‘UNITY DAY IS A SCAM’

• No Unity as ZANU PF stands alone
• Gukurahundi wounds still fresh
• ‘NPRC compromised, unreliable’

By Kundai Marunya

Secessionist opposition political party Mthwakazi Republic has described Unity Day as a scam.
Party spokesperson Mbonisi Gumbo told Nhau/Indaba that it is simply a day when a “genocide” was stopped only to resume in another form.
“The so-called Unity Day is a scam, it was never a sincere arrangement,” he said.
“We would like to reiterate that we don’t recognise this day as Unity Day. We remember this day as a day where physical tribal Matabeleland Gukurahundi genocide stopped and was relaunched and is continuing to this day, albeit in another form.”
Gumbo said his party and the majority of Matabeleland people have lost faith in ZANU PF and “the so-called national unity”.
He called for the release of the Chihambakwe Commission of Inquiry findings, which investigated the killing of 1500 political dissidents and other civilians in the Matabeleland region in 1983.
“I think the Chihambakwe Commission must be made public. Secondly, if (President) Mnangagwa’s administration is sincere then they must establish an independent international commission because the NPRC (National Peace and Reconciliation Commission) is compromised and unreliable, incapacitated and (is) another national scam,” said Gumbo.
In his televised Unity Day speech, President Mnangagwa acknowledged the need for more to be done to address the Matabeleland disturbances.
“Decades have passed since that historic event of our Unity Accord. However, its conceptualisation must now go beyond narrow interpretation,” said Mnangagwa.
“My administration has the political will and boldness to confront the past and bring about healing and closure. I am encouraged by the success we are scoring towards building greater national cohesion and singleness of purpose informed by lessons from the disturbances which characterised the early years of independence.
“To date, a concrete course of action has been drawn out following inclusive interventions and meetings held with traditional leadership and stakeholders of Matabeleland Provinces and parts of Midlands Province.”
Gumbo, the Mthwakazi spokesperson, called for devolution of power to be implemented in the spirit of true national building, so as to empower all the diverse tribes in extreme poverty.
“Currently the wealth of the whole nation circulates in Harare and by extension to Mashonaland. A situation where people come from Mashonaland being assisted by the state to come and take over any available opportunities in all sectors cannot help build national unity.”
According to reports, Youth in Matabeleland North have been failing to access loans from the Empower Bank, a financial institution set up to assist young people nationwide.
Dissatisfaction with Government’s efforts to bring about transformation saw ZAPU re-emerge in 2009 under the leadership of the late nationalist Dumiso Dabengwa.
They cut ties with both ZANU PF and Government after alleged recurrent mass political killings of those in opposition which they likened to Gukurahundi.
Recently celebrating their anniversary at a low-key event held at their party offices in Bulawayo, ZAPU acting president Isaac Mabuka said his party regrets ever joining hands with ZANU.
“Only one condition was given by ZANU PF’s Mugabe in order for Gukurahundi to stop – that ZAPU signs the never negotiated unity accord document and agree to be swallowed by his party,” he said.
“As a result, ZAPU went in and the physical killings stopped albeit with the scorched earth policies of the government continuing up to this very day. What followed were years of unsuccessful efforts to reform the ZANU PF government as well as prescribing ZAPU’s social, economic and developmental component into the resultant government’s policy.
“The ZAPU component in the government also called in the government to respect, protect and promote human rights, but the calls fell on deaf ears.”
Exiled former Cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has also rubbished the Unity Accord and Unity Day celebrations.
“On this 33rd edition of the Unity Accord between ZAPU and ZANU, history’s writing is on the wall that national unity will not come from an agreement between two political parties, chiefly meant to establish a legislated one-party state. Clearly, this false Unity Day has no future,” said Prof Moyo.
The Unity Accord is an agreement signed between ZANU led by late former president Robert Mugabe and the country’s then main opposition PF ZAPU under leadership of Joshua Nkomo on December 22, 1987.
Though the document ended the mass killings widely referred to as Gukurahundi (loosely translated to clearing the chaff), victims’ wounds remain fresh as perpetrators were never brought to book.
For years the Gukurahundi issue remained an open secret, forbidden to be discussed, widening tension between Zimbabwe’s major ethnic groupings. Nhau/Indaba