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Nduduzo Tshuma, Political Editor
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has, within a short period of his reign, shown great commitment towards bringing closure to the Gukurahundi issue fostering peace, reconciliation and unity in the country.

The President, through his initiatives, is likely to finally silence pseudo activists who have over the years used the emotive issue to get funding from foreign institutions hostile to Zimbabwe without offering any solutions.

The President has also robbed the opposition who have used Gukurahundi as perennial campaign fodder especially when the country is going for elections.

There are also expelled Zanu-PF members like Professor Jonathan Moyo who has over the years sought to abuse the Gukurahundi issue for personal political gain.

However, in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, President Mnangagwa said besides signing the National Peace and Reconciliation Act, he has met chiefs from Matabeleland and discussed the best way to move forward in addressing the issue to finality.

The President even availed himself should communities affected by Gukurahundi request to be addressed by him, a move showing total commitment in resolving the issue that has for so many years been abused by political opportunists seeking selfish gains.

“We are not saying the past must be thrown away from history, it has happened, it is there. Just a week ago I signed the National Healing and Reconciliation Bill into an Act. I have assigned one of my Vice Presidents to deal with that one so that the communities that were affected can air their grievances and challenges with recommendations from that commission, we should be able to address those issues,” said President Mnangagwa.

“The communities that are affected, if they ask me to come for any reason I will.

“The most important thing is that what has happened has happened. What can we do about the past? We have put up a commission to deal with that issue.

That should not stop us to have a better future where all the communities should be united, should cooperate, should love each other, should work together, this is the message which we have.”

In line with his message since his inauguration in November last year, President Mnangagwa emphasised his vision for the country to move forward in peace and unity.

“We are more worried now about how in the future we should have a united Zimbabwe. In my view there is nothing more than me putting legislation where a commission headed by a Vice President and most eminent persons in Zimbabwe to deal with that issue and make recommendations.

“Just recently I had a meeting with chiefs from Matabeleland discussing with them, because I feel there is that bad patch in our history and we would want to correct it. We would want to say wherever wrong was committed, we must say the Government of the day must apologise,” said President Mnangagwa.

“Wherever a community suffered any injury, if it is possible to have that injury repaired, we do it. So as a community, as a government and as traditional leaders, we have agreed on how to deal with that issue. And I am happy that quickly, within the last 30 days or so, I have been able to put forward a legislation which I signed last week.”

Most importantly, President Mnangagwa has told the world that the Gukurahundi issue will be solved by Zimbabweans through mutually agreed processes and not through prescriptions of foreign influences.

“My people and myself are determined to make sure that the acts of commission or omission of the past, we have to interrogate them, where the government of the day was wrong, we point out that, that was wrong, where the government of the day was correct, we should say so and we have put up a machinery to achieve that,” said President Mnangagwa during the interview.

President Mnangagwa’s efforts in bringing closure around the Gukurahundi issue should be appreciated within the context of the time he has spent in office as Head of State.

Within two months of his reign, he has made huge strides and shown great commitment in solving the emotive issue once and for all.

None of the opposition parties and respective nongovernmental organisations can claim to have done anything towards addressing the Gukurahundi more than what President Mnangagwa has done in two months of his presidency except to cry more than the bereaved.

Recently, the Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial chairperson Professor Callistus Ndlovu said there was a worrying development of individuals seeking to cash in on the Gukurahundi issue by mourning more than the bereaved.

Prof Ndlovu said some of the people making noise about Gukurahundi do not have solutions to the issue.

“There are people who are now on a mission of making money saying negative things about Zanu-PF. As party members you should be informed, there is no one who doesn’t know that Gukurahundi affected a lot of people.

“But some of the people want to personalise the subject pretending to be saints on the matter,” he said.

Prof Ndlovu said some individuals were not sincere speaking out about the early 1980s disturbances.

“There is a Jew who wrote a book titled Holocaust Capitalism.

“Holocaust Capitalism refers to individuals who went around the globe conducting international meetings castigating Germans yet they did not lose any relatives during Hitler’s time,” said Prof Ndlovu.

“In the country we are now having what we call ‘Gukurahundi enterprise’ where monies are being released to individuals who are talking about the subject.

There is nothing new that they can preach about which we don’t know about.”

What enemies of Zimbabwe cannot wish away is that the new dispensation headed by President Mnangagwa is very keen on moving the country forward by addressing all the issues that have dogged the nation for so many years.

This includes a whole range of issues from fixing the economy, re-engagement in the international community and also promoting social cohesion within the country’s borders through such initiatives as addressing and putting finality to the emotive Gukurahundi issue.