Former Zipra cadre, Agrippa Madlela, says Vice President John Landa Nkomo must urgently apologise to the people of Matabeleland for his “careless remarks” if he wants to remain relevant to the region.
Madlela said VP Nkomo had insulted people from the region by calling them “lazy”.
The VP made the remarks during a tour of the Joshua Nkomo Airport in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
He said the notion of the marginalisation of Matabeleland was a fallacy and accused people of the region of “lacking initiative”.
Madlela said people in the region had for the past 31 years watched helplessly while their resources were plundered by government to develop Mashonaland regions leaving them poorer.
“In the 1987 Unity Accord, Nkomo joined Zanu PF whose major policy was to marginalise Matabeleland.
“The same party had terrorised the region during Gukurahundi to eliminate us,” Madlela said. He said if Nkomo was clever he would know that Gukurahundi was part of a Zanu PF strategy to marginalise Matabeleland.
Madlela said while other Zanu PF “clever ministers” developed their regions, the likes of VP Nkomo and other Matabeleland politicians slept while their region lagged behind in everything.
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“It is not reasonable to say more than four million people are lazy without first probing issues. I thought Nkomo represents us in government.
“His remarks confirm he is not for us,” said Madlela. He said Zanu PF’s land policy was a good example of the marginalisation of Matabeleland.
Madlela said while people in Mashonaland benefited from farms in their areas under the land reform programme, in the Midlands and Matabeleland, it became a free for all, and as a result more people from Mashonaland benefited than locals.
He said all this happened under Nkomo’s eyes and “he did nothing”.
