Day 3: Policy Reflections
“One victim yesterday told us that she lost five members of her family including her son. Her son
was killed and thrown into a river while handcuffed. After three days, she had to ask for communal
men to help her retrieve the body from the river for burial. Out of fear that the soldiers may come
back and ask for the handcuffs, she had to cut the corpse’s hands to remove the handcuffs and she
returned them to the Gukurahundi soldiers” –Reverend Sibanda reflections
Reverend Useni Sibanda opened the conference’s third day by assisting participants to reflect on first
two days Symposium’s outputs drawing from various presentations and evidence by victims and
survivors of the Gukurahundi atrocities. Below are some of the excerpt observations participants
mentioned as relevant to the policy development process.
Reflections
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State involvement in TJ -The state should be at the centre of TJ given its involvement and
control of the infrastructures of violence and conflict
Zimbabwe’s History - There are many narratives of the Zimbabwean history, hence the need
to embark in a history project and documentation of various narratives including transforming
the education curriculum. While there is no need to agree on the narratives, there is need to
document all of them. “As it stands, ZIPRA’s narratives remain untold in full and it is not truly
told in Zimbabwe’s history” –Retired Colonel Magwizi.
− How do we reconcile the history that is told in the family and the history that is learnt in
school?
− Symbolic meanings attached to the conflict that happened are diverse and should be
valuably reconciled valued. For example Gukurahundi is seen as a tribal/ethnic conflict, an
economic conflict, a political conflict between ZAPU and ZANU etc
Collective memory –in relation to the history project is the development of mechanisms to
develop collective memory that tells the Zimbabwean stories of violence, conflict and
development. Questions that should be answered include;
− Who should facilitate memorialisation of history as it is part of national healing?
− How can there be a collective national narrative?
Matabeleland story - Most Zimbabweans do not know the Matabeleland story of Gukurahundi.
The general populace was largely prevented from knowing what was happening in the region
during the Gukurahundi era, hence the need to deliberately popularise the story to create
awareness and understanding.
− New insight –Gukurahundi was not a tribal /ethic conflict but a political conflict meant to
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destroy ZAPU’s military and political life.
What is pertinent is to alert the entire nation of what happened, the conflict took place
when communication was blocked from the public (Phathisa Nyathi).
Victims Narratives –there is need to ensure that victims narratives are extracted and
documented for public consumption. The truth from primary and secondary victims must be
considered valuable in truth telling and truth seeking
Financial resources –there is need for the NPRC to have guaranteed financial support so that it
will be able to provide key services to the affected communities
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Victims’ social welfare – the government and the PRC should provide a victims support
budget towards the victims’ welfare including psychosocial support.
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