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(NEWZIMBABWE) Forget past political squabbles: Nkomo

Forget past political squabbles: Nkomo
by Staff Reporter
15/08/2010 00:00:00

VICE President John Nkomo says Zimbabweans should forget past political squables which led to bloody clashes in the Matebeleland and Midlands provinces warning that the country could be torn apart unless people agreed “to move forward".

Nkomo, who is acting head of state in the absence of President Robert Mugabe, was speaking at celebrations to mark Zanu PF politburo member and presidential affairs minister Didymus Mutasa’s 75th birthday in Rusape on Saturday.

“It is true that after independence, there were squabbles between Zanu-PF and Zapu but whatever happened in the past should be water under the bridge. We should heal the wounds, reconcile and integrate ourselves,” Nkomo said.

A few years after independence, the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe deployed a specially trained army brigade into Matebeleland and Midlands to quell a dissident insurrection in a campaign rights organisations say killed an estimated 20000 civilians.

The disturbances ended when Mugabe signed a unity agreement with PF Zapu leader Dr Joshua Nkomo in 1987.

Vice President John Nkomo said dwelling on the past could tear the country apart.

“We need peace, unity and tranquility to prevail so that we can move forward as a nation. If we say an eye for an eye, Zimbabwe will be blind,” Nkomo said at the celebrations which were also attended by cabinet ministers, Zanu-PF politburo and central committee members as well as traditional and religious leaders.

Nkomo’s remarks come at a time when several senior members of PF Zapu, led by Dumiso Dabengwa, have left Zanu PF to revive their former party as a separate political entity.

They claim that the Unity Accord has not benefitted the regions most affected by the post-independence disturbances.

Labels: GUKURAHUNDI, JOHN NKOMO, ZANU-PF, ZAPU

posted by MrK @ 5:08 PM