MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT

We have two main ways in which people are fooled – one is to believe what is not true, the other is to refuse to believe what is true. It is no wonder we have individuals who believe the untruth that says Gukurahundi was a legitimate security measure by a government bent on fighting dissidents and then we have others who refuse to believe that Gukurahundi was a crime against humanity but insist on the politically motivated narrative that it was “a moment of madness.”

The reality known to both the perpetrators and victims of Gukurahundi is that it was never a moment of madness but a planned act by sane ethnic Shona leaders intent on the annihilation of the Ndebele ethnic population group. Evil needs to be addressed in its accurate terms for it to be unveiled and destroyed; letting bygones be bygones and maintaining neutrality will never be a viable stance to adopt in dealing with the torment of the dehumanising Gukurahundi.

We will never be silent about the suffering and humiliation experienced by our society; we shall speak up, not only for ourselves but also for every persecuted and powerless community the world over.

It is shocking emotional emptiness that the Zimbabwean government will assume as its official position that Gukurahundi was “a moment of madness” when it is willfully deceptive and unwilling to make a complete disclosure to the public who the lunatics were.

For the healing process to commence, measures must be taken to grant society unhindered access to the facts about the mad ones so a proper assessment is carried out, a clearer picture is captured and measures are set in place to protect this and generations to come.

The image above is chilling evidence of gruesome state sanctioned executions and other abuses of humans by other humans for nothing but being different. It is a reminder of what power without safeguards is capable of.

READ MORE: Gukurahundi Genocide

Deception and ignorance played a vital role in justifying and excusing crimes against humanity. Ndebeles were dehumanised, gullible and complicit ethnic Shona people were convinced of Ndebele people’s less than human status, and that they were a threat to Zimbabwean security and a real danger to the very existence of Shona people. The gullible public fell for the hogwash – we remember the Shona people singing tunes that Nkomo (a political symbol of Ndebeles) was a dissident and calling for his hanging.

Yes, we are fully aware of the presence of monsters in government who planned the genocide, but even more frightening is the existence of several ordinary men, the functionaries who, without question, were ready to believe and act. Let it be known, we refuse to be victims; we will not be perpetrators, and above all, we shall not be bystanders.