Just recently, they acquiesced to Zanu (PF)’s demand to limit the jurisdiction of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission to the post-2008 period.
In consequence, the ZHRC Bill was fast tracked through the committee stage after cabinet agreed that, together with the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, it should be speedily expedited. To say the least, this is a flagrant betrayal of the people’s struggle towards sustainable democracy and justice.
Granted, the two MDC formations put up a fight for some time, to try and stop Zanu (PF)’s Patrick Chinamasa from diluting the temporal reach of the commission, but they finally succumbed.
Zanu (PF), for the record, would always be averse to ZHRC stretching its tentacles to the period from 1980.
Of course, it is easy to establish the reasons behind this queasiness on the part of President Robert Mugabe’s party to prevent the ZHRC from stretching its tentacles right back to 1980. The post-independence period in Zimbabwe’s political history is littered with a plethora of human rights abuses.
These range from Gukurahundi, a sad stretch from the early days of independence to around 1987 during which more than 20,000 innocents were killed in southern Zimbabwe, to tortures, abductions and the 2008 political murders in the run-up to the June presidential run-off.
Zanu (PF)’s uneasiness with the commission investigating this period betrays its unpronounced admission that it was responsible for the human rights abuses. Anyway, who does not know that? While it would be predictable for Zanu (PF) to run away with its bloodstained history, what is acutely disappointing is the MDCs’ readiness to provide the party with a smooth track. My position is that they should not have allowed Chinamasa and his party to have their own way regarding the jurisdiction of ZHRC.
The Gukurahundi chapter will never be closed until justice is done. Talking to survivors of the mini-genocide and their relatives, friends and neighbours, you get the inevitable feeling that they still hope for the perpetrators of the heinous murders to be brought to book.
Their attitude is not informed by a meaningless quest for retribution, no. They have a genuine grievance that, if not addressed properly, will keep the wounds fresh and provide a breeding place for future civil instability. Victims of Gukurahundi, in addition to seeing the culprits committed to the judicial process, want an acknowledgement from those that murdered, maimed, raped and abducted that they were wronged.
They want an apology and they want restitution. Without that, memories will remain afloat forever. The same applies to the 2008 atrocities that Zanu (PF) committed to keep their beleaguered leader in power, in direct violation of the people’s will. No efforts can redress the situation and make the victims forget if they do not involve a systematic process that identifies the violators and compensates the victims as far as is possible.
This is where ZHRC would play a pivotal role. Now that Tsvangirai and Ncube have allowed an elitist entity, the Cabinet, to decide the victims’ fate, the jury is prominently out. Their decision has laid bare their insensitivity to the plight of the people they purport to be leading.
Given our current political set-up personified by the not-so-united GNU, it is natural for the politicians to make compromises. However, compromises should have their own boundaries. When they put in jeopardy the struggle for justice, those that make them should stop and question their relevance.
Granted, I am not lost to the fact that these human rights intransigencies that Zanu (PF) is guilty of can be addressed through other means, such as direct appeals to the courts and other bodies like the Organ on National Healing and Integration.
My worry, though, is that taking this alternative route has its own limitations. It is clear, already, that the police are not willing to accept reports from people who accuse Zanu (PF) supporters, and the national healing organ is a lame duck so far. Already, the two MDCs have given too much space to Zanu (PF). They have allowed this now archaic party to flout the Global Political Agreement left, right and centre. Issues relating to the tenure of service chiefs, provincial governors and President Mugabe’s executive jurisdiction, among many others, remain outstanding.
In some of these cases, Tsvangirai and Ncube can be forgiven. They will not be forgiven, though, for reneging on their promise to give justice to the nation. *For feedback, please write to majonitt@gmail.com
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis