VICE-PRESIDENT Phelekezela Mphoko must “shut up” on issues to do with Gukurahundi atrocities, unless he wants to confess that he was part to the bloody crackdown, the opposition Zapu has said.
Mphoko has continued to stir a hornet’s nest, claiming the atrocities described by President Robert Mugabe “as a moment of madness,” was a “Western conspiracy against Zimbabwe” and the Unity Accord that resulted in the merger of the former liberation movement’s PF Zapu and Zanu PF “was not under duress”.
“You could not distinguish between a Zipra and MK cadre. They couldn’t draw a line, so the only thing to do was come up with a fictitious story that Zapu wants to overthrow the government. And they deployed their forces. All along, they had been trying to find an excuse,” Mphoko told the State media last week.
But Zapu secretary general Strike Mkadla reacted angrily to Mphoko’s claims.
“If it was a conspiracy then there was collusion between the West and Zanu PF. We are all aware that the military unit that prosecuted the atrocities, the Fifth Brigade was internally created and disbanded after doing its job, completing its mandate as directed by the government,” Mkandla told NewsDay yesterday.
Vice-Presidents Phelekezela Mphoko
“We do not need some people to sanitise what was purely a horrible deed against a defenseless population, disguised as a manhunt for so-called dissidents. Mphoko should shut up and allow those that were responsible for Gukurahundi to take responsibility, unless he wants to tell us he was party to it.”
Mphoko in the interview reportedly said the disturbances had been concentrated in the Midlands and Matabeleland regions, because these were “the routes” used by African National Congress (ANC) armed militants, the Umkonto we Sizwe during forays in South Africa.
“People can disagree with me, I don’t mind . . . Now, the conspiracies of ’80 were very violent and that is when we had a situation in Matabeleland.
“South Africa was the West’s biggest concern. Their economy is there, the money there is theirs. What is going to happen to South Africa? They knew that (South Africa’s liberation movement), the ANC was working with the Patriotic Front, with us — Zapu — in particular,” Mphoko said.
“You can’t ignore the fact that even up to now, the whites in South Africa are not sure whether they are going to be pushed into the sea or what. They are not sure about that. So, you can’t take it lightly, thinking that things were normal. They were not.”
Mphoko said the Unity Accord signed between Mugabe and late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo in 1987 was a culmination of events dating back to 1972.
“Some people think it was unity under duress, we wanted a ceasefire. No, that is not it. The Unity Accord we are talking about is much more than the one of 1987 because it started in 1972,” he said.
Mkandla, however, said Nkomo had been dragged into the agreement to “stem the tide of deaths”.
“Nkomo and even the likes of (Dumiso) Dabengwa in particular, went into the agreement reluctantly to stop the killings. The agreement lacked and still lacks the basic principles of a fair arrangement. For example, PF Zapu went into negotiations with Zanu PF but the new party was called Zanu PF. The idea was to completely obliterate any memories of Zapu,” he said.
“In fact, the Unity Accord was a continuation of Gukurahundi, it is an astonishingly skewed document. You would never expect people who fought in the same war to treat each other the way Zanu does to former Zapu colleagues. Zapu was made a junior partner and it is there for all to see.”
Mkandla said Mphoko was singing for his super.
“He is doing this because of where he is. He has a right, but he does not need to rub salt into the wounds of those who suffered in order to keep his job. Mugabe, the most senior Zanu PF official partially admitted to the atrocities, by calling it a “moment of madness”. He never blamed the West.
“It cannot be lost to us that Mugabe could not have known that fact. If it was indeed a Western plot, did Mugabe then become insane in order to implement a foreign plot. Mugabe never referred to any treachery by the West because he knows,” the Zapu secretary general said.
Just after independence, Mugabe embarked on a bloody campaign to “root out dissidents” in the western parts of the country, that conservative figures claim resulted in over 20 000 deaths. The Zimbabwean leader has refused to apologise, instead describing the episode as a “moment of madness”.-Southern Eye
