Rising criticism over Gukurahundi hearings amid fears of intimidation and exclusion 

As the ‘long-delayed’ Gukurahundi Community Outreach Programme prepares to officially commence on Thursday, June 26, 2025, critics continue raising renewed concerns over the structure and credibility of the process, warning that the exercise risks retraumatising victims and falling short of delivering genuine justice.

The announcement by the National Council of Chiefs that the hearings will be held privately, with each victim appearing alone or with minimal family support before a 14-member panel led by the local chief, has triggered unease among former liberation war fighters and political activists.

“These are not public hearings,” stated Chief Fortune Charumbira, Deputy President of the National Council of Chiefs, during a recent press conference in Bulawayo.

However, many see this model as intimidating, especially for women and elderly survivors.

Vice Chairperson of the ZPRA Veterans Association Grace Noko,  outrightly rejected the format.

“I am totally not in agreement with the hearing,” Noko told CITE.

“Gukurahundi brought fear into people’s lives and until today, people are still not free, they remain traumatised. A panel of 14 against one instills fear. Real victims might not attend, but the imposed ones will.”

Noko also criticised the selection of chiefs to lead the hearings, arguing that many were too young during the 1980s genocide to fully understand its gravity.

“Most chiefs were young or not yet born during Gukurahundi. To them, it’s like playing old music with no meaning, just a passing office duty or taking orders from the top,” she claimed.

The former fighter also questioned the government’s sincerity, referencing past commissions such as Sandura and Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, which also held closed hearings.

“Why were those not made public either?” she asked, adding the government must rethink its approach or risk deepening the wounds it claims to heal.

“For us in ZPRA, this is a waste of time, a dirty campaign to brainwash people. Gukurahundi is a genocide.”

Political activist and interim leader of the Assemblies of Minorities (AM) party, Chilumbo Mudenda, echoed these concerns, saying the process lacks credibility and legal grounding.

“It has been our argument that such a process should be inclusive of all stakeholders, with the government playing a role but not monopolising the entire process,” Mudenda said.

He argued that the current approach, government-led and dominated by traditional leaders, fails to address the personal, communal, political, and socio-economic consequences of Gukurahundi.

“The chiefs-led process falls far short in addressing any aspect of this problem. It does not respond to the deep political and developmental damage caused by the genocide,” Mudenda said.

“Many of these chiefs are victims themselves, now forced to sanitise the perpetrators without clarity on when the perpetrators will even speak.”

Mudenda added that the absence of a legal framework governing the process undermines its legitimacy.

“There should be a law to prescribe the process’s terms of reference, grievance mechanisms, and overall credibility. The Zimbabwean authorities have ignored consistent calls for a neutral, regional or internationally-led process, like the Motlanthe Commission,” he noted.

Like Noko, Mudenda insisted that genuine reconciliation must be rooted in truth, accountability, not secrecy or political control.

“Victims deserve an independent, inclusive, and transparent process. Not one directed by those accused of wrongdoing,” Mudenda concluded.