The Deputy President of the National Council of Chiefs, Fortune Charumbira, confirmed that the Gukurahundi Community Outreach Programme is a personal initiative of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, executed with the support of traditional leaders.
Chief Charumbira made these remarks during his closing speech at the official launch of the outreach programme by President Mnangagwa at the Bulawayo State House on Sunday.
His comments align with the views of various commentators who have long maintained that the Gukurahundi community programme is driven by President Mnangagwa from the top down. Charumbira stated (via CITE):
“We are fortunate to have a president who has taken ownership of the Gukurahundi issue along with the chiefs’ council. He has assured us that any concerns, even from the politburo, should be directed to him.”
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Meanwhile, political commentator Brighton Mutebuka noted that President Mnangagwa’s efforts to address the Gukurahundi atrocities will fall short unless comprehensive measures are implemented. These measures include ensuring justice, healing, transparency, specialist support such as counselling, dignified burials, accountability, issuance of identity documents, estate resolution, and fair compensation for victims and their families. Mutebuka stated:
“Victims, having waited so long, deserve a credible process. Defining what is credible requires a genuine consultative process involving victims and their families. The involvement of President Mnangagwa and the State is problematic, as they are accused of being the perpetrators, which could create an atmosphere of intimidation and undermine the very objectives being sought.”
Gukurahundi refers to a series of massacres and human rights abuses committed by the Zimbabwean government’s Fifth Brigade against civilians, primarily in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces between 1983 and 1987.
Estimates suggest that up to 20,000 civilians were killed during this period, though the exact death toll remains disputed.
Some historians, human rights groups, and victim communities have characterized Gukurahundi as a genocide, citing the targeted killings of the Ndebele ethnic group by the government.
However, there is no consensus among scholars and international bodies about whether the Gukurahundi events meet the legal definition of genocide, which requires proof of intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
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