they expect to start the hearings as early as February and were looking forward to completing the hearings within three months.

He said the Office of the President and Cabinet is handling the budget issues.

“The Chiefs Council was assigned this responsibility of bringing closure to the Gukurahundi disturbances in 2019. We had to undergo training to prepare for these public hearings which we are confident will guide us on what should be done to bring closure to the Gukurahundi issue, said Chief Mtshane Khumalo.

He said for four years they have been having meetings and workshops for chiefs, rapporteurs and other supporting staff to prepare for the public hearings.

“There are 72 chiefs that have been trained in Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South and each has 14 supporting staff,” said Cheif Mtshane Khumalo.

He said religious groups, women’s groups and youths representatives are also expected to participate in the public hearings.

Chief Mtshane said chiefs will chair the meetings while rapporteurs will be responsible for recording the proceedings.

He said while they have learnt what other countries did to resolve such conflicts, their intention was to find a home-grown solution.

“Other people were assisting us with information on what other countries did to address such challenges which we hope will help us to find a lasting solution to this issue. We first produced a manual for the chiefs and later a handbook which will guide us during hearings,” said Chief Mtshane Khumalo.

He said all the meetings will be held in the villages and those living in urban areas who intend to contribute to the processes will be expected to travel to their rural areas.

Chief Mtshane Khumalo said while the media will not be allowed to capture information during the hearing proceedings, they expect to work with the press as they want the process to be as open as possible.

The chiefs had a two-day media training workshop on how they will interact with the press during the hearings which ended yesterday.

“We were training on how to interact with the media during the hearings because we expect the media to be involved in the outreach programme. It was however agreed that the media should not be allowed to record hearing proceedings,” said Chief Mtshane Khumalo.

He said they will appoint a spokesperson to ensure the media has access to information regarding the hearings. — @nqotshili