THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) is finalising a strategy on dealing with the Gukurahundi issue that is expected to be completed next month and will, among other issues, address the processes around public hearings, exhumations and reburial of victims.
This was said by NPRC Commissioner Patience Chiradza in an interview.

She said the Commission had identified three areas that needed to be dealt with from past experiences, although the Gukurahundi era would be prioritised.

“We have a programme that our healing and reconciliation committee is working around in dealing with issues from the past,” she said.

“When we did our consultations, three epochs came clear; the pre-independence era which culminated in the liberation struggle, then the Gukurahundi era which is about between 1983 and 1985 and then the electoral violence that started around 2000.

“So, those are going to be the three focus areas and I think we are clear as a commission that Gukurahundi has its priorities given the dynamics that are there. Given the issues that have been raised in Matabeleland North and South and Bulawayo, Gukurahundi becomes a central theme.”

Commissioner Chiradza said the Commission had been conducting consultations on the issue before the actual hearings begin.

“So, as a Commission we have been doing a lot of work around that issue because before you get into that space you need to make sure that you have a proper strategy of how you are going to do the hearings,” she said.State media