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CSO rescues Gukurahundi victims’ relatives

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A BULAWAYO-BASED civil society organisation, Post-Independence Survivors’ Trust (PIST), has said it helped to secure birth certificates for 156 citizens who lost their loved ones during the Gukurahundi massacres.

A BULAWAYO-BASED civil society organisation, Post-Independence Survivors’ Trust (PIST), has said it helped to secure birth certificates for 156 citizens who lost their loved ones during the Gukurahundi massacres.

BY SILAS NKALA

PIST director Felix Mafa Sibanda yesterday said that the programme was targeting Gukurahundi survivors in Midlands and Matabeleland regions where over 20 000 civilians were killed in a government-sanctioned manhunt for suspected ex-Zapu dissidents.

“We are identifying critical cases of people who are still suffering because of Gukurahundi, like their struggle to acquire official documents such as death or birth certificates,” Sibanda said.

“We are assisting them in various ways. As for now, over 156 people have benefited from the trust one way or another. Our clients are in both rural and urban areas of Midlands and Matabeleland provinces.”

Sibanda said many villagers in the areas affected by the genocide were still living in fear and were reluctant to disclose their predicament because of the trauma they suffered during the killings.

“Those who are educated a lot don’t want to speak out. Rural folk are not prepared to speak out until they have confidence in you,” Sibanda said.

Sibanda warned politicians to stop using the sad episode as a campaign gimmick saying that would reopen wounds.

He also lamented that Zanu PF was unrepentant over the killings as the party has been unwilling to conduct a national healing programme for the past 36 years.

He said they were also on the lookout for missing persons. PIST’s services are free although the organisation was facing financial challenges since they have no donors.

President Robert Mugabe, who ordered the crackdown when he was still Prime Minister, has declined to publicly apologise for the atrocities, but described the episode as “a moment of madness”.