Human rights pressure group Ibhetshu LikaZulu has claimed that <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Gukurahundi">Gukurahundi</a> survivors voted for the ruling Zanu PF party in the past elections out of fear of a repeat of the massacres.
The pressure group said each election since the early 1980s had brought sad memories of the massacre to the survivors and their families.
An estimated 20 000 civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces were killed by State security agents between 1982 and 1987 on suspicion of harbouring PF-ZAPU dissidents.
Ibhetshu LikaZulu co-ordinator Mbuso Fuzwayo said voting for ZANU PF had become a survival tactic as some had been denied food aid after being perceived as opposition supporters. Fuzwayo told Southern Eye yesterday:
<blockquote>
The Gukurahundi victims have not been voting for Zanu PF because they love it, they were voting for the ruling party because of fear of a repeat of atrocities.
It is like a woman who stays with a man who raped and impregnated her. But because of poverty and fear, that woman submits herself to that man, that is what is happening. None of the Gukurahundi victims votes for Zanu PF voluntarily.
</blockquote>
One of the Gukurahundi victims from Silobela, who declined to be named, said: 
<blockquote>
It’s painful to vote for people who tortured us. We are just voting for Zanu PF for the sake of accessing free stuff like health and food since we can’t even access proper jobs. It’s really painful. We fear being victimised again.
</blockquote>
Another Gukurahundi victim, who identified himself as Ndlangamandla, said he had had enough of ZANU PF intimidation and would vote for the opposition in the March 26 by-elections.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has pledged to address the issue by facilitating the issuance of identification documents to the survivors, but the victims insist on compensation and prosecution of perpetrators. 
More: <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2022/02/gukurahundi-survivors-vote-for-zanu-pf-out-of-fear/">NewsDay Zimbabwe</a>

Pindula News

"Gukurahundi Victims Have Been Voting For ZANU PF Out Of Fear" - Human Rights Pressure Group

<a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Zenzele_Ndebele">Zenzele Ndebele</a>, a Bulawayo-based journalist and human rights and activist, has posted a list of alleged Lupane villagers who died during Gukurahundi on the 6th of February in 1983. He captioned:
<blockquote>Villagers of St Paul in Lupane have kept this list for 38 yrs hoping one day they will get justice and <a class="link-complex" data-user-name="GutuObert" href="https://twitter.com/GutuObert/" rel="noopener user" target="_blank">@GutuObert</a> says it’s a tiny fraction of <a class="link-complex" data-user-name="NPRCZim" href="https://twitter.com/NPRCZim/" rel="noopener user" target="_blank">@NPRCZim</a> work. How insensitive. <a class="link-complex" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Asakhe" rel="hashtag noopener" target="_blank">#Asakhe</a> <a class="link-complex" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gukurahundi" rel="hashtag noopener" target="_blank">#Gukurahundi</a>.
<img alt="" class="media-img" data-maxheight="768" data-maxwidth="1024" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E4gpC2pXIAURtX8?format=jpg&amp;name=large"/></blockquote>
The list surfaces as Obert Gutu who chairs the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) has come under fire for claiming <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Gukurahundi">Gukurahundi</a> was a very small, tiny fraction of the various other disputes the commission was talking about.
The remarks were read as Gutu was trivialising the 1980s massacre during which approximately 20 000 people were murdered by the North Korean-trained fifth brigade.
More: <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw">Pindula News; Zenzele</a>

LIST: Lupane Villagers Who Died During Gukurahundi

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has said 90% of Gukurahundi survivors are suffering from mental health because of the trauma they experienced over 30 years ago during the heat of the genocide that wiped out over 20 000 Ndebele people, New Zimbabwe reports.
Furthermore, the Gukurahundi Survivors cannot access national documentation according to ZHRC. This was revealed by ZHRC Director responsible for Complaints Handling and Investigations department, Kurai Makumbe who was speaking at the launch of the National Inquiry on Access to Documentation report in Bulawayo when he said:
<blockquote>Some of the Gukurahundi affected persons are reluctant to participate in mobile registration exercises as it reminds them of Gukurahundi events.
Approximately 90% of those who experienced Gukurahundi are suffering from mental health impairments due to the trauma and cannot access documentation.
Makumbe said unfriendly infrastructure at the Registrar General‘s district offices were also hindering people with disabilities from accessing national documentation. There are unfriendly infrastructure at DRG for wheel chair users such ramps or rails
Adverse effects of Gukurahundi on accessing national documents such as birth certificates and death certificates are still being experienced. Many people lost national documents in Gukurahundi era and are unable to replace them. Failure to get death certificates in cases of missing persons who died in this era resulting in generations of undocumented persons.</blockquote>
Matabeleland people have complained that the region is marginalized by the government of Zimbabwe and President Mnangagwa in August was in Bulawayo to speak to civic society organizations in the region and kickstart the process if issuing death certificates for the Gukurahundi victims.
A few weeks ago, a Gukurahundi survivor chronicled how the <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2020/09/20/horror-stories-of-how-perrance-shiri-allegedly-executed-gukurahundi-massacres-emerge/">late national hero Perrance Shiri looked on as Gukurahundi killings</a> were being conducted.
More: <a href="https://www.newzimbabwe.com/90-of-gukurahundi-survivors-suffer-mental-health-zhrc/">New Zimbabwe </a>

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