Source: State Media

Vice President Kembo Mohadi says the post-independence Midlands and Matabeleland Gukurahundi attrocities were not a tribal issue and should not be used as a weapon to gain political mileage dividing Zimbabweans along tribal lines. Mohadi said people were supposed to embrace tolerance and forgiveness, bearing in mind that no human was perfect.

Vice President Kembo Mohadi said this while speaking during the commissioning of a bridge in Chirumanzu yesterday.

“There are those who say there is Gukurahundi and all that. Who hasn’t wronged the other? I am here and I can’t even speak proper Shona or proper Ndebele, but I am here (as the country’s Vice President),” he said.

VP Mohadi said Zimbabweans should resist divisive rhetoric and elements bent on pushing political agendas using Gukurahundi to pursue nefarious agendas.

The Vice President said interests of Zimbabweans should take precedence in all spheres and all sectors of production.

“Zimbabweans are one and Zimbabwe is for us all. Let it be Zimbabwe first before it is Shona, Ndebele, Zezuru or Kalanga. We are Zimbabweans first before anything,” he said.

VP Mohadi said divisions and disunity were retrogressive to development, adding that Zimbabweans should rather forge a united front and work together for economic development.

“This is our country; this where we belong. We want a united nation hence our Zanu PF motto, which says ‘Unity, Peace and Development.’

“There cannot be peace where there are divisions. There cannot be development where there are divisions,” he said. VP Mohadi said he was superintending over the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission and the new administration was determined to unite people.

“I have travelled the length and breadth of the country and met all the traditional leaders and they gave me wisdom which will not be found in books. This is our mission to unite Zimbabweans not to divide.”