POLITICIANS from Matabeleland and the Midlands have broken ranks with their colleagues in Zanu PF, saying the current repression of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change should not spread to their provinces as this would revive memories of Gukurahundi.
Between 1981 and 1987, the government, under Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, who doubled as Minister of Defence, unleashed the North Korean-trained 5 Brigade, which massacred more than 20 000 people — most of them PF ZAPU supporters — in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces.
A senior Zanu PF official from Matabeleland yesterday told The Standard in an interview: "We have made very strong presentations that if our colleagues from the old Zanu PF want to unleash Gukurahundi Part Two, then it should be in areas outside of Matabeleland and the Midlands.
"We will not have our people being subjected to another Gukurahundi and if the guys in Zanu PF want to launch another fresh assault on the people, then they should target their former supporters in their strongholds of Mashonaland, Manicaland, parts of the Midlands and Masvingo and stay out of the south- western parts of the country."
The recent arrests of the opposition MDC leaders and supporters have generally been restricted to areas outside Matabeleland and appear to confirm the concern by the senior Zanu PF leaders from the western region of Zimbabwe.
"We were brutalised a lot by the government in the 1980s under trumped up charges and we can not let our people go through another brutal experience of being tortured for alleged acts of banditry," said the Zanu PF official.
PF ZAPU stalwarts such as former Home Affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa and current Home Affairs minister, Kembo Mohadi, were traumatised by the government and faced charges almost similar to those opposition MDC leaders are facing now.
The then PF ZAPU president, the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo, fled the country to Britain as government forces sought to eliminate him.
Dabengwa was only released as negotiations for the 22 December 1987 Unity Accord were being concluded.
However, Home Affairs Minister, Mohadi, denied there was such an arrangement.
"I am not aware of that. Anybody who breaks the law will be arrested. There is no segregation."
Speaker of the House of Assembly, John Nkomo said: "I have no response to what you are saying but generally that kind of feeling would be generated among the people if they were to be beaten and arrested. I am not aware if anybody has come up with that kind of position but that kind of sentiment would be understandable based on the nasty experiences of the 1980s.
"But let me emphasise that I am not aware of the stance that you are talking about."
Police brutally broke down a Harare Save Zimbabwe Campaign Prayer meeting last month but did not disrupt a similar rally held in Bulawayo. Zanu PF insiders said Dabengwa and Vice-President Joseph Msika made it clear they would not countenance any police brutality against the people of Matabeleland.
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