Gukurahundi rears its ugly head again as legislators discuss Mphoko’s Peace and Reconciliation bill

Madam Speaker, after every election, we have had issues of violence, particularly in 2000, 2002 and also in June of 2008.  Those are some of the issues which we want to address so that we can bring genuine reconciliation amongst the people of this country.  This was the motivation that led the framers of the current Constitution to see it necessary to include in the provisions of the Constitution, the need for a Commission to look after or deal with those matters with the objective to ensure that such incidents do not recur.  This will ensure that once and for all we can say that in future, going forward we are not going to have another situation where the people of this country are going to be involved in those kinds of disputes or conflicts.

The second issue I would like to raise Madam Speaker Ma’am arises from the fact that the Executive does not seem to be taking this issue very seriously.  If you look at the fact that our Constitution was adopted in 2013 and it is now almost four years down the line.  We have had a Commission whose members were appointed more than two years ago and yet when the original Bill was brought before this august House, it was blatantly unconstitutional.  It was clear to all and sundry that the drafters of the Bill were not taking us seriously.  In all the public hearings that we had in this country, that issue was raised about the unconstitutionality of the Bill.  What did the Hon. Vice President do?  He simply withdrew the Bill and for more than a year nothing happened.  One would have expected that since the issues were very clear and straightforward, what simply needed to be done was to cure the mischief that had led to the Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC), among others, to issue an Adverse Report which had also led to members of the public to reject the Bill.  One would have expected the Hon. Vice President to have moved with speed to ensure that this Bill came before us as a matter of urgency to enable the Commission to carry out its work.

Be that as it may Madam Speaker, I would actually endeavour to say that the Commission is in fact created by the Constitution.  At the end of the day, if one looks at the provisions, I think it is on Section 252, it is clear that because of that establishment by the supreme law of this country there is really nothing that should have prevented the Commission from carrying out its work. Again, it is Section 342, goes further to give the parameters under which some of these Commissions can operate. I am at a loss as to why it has taken this long for the Hon. Vice President to have ensured that the Bill is brought to this august House timeously.

Again, Madam Speaker, I want to reiterate the point that the Executive is not taking this issue very seriously. You are aware that the former Chairperson of the Commission, Mr. Cyril Ndebele died some time last year. Up to now, he has not been replaced. The Constitution is very clear, the requirements for that appointment is simply for His Excellency to consult the Judicial Services Commission as well as the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders, after that consultation to appoint a Chairperson of the Commission. It is clear that this has not been done simply because the Executive does not have any interest in having these issues which are really fundamental and necessary to enable us to move forward and not have another scenario where people can just perpetrate acts of violence with impunity.

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