Police in Bulawayo on Wednesday blocked a Gukurahundi commemorative event held by pressure group, Ibhetshu LikaZulu, at Stanley Square.

The annual event is held on 22 December to remember the 20 000 victims of the 1980s Gukurahundi atrocities.

Ibhetshu LikaZulu had planned to march from Stanley Square to the Joshua Nkomo statue in the city centre but police details were deployed to block the event.

This year’s commemorations were held under the theme: “Can there be healing without truth-telling and justice?”

Speaking in an interview with CITE, Ibhetshu LikaZulu Secretary-General Mbuso Fuzwayo said the police conduct was not surprising. He said:
We are not surprised by the conduct of the police. They are part of the security forces that were responsible for the genocide.

It is sad that President Emmerson Mnangagwa always reiterates that people can now discuss openly Gukurahundi but every time when we hold commemorations they come and block us.

However, that is not going to stop the people from holding such events.

On 22 December 1987, the late ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo signed the Unity Accord with the late ZANU PF leader Robert Mugabe.

The agreement brought to an end the State-sponsored Gukurahundi massacres in the Matabeleland region and parts of Midlands province.-CITE