Former dissidents say the Government should have included them in efforts to solve Gukurahundi alongside chiefs as they were the target of the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade.
This comes as traditional leaders prepare to hold community consultative meetings with Gukurahundi victims beginning this month.
The term “dissident” was used by the State in the 1980s to refer to ZIPRA liberation fighters, and some, who had joined the national army but either had left or deserted it for various reasons.
One of the ZANU founders, Enos Nkala, described dissidents as “Ndebeles who were calling for a second war of liberation and should be shot down.”
Speaking in an interview with CITE, a former dissident, Phumuza Ndlovu of Plumtree said those who were labelled dissidents should be included in efforts to solve Gukurahundi. Said Ndlovu:
The government wants to involve chiefs who were not there. If they wanted chiefs to take a lead role they should also have included other groups such as dissidents as we were the ones who were hunted down when people were killed.
How will the chiefs who were not present during Gukurahundi respond to the people?
Ndlovu claimed to be a dissident because ZANU leaders who wanted to control the country labelled ZAPU supporters and ZPRA fighters as such. He said:
When Zimbabwe was liberated in 1980, we expected it to be led by both the structures and principles of ZAPU and ZANU, with the national army governed by ZPRA and ZANLA, but instead, the country adopted the repressive laws of the white colonial system that we had fought.
For example, the White army that we had been fighting was now leading us in the integration process.
Ndlovu claimed that after independence, he joined the Three Brigade army’s canine section in Mutare.
He said he and other ZPRA members were labelled dissidents before they even deserted. Said Ndlovu:
The crux of the issue is that what we hoped and expected to happen in the new Zimbabwe did not happen.
The whites’ repressive system was adopted, which caused comrades to desert the rules because ZAPU and ZPRA members were being killed one by one.
Our army commanders, the late Lookout Masuku and Dumiso Dabengwa were arrested, and ZANU went after everyone, looking for weapons allegedly hidden by ZPRA members.
Ndlovu stated he and other victims were planning to form an organisation called the Matabeleland Tribal War Victims Association (MTWVA).
He said the association will engage communities, as relevant stakeholders in the resolution of Gukurahundi.
More: Pindula News