Parties rip Mugabe over Gukurahundi threat

Prof Welshman Ncube

Mugabe was furious after war veterans revealed that they were pushing for Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed him.

Said ZimPF: “That Mugabe wants to use the barbaric massacre of innocent civilians, children and pregnant mothers disemboweled in front of their now traumatised, impoverished and pauperised offspring to scare off disgruntled war veterans is psychopathy taken too far.”

The Welshman Ncube-led MDC added: “His mad rant … was a stark reminder of the sheer evil, hate and selfishness that drove Gukurahundi whereby some people like Mugabe believed they were Gods and could dictate who should live or be killed.

Addressing a Zanu PF central committee meeting last Thursday, Mugabe threatened to deal with the war veterans the same way he dealt with dissidents in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the early 1980s.

During the period widely referred to as the Gukurahundi era, an estimated 20,000 civilians died in the hands of the North Korean-trained army unit which his government deployed ostensibly to track down dissidents then loyal to Joshua Nkomo who later became Mugabe’s deputy.

Since the massacres were halted by a unity accord signed between Zanu and Nkomo’s PF Zapu in 1987, Mugabe’s only recorded reference to the atrocities was during Nkomo’s burial where he said the period was “a moment of madness”.

After avoiding the subject for years, Mugabe returned last Thursday to tell Zanu PF-supporting war veterans that he was ready to deal with them like dissidents.

“Dissidents tried it, and you know what happened,” Mugabe roared.

The sabre-rattling leader’s outbursts have torched widespread condemnation from among Zimbabweans, more so when he has failed to atone for the atrocities.

In a statement on Friday, ZimPF said it was “deeply concerned about President Robert Mugabe’s gloating over the Gukurahundi massacres” in attempts to wade off pressure from a section of war veterans that wants to see his back.

“Ordinarily, such issues are a preserve for Zanu PF internal processes and should remain as such but Mugabe’s allusion to Gukurahundi where he used the disgruntlement of a handful war veterans as an alibi to embark on ethnic cleansing of mostly Ndebele speaking citizens in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces gives rise to fears that the cornered dictator might once again use this excuse to unleash unprecedented violence on the swelling opposition to his failed incumbency countrywide,” ZimPF spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire said.

Mawarire said his party was particularly touched by Mugabe’s comments as it had the most number of war veterans within its ranks.

He said Zimbabweans should not take Mugabe’s comments lightly since the veteran leader has used strong arm tactics to deal with strong political opposition before.

“All right thinking Zimbabweans should therefore be worried as past experiences have shown that Mugabe resorted to exterminating more than 20 000 innocent civilians in reaction to political opposition from a handful disgruntled war veterans,” he said.

Meanwhile, Welshman Ncube’s MDC also said it was “utterly shocked” that Mugabe had temerity to make reckless claims about the killings.

“These shocking utterances are the clearest signal yet that this murderous monster we call a President, is unrepentant over his role in the killings of thousands of innocent people during Gukurahundi,” party spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi said in a statement.

“At his old age we expect him to be asking for forgiveness and exercising wisdom in words and deeds, but he is giving the people of Zimbabwe the exact opposite.

“It is unfortunate that this sickening tirade from Mugabe has just taken efforts and what little progress there was towards peace and reconciliation in the country a thousand steps backwards.

“While it is easy to dismiss these utterances as being a result of senility and old age, it is clear that Mugabe through anger and hate allowed his guard to drop and spoke the evil that is truly in his heart.”

Mugabe is under siege from a section of war veterans in his party who want him to step aside for one of his deputies.

The 92-year-old leader has tried to ban any talk around his possible successors as he prepares to run for another term in 2018.