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By NQOBANI NDLOVU
BULAWAYO — Zapu says it has resolved to conduct a parallel process of exhuming the remains of its members who died before and after the country’s independence.
War veterans, who are closely linked to Zanu PF, have been exhuming bodies which they claim are of freedom fighters who died in the liberation struggle.
The programme has however courted controversy with Zapu accusing Zanu PF of carrying the exhumations for political gain ahead of elections expected later this year.
Zapu spokesperson Methuseli Moyo said Zanu PF wanted to distort the country’s history by claiming that mass graves being exhumed in Mt Darwin contained the remains of only Zanla ex-combatants killed during the liberation war.
“We are in the process of organising a parallel process of exhuming the remains of our members to counter Zanu PF’s attempts to distort history,” said Moyo, who could not divulge when the process would start.
Zapu, which is led by former Zanu PF politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa, has always accused Zanu PF of trying to distort the history of the liberation struggle and downgrading Zipra’s contribution to the war.
Zipra was the military wing of Zapu.
“Zapu believes the exhumations have been engineered by Zanu PF to stir emotions among the people for its own political mileage as we go towards elections,” said Moyo.
Former Zipra combatants last week took aim at Zanu PF for not consulting them before exhuming remains at Monkey William Mine in Mt Darwin in Mashonaland Central province.
They dismissed as lies that remains exhumed were of Zanu PF comrades killed during the liberation struggle.
Moyo also said the party is “seriously considering organising the exhumation of Gukurahundi victims for the world to see and appreciate what Gukurahundi was all about.”
“Gukurahundi evidence is plenty and fresh,” said Moyo. “The fact that some of the architects of the genocide are still with us makes the task easier because they can give evidence and pin-point the mass graves we do not yet know.
“We are afraid that the Zanu PF-managed exhumations may be used to cover-up evidence of the Gukurahundi atrocities.”
An estimated 20 000 people are said to have been killed during the Gukurahundi disturbances in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces after President Robert Mugabe sent a North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade to crack down against dissent to his rule.
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