By Saul Gwakuba-Ndlovu
ABOUT two weeks ago, the President of Zimbabwe, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, had a historic meeting in Bulawayo with a group of Zimbabweans representing several Matabeleland regional organisations.
The major topic of that meeting was the notorious Gukurahundi operations whose atrocities were later described by former President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, as “a moment of madness”.
President Mnangagwa declared, after the recent Bulawayo meeting, that people should feel free to discuss the Gukurahundi issue.
That was a (if not the) most important public statement by him to the affected regions since he took over the national presidency in November 2017.
The affected regions are the two Matabeleland provinces and some parts of the Midlands.
The Gukurahundi operations occurred from 1983 to 1987, when on December 22, Cdes Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe signed a Unity Agreement bringing the Joshua Nkomo-led PF-ZAPU together with Mugabe’s ZANU PF under the name ZANU PF.
No open and free public discussion had ever been held to hear the opinion of those who were traumatised by the Gukurahundi atrocities.
President Mnangagwa’s declaration that people should freely discuss Gukurahundi in particular and other matters takes Zimbabwe a couple of rungs higher on the democratic scale.
It also helps make the people of Matabeleland develop a psychological feeling that the Government now recognises and acknowledges their inalienable right to belong to this country.
President Mnangagwa’s leadership is centripetally drawing people back to Zimbabwe.
Apart from that, we fought for freedom, hence we were called freedom fighters.
Freedom involves one’s thinking process, one’s social association, one’s political affiliation and one’s cultural beliefs and activities, one’s economic interests and aspirations.
President Mnangagwa’s call for a free discussion of the Gukurahundi massacres is obviously an indication that the new dispensation is more mature and more liberal.
People of Zimbabwe need to seize this opportunity to analyse their country’s socio-economic conditions with a view to improving them.
That is indeed vital because of devolution; that is to say the delegation of power by the central government to local or regional administrations.
It is important for every Zimbabwean to bear in mind that we primarily fought for political power, for one-person-one-vote.
The logical question we should ask ourselves is: What should we be doing with that political power to make our lives better than during the Rhodesian regime?
The next question is inevitably: How should we use that power to achieve our objective?
Devolution is the answer to the last question.
Communities need, however, to discuss their respective development projects and anaylse their details.
Debate ought to be constructive.
That should apply to Gukurahundi as well; that is, how those who were affected by that ununderstandable human-created terror should be treated by the Government.
If there is to be some compensation, should it be to individual survivors or to families of the victims, or should it be to affected communities (in which case it would be in the form of a compensatory development programme)?
Decisions could be taken by local authorities to which power has been devolved.
People should discuss such matters, as declared by the President, and submit their decisions or suggestions to the appropriate authority or authorities, as the case may be.
Discussion groups can be in various forms — inter-personal, inter-party, inter-community, intra-ward, between representatives of political parties, traditionally-led communities, those of religious organisations, workers’ bodies and Government-appointed representatives.
The most important thing about this is that there should be some communication between the people and their Government, however that is done.
The party in office is the Government in fact and in law.
Intra-party meetings serve as means of communication between the party membership and the party leadership.
That is an important multi-party democracy characteristic.
President Mnangagwa is undoubtedly ushering Zimbabwe into a mature multi-party democratic age in which people can, and will, freely express their opinion on national issues as nationals (citizens) of Zimbabwe first and foremost between or among themselves whenever it is necessary, and wherever they are.
We need to observe here that how the national or nationals express their opinion or opinions on national matters of interest and value is subject to the Zimbabwean national Constitution and laws.
We should, therefore, take full advantage of the President’s call to discuss whatever, but within the confines of the country’s laws.
Saul Gwakuba-Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo-based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email. sgwakuba@gmail.com
