Own Correspondent|Civil Society Organisations from Matabeleland have demanded that President Emmerson Mnangagwa apologises for his role in the Gukurahundi atrocities of the mid eighties.

In a no holds barred meeting held at the State House in Bulawayo on Friday, Civil Society Organisations and organisations falling under the Matabeleland Collective banner took turns to demand that Mnangagwa should be the first to own up to the atrocities before victims of the genocide are invited to speak on the issue.

The activists told Mnangagwa that the Gukurahundi can never be wished away without it being fully attended to with him in the lead.

Over 20 000 people in Matabeleland and parts of the Midlands provinces were killed by the Gukurahundi soldiers in an era which former President Robert Mugabe described as a moment of madness.

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