Is it not folly, therefore, that in these circumstances anybody should seek to revive the wounds and grievances of the past? The wrongs of the past must stand forgiven and forgotten…..”Extract from Independence Speech by the then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe in 1980.
“….It is difficult to strike a balance between the fears of the perpetrator and the expectations of the victims of political violence….there cannot be real forgiveness without justice. National healing has not begun meeting the needs of the people…an extract from Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai speech during the Survivors Summit in September 2010.
“…..I’m embarrassed and ashamed to stand before this gathering, it pains me that four family heads died the same day in my village owing to political violence. I find it difficult to speak to you as the village head, I’m ashamed, and I cannot talk. I’m torn in between being the village head, the (ZANU PF) chairperson and my position as a family relative……..” Mr. Chingwidze, Village Head, Village 11b, Eaglenest, Headlands, October 2010
“….My brother was killed by the perpetrators for allowing villagers to gather at his homestead listening to the announcement of the results of the harmonized elections which were reportedly won by MDC as he was the only one with a television set in the area….”narrates Tatenda Mubhoyi at the memorial service of his brother Kenneth Dube in Mwenezi in September 2010.
“I have struggled over the years to take care of my family and I don’t know what the future hold for me and my four children. I now survive on working in farms around the Chimanimani area so that I can afford to look after my children. All the promises made to me by people to assist me have been in vain, I now look up to God alone to take care of me” … Widow of Temba Mandinde narrating her challenges during the memorial service of her late husband on 25 August 2011 in Chibuwe, Chipinge.
“My 10 year old son was brutally killed for begging the perpetrators to stop beating me after they assaulted me for close to two hours in front of my five children, they dragged Kudzai and started beating him all over the body, they were close to 150 people who had come looking for my husband”……narrates a tearful Mrs Shungu during the memorial service of her son who was viciously beaten to death by ZANU Pf supporters on 01 July 2008 in Bikita.
“Soldiers paid us a visit at my brother’s homestead, they approached and surrounded us. They asked for the owner of the homestead (Oscar Mpofu) who at that time was not there. They told us that they had come to kill us. Oscar Mpofu then appeared, upon seeing them he tried to flee for his own safety but they shot him on site, they went on to shot and kill Zenzo Ndlovu, and Siyankumba Mpofu.
I ran for my life and was shot on the hand, l was lucky to escape with gunshot wounds and hid for several days at the river where other villagers later found me.” A Ndebele translated version of Nhlanganiso B Sithole’s ordeal during the Gukurahundi period, he was interviewed in Tsholotsho, in July 2011.
“Soon after I discovered that my husband had been killed by the ZANU PF thugs I quickly covered him with a blanket and rushed to Gutu police station, I narrated my ordeal to six policemen who were on duty, they asked me, was your husband mugged by thieves? Where exactly did the crime take place?
Do you have any suspects….? they were asking these questions whilst preparing to accompany me to the scene of the crime but when I responded that the perpetrators were well known ZANU Pf supporters in ward 6 and that the team was headed by Colonel Mupatsi they swiftly retreated back and told me to go back home as they were not entertaining “political cases”. A tearful woman narrating to villagers during a memorial service for her late husband on Saturday, 02 July 2011, in Gutu East
Post published in: Politics