Bulawayo residents have rejected the National Peace and Reconciliation Bill for failing to deal with the Gukurahundi killings.

The killing of civilians by a crack army unit in the 1980s – a period referred to as Gukurahundi – took centre stage during a public hearing on the National Peace and Reconciliation Bill in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo.

Local people rejected the bill saying it does not address the Fifth Brigade atrocities that left at least 20,000 people dead in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.

They said there won’t be any peace and reconciliation as long as the Gukurahundi atrocities are not addressed.

The locals slammed the bill for not addressing the issue of the atrocities and others also criticized it for ‘giving too much power’ to the justice ministry in a number of instances.