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Ignored in life, exploited in death’: ZAPU blasts Zanu PF over Dube funeral
ZAPU National Chairperson, John Zolani Dlamini, has expressed outrage over Zanu PF’s alleged interference in the funeral of Seven Dube, a revered ZPRA cadre.
Dube, who became the face of the armed wing as “Isotsha eliphethe umntwana” (the soldier cradling the baby) passed away on December 22, 2024, at his home in Ezimnyama, Osabeni Ward 2, Mangwe District, Matabeleland South, following a long illness. His funeral, marred by political interference, has sparked controversy, with ZAPU accusing Zanu PF of exploiting the burial for political gain.
“We are from the funeral of our ZPRA icon, Comrade Seven Dube, who died sometime last week after a long illness,” Dlamini told CITE after Dube’s burial on December 31, 2024.
“Dube was very popular, symbolising our party during the 1980 elections. He was not working and lived as a peasant farmer in rural areas. When he was sick, he received no assistance from the government, surviving on a meager allowance.”
Dlamini said that Dube contributed to the purchase of ZPRA properties confiscated by Zanu PF, leaving veterans like him destitute.
“Even his medical needs were a struggle to meet,” he added.
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22 December 2024
ZAPU marks today as a day of remembering the victims of the Ndebele Genocide (1983-1987) commonly known as Gukurahundi. The Ndebele Genocide is a microcosm of the Jewish Holocaust (1933-1945) and stands a stark reminder of the futility of having independence without freedom. The horrors of Gukurahundi have been documented in various ways but a platform for survivors to speak out openly remains a fleeting mirage. A chief-led Gukurahundi dialogue programme launched by President Mnangagwa in July this year remains on ice, clearly facing the stillbirth that similar window-dressing efforts have faced in the past. Apparently, there is no motivation for self-incrimination.
Political posturing and shedding of crocodile tears remains the government’s default strategy to buy time, hoping that the issue of Gukurahundi will eventually disappear as its victims die. No one outside the highest level of government has ever seen the report from the Dumbutshena Commision of Inquiry, established to investigate the Entumbane skirmishes between November 1980 and March 1981. Similarly, the Chihambakwe Commission of Inquiry established by President Mugabe in 1983 to investigate the massacres of civilians in Matabeleland by the Fifth Brigade issued a report that remains hidden from the public domain. In 2019, the Chairperson of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), the late Retired High Court judge Selo Nare told the media that the Dumbutshena and Chihambakwe reports had been lost.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Someone somewhere knows of the whereabouts of the “lost” reports. Perpetrators of Gukurahundi by commission are also officially known. The Zimbabwe National Army holds complete records of the list of soldiers deployed as members of the Fifth Brigade under the command of one Colonel ‘Black Jesus’ Perrance Shiri. The perpetrators of Gukurahundi are known and their trail of destruction remains evident in the parts of Matabeleland and Midlands they ravaged. Some victims of Gukurahundi can point at their rapists and torturers now decorated civil servants, diplomats or army top brass. A longer list exists, of Gukurahundi perpetrators by omission – institutions and individuals who watched in silence as the Ndebele Genocide occurred during half a decade of rape, torture and wanton bloodletting.
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Hi we have something to say! In this Big Conversation - for a Christmas Greeting, as we see the end of 2024
Between Thulani Nkala and Zapu President Michael Sibangilizwe Nkomo- in a Big Conversation about the Visit to South Africa - put together by Matabeleland Broadcasting Corporation
