Nkomo blasts Charumbira over Gukurahundi remarks
Mbekezeli Ncube
ZAPU leader Sibangilizwe Nkomo has denounced the recent remarks by Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs deputy president Chief Fortune Charumbira that Gukurahundi was not a genocide.
In a statement released last week, Nkomo said Charumbira’s claims are “disrespectful,” “misrepresenting of facts,” and “nauseatingly disingenuous.”
Nkomo cited the historical evidence of Gukurahundi, which involved the systematic killing of an estimated 20,000 people by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade military wing under the leadership of late President Robert Mugabe. The massacres, which took place between 1983 and 1987, were targeted against the Matabeleland and Midlands people people and the ZAPU party.
Nkomo criticized Charumbira for attempting to downplay the gravity of Gukurahundi by claiming that it was not a genocide and that the killings were only collateral damage.
He further questioned the involvement of chiefs in the Gukurahundi hearings, expressing concerns about the coercive nature of their participation. Nkomo urged the chiefs to reconsider their involvement in the hearings and distance themselves from the “diabolical” program. He warned that history will judge them harshly for their participation in a process that is against the interests of their subjects.
The ZAPU leader’s stance against Charumbira’s remarks highlights the ongoing debate over the Gukurahundi massacres and the efforts to bring about reconciliation and justice for the victims.
