{"id":31498,"date":"2020-12-22T18:22:57","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T16:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=31498"},"modified":"2020-12-22T18:22:57","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T16:22:57","slug":"commemorating-unity-day-an-insult-provocation-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/commemorating-unity-day-an-insult-provocation-opposition","title":{"rendered":"Commemorating Unity Day An Insult, Provocation \u2013 Opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\">Africa-Press<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\">Zimbabwe<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span><b>By Bulawayo Correspondent<\/b> &#8211; THE Bulawayo based opposition party, Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) has the described Unity Day an insult and provocation to the people of Midlands and Matabeleland regions who were seriously affected by the Gukurahundi atrocities.<\/p>\n<p>Unity Day is an annual holiday celebrated on December 22, a day which the late Joshua Nkomo led PF Zapu signed a unity accord agreement with the late former state president Robert Mugabe\u2019s Zanu to form what became Zanu PF.<\/p>\n<p>The unity accord is credited for ending fierce hostilities in the western regions of the country in which an estimated 20 000 mostly Ndebele civilians were butchered by the military at the behest of the government.<\/p>\n<p>However, MRP says there is nothing to celebrate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf the 10 public holidays observed in Zimbabwe, the Unity Day holiday is insulting and provocative to the Mthwakazi people. The insult revolves not only on the circumstances that led to the signing of the agreement, but also on the terms of the accord itself, which have nothing in store for Mthwakazi people,\u201d Mqondisi Moyo told NewZimbabwe.com.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe signing of the unity accord was, therefore, nothing but a surrender by Joshua Nkomo to Mugabe\u2019s Zanu. It represented a final blow by which PF Zapu was swallowed by Zanu PF. Honestly, there is nothing for the people of Matabeleland and Midlands to celebrate here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said for the people in the affected regions to celebrate Unity Day was as good as celebrating their own death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan we celebrate our own murder, rape, maiming, displacement and all those ways by which we were dehumanised? Should we really join Zanu PF and its sympathisers many of whom are beneficiaries of the genocide to celebrate our own downfall?  I urge Mthwakazi people everywhere to consider this with a sane mind. We cannot celebrate our death,\u201d ranted the MRP president.<\/p>\n<p>Moyo added the reburial of Gukurahundi victims should also have been addressed in the unity accord before expressing reservations on the government\u2019s decision to engage traditional leaders in the exhumations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reburials of Gukurahundi victims should have been addressed by the Accord. We cannot be fooled by (President) Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s political gimmicks, pretending he is concerned about the victims.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he was concerned, why is he and his government still reluctant to admit guilt and allow for truth telling and justice to prevail?  There can\u2019t be healing if the perpetrators are unrepentant and taking no genuine action to remedy their own mistakes,\u201d added Moyo.<\/p>\n<p>Zapu acting president Isaac Mabuka also concurred with Moyo saying the day had lost its relevance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe prefer a Unity Day which does not coincide with the signing of the unity accord by Mugabe and Nkomo. Unity is no longer relevant to us as Zapu and I do not see how it is linked to the Unity Accord signing,\u201d said Mabuka.<\/p>\n<p>The MDC Alliance Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Swethern Chirowodza described the day as the capitulation of Nkomo and PF Zapu by Zanu.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a day when, through the abuse of the state\u2019s coercive apparatus, the Lacoste faction of Zanu PF celebrates the capitulation of Joshua Nkomo and PF ZAPU. The capitulation was preceded by the murder of killing of innocent Ndebele citizens mainly in the Midlands and Matabeleland regions,\u201d said Chirowodza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. By Bulawayo Correspondent &#8211; THE Bulawayo based opposition party, Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) has the described Unity Day an insult and provocation to the people of Midlands and Matabeleland regions who were seriously affected by the Gukurahundi atrocities. Unity Day is an annual holiday celebrated on December 22, a day which the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":31497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35,12,15],"tags":[1493,19],"class_list":["post-31498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Commemorating Unity Day An Insult, Provocation \u2013 Opposition - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/commemorating-unity-day-an-insult-provocation-opposition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commemorating Unity Day An Insult, Provocation \u2013 Opposition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. By Bulawayo Correspondent &#8211; THE Bulawayo based opposition party, Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) has the described Unity Day an insult and provocation to the people of Midlands and Matabeleland regions who were seriously affected by the Gukurahundi atrocities. 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By Bulawayo Correspondent &#8211; THE Bulawayo based opposition party, Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) has the described Unity Day an insult and provocation to the people of Midlands and Matabeleland regions who were seriously affected by the Gukurahundi atrocities. 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