Own Correspondent|THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) says that it is still gong through consultations on how it will approach the Gukurahundi issue that is priority in the Matabeleland region.
Speaking during a strategic stakeholder engagement meeting in Bulawayo on Wednesday, Commissioner Ms Netty Musanhu said the commission is still not sure how it will handle the matter and would be guided by the victims and stakeholders to come up with recommendations on the way forward.
“Recommendations are extremely important. We’ll be guided by the affected people and we’ll report to Parliament through the minister. Engagement is therefore our priority. We can’t tell how long this will take to be concluded because it’s a process.”
The commission however indicated that it will tackle Gukurahundi as a matter of priority in the Matabeleland region.
Commissioner Leslie Ncube said Gukurahundi was a burning issue in the region and addressing it was extremely important.
“One of our key fundamentals as a commission in terms of our approach right now is tackling the Gukurahundi issue as a priority. This is being done through consultative processes and dealing with the emotions of the affected people,” said Comm Ncube.
“We’re dealing with this issue as stakeholders and it’s important for us to bring all the issues so that as we’re working, the NPRC is held accountable. We’ve done a number of consultations before and we realised that in Matabeleland South and North, they had to deal with Gukurahundi first.”
He said the approach that the NPRC had adopted was to work closely with stakeholders and communities in which victims are based.
“This is why we’ve created these multi-stakeholder committees because we know that this is a burning issue. We don’t want to be seen as if we’re hiding the truth.
“In terms of implementing our plans, we need support from the stakeholders because they know what happened and they also know where and when it happened and they will not hide anything,” said Comm Ncube.
He urged stakeholders to be proactive and participate fully in the healing process, saying the commission was keen to create an enabling environment.
Comm Ncube said the NPRC wants to implement whatever it agreed with stakeholders.
“We’re also preparing for our public hearings and we encourage stakeholders to prepare their constituencies so that all the necessary information is gathered,” he said.
The commission will today, Thursday, hold a public hearing with the residents of Bulawayo on how they will want the commission to carry out its mandate on the hot Gukurahundi issue.