Magwegwe MP Felix Magagela Sibanda (MDC-T) says he will next month introduce a private members Bill to force Parliament to enact legislation to provide for compensation of victims of the Gukurahundi massacres.
Sibanda said his pressure group, the Post-Independence Survival Trust (PIST), had started lobbying MPs to support the motion, which he plans to introduce on May 15.
Compensation is not just monetary, but it includes development of all the regions that were affected, Sibanda said.
PIST was formed five years ago to investigate the effects of Gukurahundi atrocities and push for compensation of the victims.
In 2006, then independent MP for Tsholotsho Jonathan Moyo drafted a Gukurahundi National Memorial Bill, which would have criminalised the denial of the atrocities, and established a Gukurahundi National Memorial shrine, fund and board, but the proposed Bill never reached Parliament although it was widely circulated among MPs.
According to Moyo, who is now a Zanu PF politburo member, the proposed Bill was meant to develop and maintain a credible record of Gukurahundi atrocities and plan and implement national programmes aimed at eliminating any tension or divisions caused by or related to Gukurahundi atrocities.
Two weeks ago, Zanu PFs Bulawayo governor Cain Mathema stirred a hornets nest when he dismissed the Gukurahundi compensation demands, saying the 1987 Unity Accord between PF Zapu and Zanu PF had atoned for the atrocities.
Mathema made the remarks while presenting a public lecture at Midlands State University in Gweru, courting the ire of Matabeleland and Midlands politicians and civic society groups who accused him of betraying the region.
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Gukurahundi has remained an emotive issue among villagers, politicians and civic society groups in Midlands and Matabeleland who bore the brunt of the atrocities where about 20 000 villagers were killed by a North Korean-trained military crack team, Fifth Brigade, between 1982 and 1987.
Added Sibanda: We are disappointed by Zanu PF for failing to disown Mathemas sentiments on Gukurahundi payouts.
This says to us that the party is singing the same hymn with Mathema and as people of Midlands and Matabeleland, this has accelerated our anger and we therefore will be pushing for a private members Bill as of May 15.
Political parties always seek publicity on Gukurahundi but it is unfortunate that there is no law that hastens and operationalises compensation of the victims.
Sibanda said he was hopeful that the Bill would be supported by MPs from both MDC formations. About a decade ago, President Robert Mugabe described the era as a moment of madness but fell short of making a public apology.
Since then, Zanu PF officials have dismissed debate over the issue and labelled politicians campaigning for compensation for victims as cheap publicity seekers.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last month also called for the compensation of Gukurahundi and other victims of political violence that has rocked the country since independence.
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