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Chief Khumalo goes to town praising Mnangagwa; says Gukurahundi talks reaches advanced stage

By Staff Writer

CHIEF Mtshane Khumalo from Bubi District in Matabeleland North province who was recently elected as the new president of the Chiefs Council has gone all the way to town praising President Emmerson Mnangagwa for giving a listening ear to the people of Matabeleland.

He is also spearheading programmes related to the Gukurahundi healing processes in the country’s region which has never accepted the ruling pary due to its role in the late 1980s disturbances.

This dark episode in the country’s history – referred to as the Gukurahundi era – started in 1982 when friction between two former liberation movements, ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU, boiled over into an armed conflict.

Then Prime Minister, the late Robert Mugabe, responded by deploying his special North Korean-trained army unit called the Fifth Brigade to these strongholds of the opposition PF-ZAPU.

By the time a peace was restored through a lopsided unity accord in December 1987, over 20,000 had died and thousands others were maimed, raped or had gone missing in what had turned out to be a tribal genocide.

But Chief Khumalo this week told a local state run newspaper that Mnangagwa who will be meeting 72 Chiefs from Matabeleland Thursday , that he was doing his best to address the problems.

“President Mnangagwa is keen to ensuring equitable development countrywide.This is in line with his philosophy that no one and no place should be left behind.

“People in our region were always lamenting that hey are lagging in almost everything.Since President Mnangagwa came to power ,he has taken proactive measures to address those issues, which shows that he walks the talk when it comes to issues affecting citizens,” said the Chiefs President.

He said the chiefs were going to have a meeting with Mnangagwa to brief him on the journey travelled so far in their mandate to address the Gukurahundi issues on the back of preparations to commence the Gukurahundi community engagements.

Chief Mtshane Khumalo said today’s meeting is expected to come up with a roadmap including the launch of the Gukurahundi hearings programme.

“The meeting is not the launch of the public hearings , but we will be briefing the President on our preparedness .We will be showing him what we have done since our last meeting with him , and from there we can tyhen decide when the launch will be held.

“Once the launch is done , each chief will then come up with their own programmes in terms of when they intend to conduct the programmes in terms of when they intend to conduct their communities ,” he said.

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