THE Matabeleland-based Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) has launched a campaign to collect at least 20 000 signatures to petition government to bring closure to the contentious Gukurahundi issue.
BY KHANYILE MLOTSHWA
MRP acting spokesperson, Ackim Gasela Mhlanga, said they would handover the petition that was being circulated on social media platforms.
“Each signature represents an individual soul lost through the genocide between 1982 and 1987,” he said.
The petition also narrates the continued marginalisation of people from Matabeleland and Midlands areas, where an estimated 20 000 civilians were killed by an army unit during the Gukurahundi massacres.
“The petition will be handed over to the government of Zimbabwe, neighbouring countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Zambia, AU, her majesty the Queen of England, Britain, Sadc, UN (United Nations), EU (European Union) and religious organisations,” he said.
The petition is posted on an online platform, ipetitions.com and to sign, one has to choose the options given on the page, and has to state the village of origin, kraal head, chief, province and where he or she is currently based.
Mhlanga said the petition was inspired by a standing United Nations resolution regarding the autonomy and self-determination of all minority groups, whose human rights were being denied and their dignity trampled on by their majority ethnic groups anywhere in the world.
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By midday yesterday, 188 people had signed the petition, which outlines the history of Matabeleland from colonisation by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) to present day Zimbabwe.
“We are aware, however, that after the invasion and conquest of Mthwakazi by the BSAC, the British crown granted the Royal Charter of Incorporation to this company conferring it will all the powers of a government on all lands north of the Limpopo River,” Mhlanga said. “The British Crown also legalised the continued occupation of our kingdom state illegally by proclaiming the Matabeleland Order-in-Council on July 19, 1894, where it was claimed that our kingdom has been broken down and replaced by a better system.
“Such a declaration was racist and false. Through the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of 1918, this illegal decision was further reinforced.”
