President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s special adviser Christopher Mutsvangwa has said that it is irresponsible and unhelpful to continue talking about Gukurahundi. Mutsvangwa said this in an interview with Al Jazeera.
Said Mutsvangwa:
Zimbabwe needs a break. To continuously re-dig its past to settle scores from the past as if it cannot grasp the future is simply unhelpful, its irresponsible, it diverts energy away from what should to be done. Every country has followed a tortured history.
Gukurahundi which means “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains” in Shona, was the brutal suppression of Zimbabwean civilians who were mostly supporters of Joshua Nkomo, by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade that killed an estimated 20,000 people, ostensibly for being dissidents. Many were buried in unmarked graves or thrown down disused mines.
Mutsvangwa’s response can be an attempt to save his boss Mnangagwa who then was State Security minister.
Watch the video below for Mutsvangwa’s full response:
@ZimMediaReview @harumutasa here goes zanu pf telling genocide victims that their pain is not helpful 🙁 pic.twitter.com/NYZ9mtmGyB
— African Paradigm (@AfricanParadigm) December 11, 2017