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NewsDay

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MLF to hold Gukurahundi memorial service

Politics
Secessionist Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) party said it plans to hold a memorial service for victims of Gukurahundi massacres on Heroes’ Day holidays at Hillbrow Theatre in Johannesburg. MLF secretary for legal affairs Sabelo Ngwenya told NewsDay in an interview on Wednesday that the party would conduct the memorial service on August 11 because “it […]

Secessionist Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) party said it plans to hold a memorial service for victims of Gukurahundi massacres on Heroes’ Day holidays at Hillbrow Theatre in Johannesburg.

MLF secretary for legal affairs Sabelo Ngwenya told NewsDay in an interview on Wednesday that the party would conduct the memorial service on August 11 because “it is around that time that Zimbabwe celebrates Heroes’ Day”.

“It is a day all the people of Mthwakazi remember the tens of thousands of people who were murdered, maimed, raped and tortured by the Zimbabwe regime during the Gukurahundi genocide.

“We are organising a protest march that will be followed by a prayer service to remember the victims of the Gukurahundi genocide.

“We have invited a number of people and organisations from both the South African and Mthwakazi public and the response is overwhelming, to say the least. We urged them to put on black ribbons, which symbol signifies mourning in our Mthwakazi culture,” he said.

Ngwenya said it was necessary to have this protest march and prayer service because there were concerted efforts to sweep the Gukurahundi issue under the carpet.

“Our position as MLF is that the perpetrators of the Gukurahundi genocide must be prosecuted and the victims compensated by the Zimbabwean government. In addition to that, the people of Mthwakazi are dying to share their personal experiences of this horrific episode with the rest of the world. The truth must come out first before any meaningful healing process can be celebrated,” he said.

“We also welcome the efforts by Genocide Watch to bring about the prosecution of the perpetrators who include high-profile public figures like (President) Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa in the international courts,” he said.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars last week brought together 300 genocide scholars and academics who reaffirmed that Gukurahundi was genocide and “the worst of our time”.