- Survivors claim Gukurahundi spirits unrested
- Justice eludes 1980s massacre victims
- Mnangagwa starts new reconciliation program
Many survivors claim that the spirits of Gukurahundi have yet to rest.
For decades, justice has escaped the hundreds of civilians slaughtered by a dreaded army unit in Zimbabwe’s southwestern and central provinces during the 1980s.
The murders, which some have described as a “genocide,” are said to have been carried out on the orders of late former President Robert Mugabe, who ruled the Southern African country for more than 29 years and targeted political dissidents.
Zimbabwean authorities last week began a “community engagement” campaign aimed at promoting “healing, peace, and unity” in survivor communities 40 years after the murders.
Many of those impacted, however, are skeptical, claiming that justice cannot be served by a government comprised of individuals accused of involvement in the killings and that the gravity of the atrocities committed has yet to be wholly accepted.
“It was a genocide; even the government knows that,” campaigner Mbuso Fuzwayo said. “However, there is no acknowledgment. “That is one important aspect we expect from the government,” he stated.
What exactly happened during the Gukurahundi massacre?
Between 1982 and 1987, the Fifth Brigade, a North Korean-trained Zimbabwean army unit, targeted predominantly Ndebele-speaking people in the southwestern provinces of North and South Matabeleland, as well as the Midlands region in the center.
The operation, codenamed Gukurahundi, which means “the rain that washes away the chaff” in Shona, was intended to target dissident fighters of the political group Zimbabwe Africa People’s Union.
ZAPU, led by politician Joshua Nkomo, received the majority of its support from minority Ndebele-speaking regions and was an opposition faction to President Mugabe’s Zimbabwe Africa National Union (ZANU).
Even though they both opposed white rule and Nkomo served as Mugabe’s home affairs minister, the two men distrusted one another. Mugabe fired Nkomo in 1982, accusing him of organizing a coup against the newly established country’s government and promising to remove his allies from positions of power.
However, the Fifth Brigade not only attacked ZAPU members but also bystanders in large numbers and at random, including women and children. People were executed in public squares after digging their graves, or they were marched into buildings and burned to death.
“They killed, raped, tortured, and disappeared people,” Fuzwayo, secretary-general of the local rights organization Ibhetshu LikaZulu, stated. His granddad was among those who went missing. “People were shot in broad daylight, people were starved to death because they were not allowed to move around to buy anything.”
Hundreds of young men of fighting age who were thought to be potential rebels were also targeted and sent to detention camps.
In 1987, the two warring factions agreed to combine and form a national unity government, bringing an end to the massacres. The precise number of individuals slain is unknown; however, local estimates estimate at least 20,000 deaths.
Bodies were abandoned in burned-out buildings or placed in mine shafts. Survivors rescued thousands of bodies, which are now buried in numerous mass graves throughout the region.
Has the government attempted to settle the killings in the past?
Although the government has never publicly acknowledged the killings and has denied that a genocide occurred, Mugabe’s government has made some attempts to investigate.
The first was called the Chihambakwe Commission of Inquiry. It was established in 1983 while the murders were still taking place, as the government was under intense criticism from the international press and rights organizations.
The panel, named for chairperson Simplicius Chihambakwe, looked into the deaths of 1,500 persons, including Ndebele dissidents and civilians. However, the administration refused to publicize the findings, citing concerns that they would incite further bloodshed.
In 2013, Mugabe’s government launched the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. However, while the commission’s purpose includes “encouraging people to talk about the past,” it is not mainly tasked with addressing the Ndebele atrocities.
Officials in the former president’s cabinet said Mugabe ordered the deaths, but this has never been verified.
Mugabe’s government at the time refuted the accusations. The former president referred to the murders as a “moment of madness” in 2000 but refused to accept direct blame. The Zimbabwean government has likewise not issued an official apology for the killings.
Locals claim they were unable to speak about the massacre for a long time due to fear of retaliation attacks by soldiers.
What is Mnangagwa’s new reconciliation program?
Since assuming the presidency in 2017, former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed justice for survivors.
The president vowed to exhume and bury the remaining victims’ bodies. He also promised to collaborate with local leaders and civil society organizations to issue death certificates to victims and birth certificates to descendants, many of whom had lost their identity documents when their parents were slain or forced to escape during the atrocities.
For the first time, Mnangagwa encouraged people to discuss their sad histories openly.
In 2019, the president began meeting with Matabeleland leaders and civil society organizations to discuss ways to bring about some restoration.
Mnangagwa began the Gukurahundi Community Engagement Programme on July 16 with a ribbon-cutting event in Bulawayo, Matabeleland’s central city.
“This chapter serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of unity and the devastating consequences of disunity,” Mnangagwa stated during his statement at the launch.
The reconciliation process is intended to be led by local chiefs, with backing from women’s groups and religious leaders. It will mainly consist of community hearings where victims share their stories and present evidence. According to officials, survivors will receive psychosocial help and benefits such as pensions, health care, and free education. The beginning date of the community hearings is still being determined.
Some survivors believe the exercise has little chance of success, owing to Mnangagwa’s involvement in the executions as minister of state for national security from 1980 to 1988. That includes the period when the Gukurahundi killings occurred. Mnangagwa has previously dismissed charges of conspiracy.
“There’s no difference between Mugabe’s government and Mnangagwa’s government, except that this government allows people to speak about what happened,” campaigner Fuzwayo said, urging that a full inquiry should be conducted by outside teams unrelated to the killing.
“People who participated in the killing of people still retain positions of authority, and this administration has refused to officially admit, ‘Yes, we killed people.’ Mnangagwa may claim, ‘We did this.’ As long as that is not done, this country will continue to have a culture of impunity,” he said.
The Community Engagement Programme does not clarify how perpetrators will participate or whether previously shelved findings on the atrocities will now be made public, a prerequisite many Ndebele activists have demanded. It is also uncertain whether survivors and their families will receive monetary compensation.
Is Gukurahundi still hurting the Matabeleland region?
Despite the end of the killings, members of the Ndebele-speaking minority, which accounts for approximately 14% of the population, accuse successive governments of “marginalisation and exclusion” based on tribalism. Most people distrust the Shona-majority government.
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Many believe the Matabeleland region is destitute, lacks infrastructure and employment possibilities, and has yet to develop as quickly as other provinces.
Many argue that the atrocities murdered a core of professionals, exacerbating the region’s growth deficit.
“They killed the majority of professors and architects, the foundation of a society. Matabeleland has lost its identity; we were battered into submission,” claimed Fuzwayo.
Zimbabwe, under both Mugabe and Mnangagwa, has a history of human rights breaches and prejudice. As president, Mnangagwa has been accused of assembling his government with members of the Karanga community, a Shona minority to whom he belongs.
