Bhalagwe Gukurahundi plaque vandalized again

THE Gukurahundi memorial plaque erected at the Bhalagwe mass grave in Maphisa, Matabeleland South province, has been vandalized for the fourth time by suspected state security agents.

Ibhetshu LikaZulu, in collaboration with various stakeholders and human rights groups, had to erect the plaques for the fourth time at the same location.

However, the plaque has been blown up or removed by people suspected of being state security agents who do not want to stop discussions about the atrocities committed between 1982 and 1987 during the height of Gukurahundi, a mass genocide committed in the 1980s. brought.

Thousands of people, including men, women and children, were killed and buried in the Bhalagwe mass grave by the Fifth Brigade during that period.

Ibhetshu LikaZulu general secretary Mbuso Fuzwayo told Southern Eye the plaque and crosses have been removed.

“To me, it is clear that the state does not want the Gukurahundi issue to be addressed,” he said.

“What is important for our people is that even if the program led by the chiefs begins, we must know that the government program is not intended to heal the wounds of the people, but to advance their own interests.”

Mthwakazi Republic Party president Mqondisi Moyo said it was disturbing that state agents continued to destroy the plaques.

Nkayi Community Parliament Speaker Nhlanhla Moses Ncube blamed the vandalism on state actors.

“They are working in collusion with those responsible for the Gukurahundi genocide. Zanu PF and his agents are to blame. Why don’t they arrest these scoundrels?

Human rights defender Effie Ncube said vandalizing a plaque erected by victims and survivors of the Gukurahundi atrocities affected national healing and reconciliation efforts.

“Commemoration plays a central role in healing memories, mourning the dead, transferring memories and educating the youngest about the dark chapters we must never repeat. The commemorative plaques are a history book that reminds us of the excellent exercise in healing wounds,” she said.

“Destroying them will not silence the story of what happened. “The commemorative plaques contribute to the difficult and uncomfortable, but absolutely necessary, debate about what happened and how it affected people then and how it continues to affect them today.”

Ncube said the commemorative plaques were a window to the past.

“Unless we are prepared to have that difficult but necessary horizontal and vertical dialogue about our collective past, the path to healing and national reconciliation becomes difficult,” Ncube said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has tasked Matabeleland’s traditional leaders to address massacres in the 1980s that claimed more than 20,000 lives, according to the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe.