Ray Nkosi | Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, who is also heading the government Organ on National Healing, says that the Gukurahundi matter is now a closed case and relatives of the deceased must come forward and get death certificates of their loved ones.

Speaking in Bulawayo over the weekend at a meeting of small scale farmers from the Matabeleland region, Mphoko said as the chairperson of the organ tasked by government to look into the matter, he is satisfied there is enough closure with President Robert Mugabe’s assurance that the atrocities were a moment of madness and will never happen again.

“President Mugabe made it clear that it was an act of madness and what else do we want? There is nothing more than that,” he said.

Mphoko said instead of people remaining stuck on the matter relatives of the victims should approach government and get death certificates of their relatives who were killed during the atrocities. He added that government is in the process of facilitating descent burials of all the people killed during the atrocities.

“The Government has introduced a national programme of reburying people who were killed during the liberation war that is being carried out throughout the country. In this part of the country (Matabeleland) that has to be done so that people who were affected by Gukurahundi are given a decent burial and that is very critical as it will help cool down tempers and emotions,” he said.

“We are the leaders of this country and it is our responsibility to address those matters. What we have to do is to issue birth and death certificates to those who were affected by Gukurahundi and rebury their loved ones properly,” he said.

Mphoko ruled out calls for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission which opposition parties and other civic organisations are lobbying for claiming that the process is not necessary as it will only serve to embarrass a few people. Mphoko said the Government was committed to exploring a non-confrontational way of dealing with the matter.

“In fact, there is a lot that is being said about Gukurahundi including how my predecessors the late Vice-Presidents Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, Joseph Msika and John Landa Nkomo handled the matter. However, the problem is that there are some people who want the issue to be handled in a certain manner that seeks to humiliate targeted people, but our approach is that we must find a solution that will help the victims and produce best results and as the Minister responsible for that, I am exploring a way which is not confrontational,” he said.