Still No Justice in 2025
- Details
- Written by: Desire Munyaradzi KUNAKA with ZAPU evidence and testimonies
- Hits: 3184
Introduction
Written by: Richard Gandari [ZAPU Spokes Person, Harare]: Hits: 581
https://gukurahundi.info/the-beginnings-of-a-genocide [The Gukurahundi.info website is a collaboration of Richard Gandari [ZAPU Zimbabwe] and John Burke [ZHRO UK]
Identifying as a member or supporter of ZAPU became a death wish.
Under the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, a caveat was promulgated, outlawing ZAPU and forfeiting all its properties to the state. Some of the properties belonged to ZPRA, the armed wing of ZAPU during the liberation struggle. Being visionaries, ZPRA veterans lawfully purchased a string of valuable properties using funds pooled from their demobilization payouts. The party, ZAPU also invested in movable and immovable properties. Everything was seized and forfeited to the state. Dr Joshua Nkomo was persecuted and hounded into exile. His lieutenants, the late Dr Dumiso Dabengwa and the late Commander Lookout Masuku were thrown into Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison on trumped up charges. The rest is history as the adage goes.
Just like in East Germany in 1990, it has been four decades of denial and deafening silence.
As the watershed elections of August 2023 were rigged to maintain the status quo, hopes of a new Zimbabwe remain an elusive dream. ZAPU the corporate victim of Gukurahundi, remains incapacitated. With Mugabe’s caveat frozen in time, the resurging party is struggling to reclaim its purloined glory. As fate would have it, the leader of ZAPU today is none other than Michael Sibangilizwe Nkomo, the very son of the late Dr Joshua Nkomo. One would consider it a golden opportunity for poetic justice but lo and behold, those wielding the levers of power have no desire to allow a new dawn for Zimbabwe. Due to incapacitation, ZAPU could not field its leader for the presidential race. The steep nomination fees demanded by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission made it impossible for ZAPU to effectively participate in the crucial plebiscite.
Unwritten caveats designed to perpetuate Gukurahundi in other subtle and thinly veiled forms
Apart from the continued onslaught against ZAPU there remains a myriad of unwritten caveats designed to perpetuate Gukurahundi in other subtle and thinly veiled forms. Nothing short of regime change can revive hopes for the genuine resolution of Gukurahundi as a de facto genocide.
2nd time We Demand Justice for a Genocide
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- Written by: M S Nkomo, Chief F Ndiweni and J C Burke
- Hits: 2840
Thursday, Genocide Petition to the Prime Minister! [a duplicate of this Article CLICK HERE]
On 5th December 2024 we congregated outside the newly "secured" Zimbabwe Embassy - they have got some grim looking metal security gated fabrications at the side and front entrances - to make the Embassy even less friendly or appealing to the Zimbabwean Diaspora - security concerns or Guilt? - we have to ask why these new gates - {photo on Flickr - click to see for yourself SIDE DOOR - 429 CORNER DOOR }.
True to form the guilty inside locked their doors - simply as we were there. Indeed they sent out a CIO to sit in his new BMW X6 to "observe us" - so we took their photos too - again on our Flickr Album of the day. {CLICK HERE TO SEE THE DAYS PHOTO ALBUM} Please note that due to technical constraints, the videos recorded today will take some considerable time to be 'compressed' in order to be displayed upon our Flickr Platform - so expect videos to be appearing by the weekend please.
We took some more photos with our "Zanu PF Must Go" banner and by 13:30 we sidled off towards Trafalgar Square and onto Whitehall. by 13:45 we were arranged opposite Downing Street - under the gaze of "Monty" at his commemorative statue. By the time we have said our hellos to the new supporters opposite Downing Street it was time to present our band of 6 petitioners to the Diplomatic Police Unit in control of Downing Street. Ronald T Mutumbi, was due to be the Organiser of the 6 of us today - but had unexpected problems with travel on the day - such a pity.
So we 6 lined up at the solid security gates {making the Zimbabwean Embassy gates looking a little flimsy!} at the entrance to Downing Street. Our Police Diplomatic Unit Escort - was a friendly as any tourist guide - calling us in by our first names! As some may know within those gates we have to go through Air Port Quality X-Ray machines to check all our bags, mobile phones or any metal objects.
Why ZHRO’s Walk for Freedom Matters
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- Written by: Panganai Mauzinyu
- Hits: 59
Why ZHRO’s Walk for Freedom Matters
Peaceful solidarity, fellowship and the beauty of the British countryside
Freedom deserves to be defended peacefully and consistently. For Zimbabweans living in the United Kingdom, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Organisation’s Walk for Freedom provides a meaningful opportunity to stand together, raise awareness and keep the hopes of people back home in public view. The walk’s value extends beyond the distance covered. It brings people together around human dignity, democratic accountability and the belief that Zimbabweans should be able to express their views without fear. Walking together gives those principles a visible, peaceful expression.
ZHRO describes a decade of walks, petitions and campaigning. Its reports show a continuing commitment to keeping Zimbabwe’s human rights concerns before the public. This persistence matters: people whose struggles receive little attention need others willing to remember them and speak alongside them.
A peaceful purpose with practical meaning
A walk cannot, by itself, resolve Zimbabwe’s political and human rights problems. Its contribution is to build solidarity, create opportunities for conversation and sustain public awareness. It also allows members of the diaspora to turn concern into participation. People can meet fellow Zimbabweans, learn about ZHRO’s work and contribute to a shared cause. Peaceful campaigning gains strength when people remain involved over time. The legitimacy of that purpose rests on respect for human dignity and peaceful participation. Zimbabweans do not need to apologise for caring about their country or expressing concern about its future.
Planning Next Walk for Freedom
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- Written by: John Burke
- Hits: 74
Currently scouting out for the next Walk for Freedom adventure, in County Durham, from Bishop's Auckland, to Durham itself and onto Finchale Priory on the banks of the river Wear (of Tyne and Wear nomenclature!) See lots of photos on our Flickr Album (Click Here)
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| The Road (was Railway) Viaduct into Bishop's Auckland) from the pack horse crossing |
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| Durham Cathedral "sailing" on a sea of Green - The Cathedral sits on a high rock outcrop and is a steep walk to visit. |
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| Finchale Priory (or Abbey) started in 1196 on the Banks of the River Wear |
These photos were recorded upon several of the potentails walks over old railway lines and of ancient 'lanes' {Frankland Lane] trod by Monks heading to the Finchale Priory many centuries before us!
Frankland Lane History
The Durham end. The lane starts at Sidegate, by Crook Hall. Sidegate was a manor whose name literally meant a side entrance into the city, so you were leaving Durham by one of its old back ways. The oldest surviving part of Crook Hall was built by Peter del Croke in the first half of the 14th century, probably replacing an earlier building. englandsnortheast global
The bishops' park. The lane takes its name from Frankland, which was a hunting park for the Bishops of Durham, with lands stretching down towards the centre of the city. The Victoria County History notes that paths led across the fields from the road by Crook Hall to Frankland, where the bishops had their park. By the 19th century the park was long gone as a working deer park: the land had been enclosed and divided into farms well before 1840, yet a keeper of Frankland park was still being appointed as a sinecure as late as 1848. The farm called Frankland Park, on the sloping fields above the Wear, preserves the name, and you will have passed through that farmland on the climb. Durham City : Framwellgate and Neville’s Cross - England's North East +3
The Finchale end. The priory grew from the hermitage of St Godric in the 12th century and later became a rest house for the monks of Durham Cathedral priory. It is reasonable to suppose that monks and servants travelling between the two used a route along this side of the river, but I haven't found a source that says the present lane is that route, so treat it as likely rather than proven.
Later layers. The north end is much more recent in character. Brasside Pond is an artificial lake left by clay digging for a neighbouring brickworks, which closed long ago along with its branch railway, and Frankland Prison now sits beside it. durham
So the sunken, hedged feel you noticed fits: it is an old access track through a medieval episcopal park, later a farm lane after enclosure.
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