Confronting The Gukurahundi Ghost

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Sunday launched a Gukurahundi hearings outreach programme led by a team of chiefs from Matabeleland region.

The mission of the programme is to gather information and evidence of what happened during the Gukurahundi era in Matabeleland and Midlands from 1982-1987.

This is part of a state-sponsored process to resolve the genocide perpetrated by the late former president Robert Mugabe’s government.

While most peace-loving, tolerant and progressive Zimbabweans want the Gukurahundi killings chapter to be closed and allow the nation to move on, hence appreciate Mnangagwa’s attempt to resolve the issue, the problem is that government wants to bury the ghost of the massacres without truth, responsibility, accountability, justice and reparations.

The recent history of crimes against humanity is well-known, from Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Kosovo, East Timor, and Darfur — the list of mass atrocities since the 1990s is long.

The systematic killing of thousands of civilians, widespread displacement of many more civilians, sexual violence against women, and abduction and tormenting of children — these and other crimes against humanity are rampant in areas plagued by violent conflict like Matabeleland was during the 1980s.

The 1990s saw another trend in reaction to the atrocities: a series of efforts by the international community to confront crimes against humanity and protect civilians from mass killings and targeted attacks in conflicts.

Since then, the notion of crimes against humanity has evolved under international customary law and through jurisdictions of international courts such as the International Criminal Court, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Many states have also criminalised crimes against humanity in their domestic law; others have yet to do so.

Given this background, what the Zimbabwean government is trying to do in unprecedented:

Having perpetrators presiding over an investigation of crimes in which they are the architects. Mnangagwa and many other senior Zanu PF leaders as well as security service chiefs were enforcers of an ethnic cleansing project authored by Mugabe.

Now they are the ones trying to resolve the problem; which is a clear conflict of interest and mission impossible.

Even eternal optimists are saying this process is deeply flawed and unworkable.

Critics say this is merely a self-exculpatory programme by Mnangagwa and those involved in Gukurahundi.

It is critical to note perpetrators of crimes against humanity attempting to investigate themselves is a clear conflict of interest and a violation of the principles of justice and accountability.

Investigations into crimes against humanity should be conducted by independent and impartial bodies such as international tribunals, special courts, or human rights organiations.

This ensures the investigation is fair, thorough, and unbiased, and that those responsible are held accountable for their actions.

Perpetrators investigating themselves would likely result in a cover-up or a whitewash, and would inevitably undermine the pursuit of justice and accountability.

It is essential to have an independent and impartial investigations to ensure that those responsible for crimes against humanity are held accountable and that justice is served even in a restorative justice – as opposed to retributive justice – approach.

So Mnangagwa’s process is destined to fail to serve the critical interests of truth-telling, responsibility, accountability, justice and reparations – which are the fundamentals needed to resolve Gukurahundi once and for all.

#ConfrontingTheGukurahundiGhost
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Sunday launched a Gukurahundi hearings outreach programme led by a team of chiefs from Matabeleland region.
The mission of the programme is to gather information and evidence of what happened during the… pic.twitter.com/N6UuUxxQr4

— TheNewsHawks (@NewsHawksLive) July 16, 2024