Magwegwe MP Felix Magalela Sibanda yesterday said his proposed Gukurahundi Bill was in its final drafting stages and had received support from across the political divide.
The MDC-T legislator first announced his intention to introduce the Bill in Parliament last month. He said it was meant to address the plight of victims of the 1980s massacres in Matabeleland and Midlands blamed on the army’s Fifth Brigade.
“The Bill is already getting 100 percent support from Members of Parliament,” he claimed.
“I wonder though if the President (Robert Mugabe) will sign it into law since he has the final say.”
Sibanda said during an MDC-T parliamentary caucus meeting, the party’s chief whip Innocent Gonese had welcomed the Bill, saying it was a crucial move towards development.
“Next week when the Parliament resits on June 5, I will draft a legal notice with which the Speaker of Parliament will have to give me a go-ahead to table it.
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“If adopted by the Lower House, it will then be referred to Senate.
“After that, the President will have the power to adopt or do away with the Bill.
“People should understand that this is not a political issue, but rather an issue of humanity.”
Sibanda had promised the Bill would be ready by May 15, but he failed to do so after Parliament adjourned to the first week of June.
In 2006, then independent MP for Tsholotsho Jonathan Moyo drafted a Gukurahundi National Memorial Bill, which would have criminalised the denial of the atrocities.
The proposed Bill by the Zanu PF MP never reached Parliament although it was widely circulated among MPs.