Mphoko suggests that by so doing they will be doing a national healing process which will appease both the spirits of the dead and their surviving loved ones.
I am not really sure if this is a well thought out process and can only take solace in that it is maybe one of those usual ZANU PF good boy statements made ahead of any elections.
There was a time that I highly valued VP Mphoko's commitment to the troubled regional politics of this region when he was speaking to issues exactly as they are and exactly as felt by the people on the ground but of late he is in a shocking about turn speaking precisely as a messenger against his people not the ambassador he had been.
I do not presume but I know that VP Mphoko knows as much as everyone who cares does that the reburial and monumenting of the graves of over 20 000 Matabele people killed during these atrocities is not what the people of Matabeleland want.
We have been on the ground, we speak to people and am definite government through its agents has done the same and they got the precise message of what people on the ground want. These people know to who all the shallow graves belong to. They know all their relatives and loved ones who were taken to Bhalagwe Mine and never came back.
Nothing ever stopped people from reburying their loved ones after the "cease fire" nor stopped communities gathering to do traditional rituals and making "monuments" at the mass graves except the bleeding hearts of the people. A third force coming in believing that reburial and monuments will heal these hearts, guaranteed will be taken as arrogance by the people and will not be a healing but making worse the wounds.
Matabeleland People need to talk. They need to be talked to. They need answers. They need explanations. They need apologies. The rest will follow up after.
VP Mphoko is dead right that in our culture both the spirits of the dead and the bereaved never rest until a descent burial takes place. He unfortunately deliberately avoids mentioning that no burial or reburial will be considered descent in our culture unless exhaustive talks and remorse is reached at and at times even appropriate reparation following up.
This is what the parents who lost their children want Cde Mphoko if you are to get healing. This is what the children and siblings of the dead want. This is what the communities housing the graves want, in case you didn't know which I know its known. Let the people talk, let them be talked to and let them hear the painful realities and cry their hearts out.
What is being planned here by government is not the first step to take but the very last when all else has been done. These are human beings being dealt with here not animals where one of their own is killed and life goes on.
The Matabeleland message remains clear and unchanged ever since - Hands off Gukurahundi until its talked about. Kuthulwe kuzekube nini?
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