after three days. The family was only able to rebury their beloved one and putting a memorial mark
at the site where he was killed after 34 years –putting their soul to rest – with the help of Ukuthula
Trust.
With reflections from Counselling Services Unit, Ukuthula Trust and other participants, the story
helped participants learn that;
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Communities are desperately in need of healing and reconciliation interventions
Without facilitating reburials, erecting memorial sites and other transitional justice mechanisms,
there would be continued trauma among the victims of violence
Cultural sensitivity is crucial when facilitating transitional justice interventions
It is possible for communities to participate in their own healing when there is ownership of the
processes.
There is need to gather more evidence and understanding various conflict issues that took place
in Zimbabwe’s history to provide a holistic approach to TJ.
The government has not been supportive of the healing and reconciliation efforts by CSOs,
particularly on reburials of the victims of the Gukurahundi. For example, a church leader from
the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe pointed out that he was once threatened by a Governor to
stop supporting reburials for the Gukurahundi victims or he leaves the community from where
he was deployed to preach.
The cases of mass graves are also peculiar in Manicaland. There are about 124 sites known as
mass graves with some people buried in disused mines.
While Gukurahundi stopped it has been continued through economic marginalisation and social
inequalities perpetrated by the government including denial of job opportunities and land.
Chief Mathema also reflected that the cries of the people of Matabeleland are that they want to
know the person who started Gukurahundi before healing and reconciliation issues are facilitated.
He emphasized that the affected communities want the perpetrators should come out in the open
and take responsibility of their omissions. The Chief also cited there are cases where some corpse
would show that someone was killed by more than eight bullets –an indication that it was a planned
killing as opposed to a mistake.
Shari Eppel closed the reflections by showing participants evidence of reburials of the victims of
Gukurahundi and how much the families had healed. She demonstrated how the power of reburials
can facilitate healing and how it can assist in developing memory as well as gathering evidence of
what happened during the conflict.
Key Speech of the day: The Matabeleland Question - Siphosami Malunga
The keynote speech for Day Two was delivered by Mr. Siphosami Malunga, the Executive Director
of the Open Society Institute for Southern Africa (OSISA). He opened his speech by noting that he
was going to address three key issues, and these were outlined as below:
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That Gukurahundi and the Matabeleland question is a continuing atrocity
Understanding the bitter truth of state involvement in healing
The limitations of the NPRC and the alternatives to accountability
Sipho’s personal experience with Gukurahundi
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