By Own Correspondent| MDC President Nelson Chamisa has told the August 1 Commission of Inquiry that there is need to  probe the Gukurahundi Massacres where 20 000 people were allegedly killed by the Zimbabwe National Army in the 1980s in Matabeleland and Midlands regions.

Chamisa told the Commission that while the country should move forward and focus on development, there is need for justice and healing for past atrocities committed tp citizens at the hands of security apparatus.

Chamisa said the former president Robert Mugabe including some of the current leadership led the Gukurahundi massacres in order to thwart divergent voices and maintain the status quo.

Mugabe through the 5 brigade killed an estimated 20 000 people during Gukurahundi as a way of crushing a rebellion by former liberation fighters most of whom were former members ZIPRA, the PF ZAPU military wing.

However, reports allege that the majority of those who were killed were unarmed civilians.

Addressing the Motlanthe Commission on Monday, Chamisa said:

“We are a torn nation and as said by Mr Tendai Biti, we are a divided nation. While it is good that we are having this inquiry around what happened on the 1st of August 2018… I think something is wrong with our country that we have not had any commission of inquiry, a public commission of inquiry where 20 000 people lost their lives.”