1/7 Sadly because of the health crisis and the laws of nature my handle will seem a constant obituary!Earlier this month I spoke on the many heroes of Gukurahundi and none stood more towering than Michael Auret!Thousands of Ndebeles owe him their lives!A THREAD:

2/7 Mike Auret served on the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) which documented the ethnic Gukurahundi attrocities.He chaired several delegations who braved the vindictive nature of Mugabe and confronted him on the wanton atrocities occurring in Matebeleland.

3/7 That Mugabe and Zanu leaders had decided to kill and commit ethnic cleansing to impose a one-party state and build an ethnocentric project was no longer in doubt as it had earlier been secretly revealed to Zapu official Cephas Msipa by Edison Zvobgo, a senior Zanu official!

4/7 Auret engineered the distribution of news of the atrocities firstly by the release of a statement by Bishops making their position on the massacres categorically clear.Prior to that, the clergymen had also condemned the state media, led by The Herald, The Chronicle and ZBC.

5/7The state media were criticised for not reporting, ignoring or campaigning for the killings. Their stories and editorials were shocking given Matabeleland had been under a military lockdown and curfew since July 1982 guaranteeing that the people’s plight was well hidden!

6/7 The bishops demanded a commission of inquiry into the massacres.Under pressure, Mugabe appointed the Chihambakwe Commisson of Inquiry, but refused to release the final report, as he had done with the Dumbutshena report on the Entumbane clashes between Zipra and Zanla.

7/7Aurets spiritual and moral fibre enabled him to tenaciously document and highlight the plight of the Ndebele during Gukurahund.We must guarantee that his biography be shared as he courageously shared ours!Sithi lidume ledlula!Uwile umthunzi wamandebele ,Phumula baba Auret!