By-The Matabeleland traditional leadership said that the Zanu PF government should give a public apology for the Gukurahundi massacres it engineered in the early 9180.

The former President Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa administration unleashed armed soldiers on civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.

The atrocities claimed over 20 000 innocent people.

President Mnangagwa claims to have opened dialogue on the emotive subject but is not willing to give an apology for the mass killings.

Matabeleland South provincial chiefs’ assembly chairperson Chief Masendu, speaking on behalf of traditional leaders in the province, said Gukurahundi could not be wished away. He said:
Chiefs are the rightful people to handle the Gukurahundi issue because they belong to the people. We stay with them; they talk to us. What they want is an apology and compensation.
Government must agree and openly apologise to the people. No other person can come from outside whom people can understand and relate to their issues confidently beside the chiefs.
Masendu condemned the recent destruction of the Gukurahundi memorial plaque at Bhalagwe in Maphisa, Matebeleland South province, and called on the government to bring the culprits to book.
The plaque was erected by villagers in memory of victims of the Gukurahundi massacres buried inside the Bhalagwe mass graves.

-NewZimbabwe