(Last Updated on August 31, 2020 by Editor)
BULAWAYO – Zapu, Ibhetshu likaZulu and Gukurahundi survivor Charles Thomas have made an application with the High Court seeking to bar President E.D Mnangagwa from leading the exhumation of victims of the Matebeleland massacres of the 1980s.
The application comes barely a week after President Mnangagwa met with the Matebeleland Collective, where he promised to conduct exhumations and burials of the victims of Gukurahundi.
In the court application, Thomas, Zapu and Ibhetshu likaZulu are cited as applicants while Mnangagwa, Home Affairs Minister, Kazembe Kazembe, Jennifer Williams who leads the Matebeleland Collective group and National Peace and Reconciliation (NPRC) together with its Chairman, Selo Nare are cited as respondents.
The applicants said Mnangagwa who at the time was Minister of State Security was an interested party and therefore, was not suitable to lead the process.
This Court application follows the comments that were made last week by the Matebeleland Forum that the government was not sincere in its engagement to resolve the issue. Matebeleland Forum pulled out of the Matebeleland Collective.
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) estimates that over 20 000 people were killed during the disturbances that happened in Matebeleland and Midlands provinces between 1983 and 1987.