The financially challenged Zanu PF Government must pay a staggering US$100 billion to the Matabeleland region in southern Zimbabwe, as compensation for the bloody Gukurahundi genocide which resulted in the ghastly killings of about 20 000 Ndebele-speaking citizens, a political activist has suggested.
The reign of terror inflicted on the southerners by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade between the early to mid-80s, has remained a contentious matter with various figures thrown around pertaining to the mortalities recorded.
Commenting on social media, Matabeleland Liberation Organisation (MLO) leader, Paul Siwela said for the plunder and damage inflicted on particularly the inhabitants of the region, the Government must commit to a monetary reparation of US$100 billion.
The hundred-billion-dollar demand was, according to Siwela, amongst a multiplicity of other demands presented to the Zimbabwean government, then under the presidency of the late deposed autocrat, Robert Mugabe, back in 2015.
The other demand proffered by the MLO leader was the restoration of the Matabeleland State as at 3 November 1983.
The Gukurahundi issue has, as some commentators put it, been akin to a hot potato- tossed from one hand to another by politicians and opinion leaders alike. Mugabe described the Gukurahundi epoch as a moment of madness.
On the other hand, incumbent leader Emmerson Mnangagwa’s’New Dispensation’ has publicly expressed willingness to compensate the affected communities in Matabeleland and parts of the Midlands province.
Siwela said in a Facebook post Tuesday this week:
“For the benefit of all, the following Demands were presented to the Zimbabwe government in October 2015 and still stands.
wonder you find the government of Zimbabwe is today trying to appease the Matebeles, hoping the above demands can be forgotten or changed. That would not happen.
For the record, the Demands will never be forgotten or changed and shall stand until they have been met in full.
1.0 Restoration of Matebeleland State as at 3 November 1893
1.1 Reparations equivalent to One hundred billion United States Dollars for genocide and gross abuse of Matebeles, stealing and plundering of Matebele resources”.
Agencies
