A senior ZANU PF official, Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube, has urged redress for victims of the Gukurahundi massacres which were carried out by the government of Robert Mugabe when he was Prime Minister supreme between 1980 and 1987.
This is the first time in Zimbabwean history a top ZANU PF official has opened the Gukurahundi subject in this way.
Dube called on Mugabe’s government to own up to their deeds: “We should never sweep these issues under the carpet. We should come out in the open and say we made some very serious mistakes”. President Mugabe has on one previous occasion stated that the Gukurahundi massacres were a “moment of madness” but that is the closest he has come to admitting that his administration committed serious wrongs against the people of Matabeleland.
Many people in the Matabeleland and Midlands region are still bitter at the Gukurahundi massacres in which an estimated 20,000 innocent civilians were killed by the notorious North Korean trained Fifth Brigade. Most people have not forgiven ZANU PF, because it has not openly accepted responsibility for its active role in the massacres; and so Ndebele people continue to show their disapproval by voting against ZANU PF candidates in national elections.
In the 1980s, Joshua Nkomo’s PF ZAPU dominated in the region and the MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai in later years snatched most of the votes in this region.
In the interview, Dube pointedly refused to blame his senior colleagues for the loss of grassroots support in Matabeleland, stating that “This [loss of grassroots support] is not their fault. It’s because of the mishaps that took place in Matabeleland. The ordinary people are still hurt because of some of these things. I believe as a government we have not done enough to address some of those problems”. He added, “You know people won’t go shouting in the streets talking about Gukurahundi, but some of them have it in their hearts. They are just quiet, but when it comes for them to show their feelings, one of the ways is not to vote for us. So we the people from that area, when we ask for their votes, they don’t vote for us. They vote for opposition not because they like it but because they feel they are a better devil than us. I think we need to address those fundamental issues. We take them lightly sometimes, but deep in their hearts the people still have them”.
Dube’s candid comments are seen as a reminder to the ZANU PF leadership that Gukurahundi is unfinished business. An analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity stated: “ZANU PF has no chance whatsoever in Matabeleland after their atrocities in the 1980s and the refusal to acknowledge their deeds and find redress for the victims. Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube is absolutely spot on – ZANU PF is unelectable in Matabeleland, unless they at least do something to redress past and continuing wrongs.”
ZANU PF has drastically amended the COPAC Draft constitution to remove the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, which like South Africa’s famous Truth and Reconciliation would have dealt with issues of correcting past wrongs including Gukurahundi.
In another revelation, Dube about the sensitive subject of devolution which his party has completely dismissed in amendments to the COPAC Draft constitution. The senior cadre pointed to the issue of unequal development in Matabeleland as one of the issues linked to the calls for devolution. “There are certain issues like economic issues which must be addressed,” he said.
“Everybody in the country knows that Bulawayo is a dying city; most industries have closed down, unemployment is at its highest and yet not long ago, Bulawayo was the industrial hub of this country.
“Those things must be addressed.
“We talk of funds meant for Bulawayo, but we haven’t seen them.
“All these things may not mean anything to you and me, but for someone who is down there, they feel it. There are also very few schools out there, in some areas people have to travel for about 15km to go to school.”, said Dube.
He linked Bulawayo’s problems to calls for devolution saying, “Some of the people believe that there will be equal share of resources of the country . . . That’s the thinking in some people.”
Asked if he believed in devolution, unlike his party, Dube was less candid. He stated, “I don’t know, you see, we in the Politburo we have called it decentralisation which I believe is one and the same thing. Only that the connotations change according to what you think. I don’t think there is much difference between devolution and decentralisation. The issue about devolution and decentralisation has been misconstrued . . .”
An analyst, Solomon Mutsaigwa said if Dube did not like devolution, he would have dismissed it completely just as his party has done. “The fact that he is equating devolution to decentralisation, which ZANU PF prefers he is essentially saying ZANU PF is drawing a distinction without a difference. Of course, he is demonstrating his own failure to understand the difference between devolution and decentralisation, but he is also showing sympathy and support for devolution, that he thinks it’s the same as decentralisation which his colleagues in ZANU PF prefer. His position reflects thinking among many people from the peripheral regions and is reflective of the confusion and lack of consensus on these issues even within ZANU PF itself”, said Mutsaigwa.
Dube said that ZANU PF needs to work hard to maintain its existence. “We have to work very hard. I know that we have a lot of supporters out there, but there are a lot of detractors as well”, he said.
This is the first time in Zimbabwean history a top ZANU PF official has opened the Gukurahundi subject in this way.
Rt Colonel Tshinga Dube:Zanu Pf is wrong
Many people in the Matabeleland and Midlands region are still bitter at the Gukurahundi massacres in which an estimated 20,000 innocent civilians were killed by the notorious North Korean trained Fifth Brigade. Most people have not forgiven ZANU PF, because it has not openly accepted responsibility for its active role in the massacres; and so Ndebele people continue to show their disapproval by voting against ZANU PF candidates in national elections.
In the 1980s, Joshua Nkomo’s PF ZAPU dominated in the region and the MDC-T led by Morgan Tsvangirai in later years snatched most of the votes in this region.
In the interview, Dube pointedly refused to blame his senior colleagues for the loss of grassroots support in Matabeleland, stating that “This [loss of grassroots support] is not their fault. It’s because of the mishaps that took place in Matabeleland. The ordinary people are still hurt because of some of these things. I believe as a government we have not done enough to address some of those problems”. He added, “You know people won’t go shouting in the streets talking about Gukurahundi, but some of them have it in their hearts. They are just quiet, but when it comes for them to show their feelings, one of the ways is not to vote for us. So we the people from that area, when we ask for their votes, they don’t vote for us. They vote for opposition not because they like it but because they feel they are a better devil than us. I think we need to address those fundamental issues. We take them lightly sometimes, but deep in their hearts the people still have them”.
Dube’s candid comments are seen as a reminder to the ZANU PF leadership that Gukurahundi is unfinished business. An analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity stated: “ZANU PF has no chance whatsoever in Matabeleland after their atrocities in the 1980s and the refusal to acknowledge their deeds and find redress for the victims. Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube is absolutely spot on – ZANU PF is unelectable in Matabeleland, unless they at least do something to redress past and continuing wrongs.”
ZANU PF has drastically amended the COPAC Draft constitution to remove the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, which like South Africa’s famous Truth and Reconciliation would have dealt with issues of correcting past wrongs including Gukurahundi.
In another revelation, Dube about the sensitive subject of devolution which his party has completely dismissed in amendments to the COPAC Draft constitution. The senior cadre pointed to the issue of unequal development in Matabeleland as one of the issues linked to the calls for devolution. “There are certain issues like economic issues which must be addressed,” he said.
“Everybody in the country knows that Bulawayo is a dying city; most industries have closed down, unemployment is at its highest and yet not long ago, Bulawayo was the industrial hub of this country.
“Those things must be addressed.
“We talk of funds meant for Bulawayo, but we haven’t seen them.
“All these things may not mean anything to you and me, but for someone who is down there, they feel it. There are also very few schools out there, in some areas people have to travel for about 15km to go to school.”, said Dube.
He linked Bulawayo’s problems to calls for devolution saying, “Some of the people believe that there will be equal share of resources of the country . . . That’s the thinking in some people.”
Asked if he believed in devolution, unlike his party, Dube was less candid. He stated, “I don’t know, you see, we in the Politburo we have called it decentralisation which I believe is one and the same thing. Only that the connotations change according to what you think. I don’t think there is much difference between devolution and decentralisation. The issue about devolution and decentralisation has been misconstrued . . .”
Gukurahundi victims
Dube said that ZANU PF needs to work hard to maintain its existence. “We have to work very hard. I know that we have a lot of supporters out there, but there are a lot of detractors as well”, he said.
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