Correspondent

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is preparing to defend his decision to exhume and rebury Gukurahundi victims at the High Court.

Mnangagwa’s stance was revealed by his lawyers at the High Court in Bulawayo on Thursday when they asked the court for a postponement to give them time to prepare themselves in a case in which a Gukurahundi survivor and local pressure groups are seeking to stop the victim exhumations linked to the 1980s holocaust.

Gukurahundi survivor Charles Thomas, opposition Zapu and Ibhetshu Likazulu last week filed a joint urgent application at the Bulawayo High court seeking an interdict to bar government from exhuming victims of the state-sponsored massacres for reburial.

President Mnangagwa and Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Jenni Williams, Matabeleland Collective, National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) chairperson Retired Justice Sello Nare as well as the Commission were all cited as respondents.

Justice Martin Makonese postponed the hearing to Thursday next week after Mnangagwa and Kazembe’s lawyer Rejoice Hove of the Attorney General‘s office requested postponement.

“The 1st respondent (Mnangagwa) and 2nd respondent (Kazembe Kazembe) indicated through the AG’s office that they are not yet ready for the hearing.

“They said they only received the papers yesterday (Wednesday) and they need enough time to prepare their defence,” said the litigants‘ lawyer Nqobani Sithole soon after emerging from a closed door meeting in Justice Makonese’s chambers.

Mnangagwa was expected to officially launch the issuance of identity documents to Gukurahundi victims at Maphisa growth point in Matabeleland South next month.