Will Zimbabwe’s Gukurahundi genocide survivors get justice?

A
mass
grave
bearing
the
names
of
six
victims
of
the
Matabeleland
Massacres,
near
the
now-abandoned
Sitezi
military
camp,
where
army
soldiers
involved
in
the
Gukurahundi
were
based
[File:
Jerome
Delay/AP]

Many
survivors
say
the
ghosts
of
Gukurahundi
are
not
yet
at
rest.

For
decades,
justice
has
eluded
the
thousands
of
people
who
were
killed
by
a
feared
army
unit
in
Zimbabwe’s
southwestern
and
central
provinces
in
the
1980s.

The
murders
–
which
some
call
have
termed
a
“genocide”
–
are
believed
to
have
been
committed
on
the
orders
of
late
former
President
Robert
Mugabe,
who
ruled
the
Southern
African
country
for
more
than
29
years,
as
he
targeted
political
dissidents.

Some
40
years
after
the
murders,
Zimbabwean
authorities
last
week
launched
a
“community
engagement”
programme
that
officials
say
will
promote
“healing,
peace
and
unity”
in
the
survivor
communities.

However,
many
of
those
affected
are
sceptical,
and
say
justice
cannot
come
from
a
government
made
up
of
officials
who
are
alleged
to
have
been
involved
in
the
killings,
and
one
they
say
has
not
yet
fully
recognised
the
weight
of
the
atrocities
committed.

“It
was
a
genocide,
even
the
government
knows
that,”
activist
Mbuso
Fuzwayo
told
Al
Jazeera.
“But
there
is
no
acknowledgement.
That
is
one
important
aspect
we
expect
from
the
government,”
he
said.

Between
1982
and
1987,
the
Fifth
Brigade,
a
North
Korean-trained
unit
of
the
Zimbabwean
army,
cracked
down
on
mostly
Ndebele-speaking
communities
in
the
southwestern
provinces
of
North
and
South
Matabeleland,
as
well
as
the
Midlands
province
located
in
the
central
area.

Codenamed
Gukurahundi,
meaning
“the
rain
that
washes
away
the
chaff”
in
Shona,
the
operation
was
meant
to
target
dissident
fighters
of
the
political
party,
Zimbabwe
Africa
People’s
Union
(ZAPU).

ZAPU,
chaired
by
politician
Joshua
Nkomo,
had
the
majority
of
its
support
from
the
minority
Ndebele-speaking
regions
and
was
a
rival
faction
to
President
Mugabe’s
Zimbabwe
Africa
National
Union
(ZANU).

Although
they
both
fought
against
white
rule,
and
although
Nkomo
was
minister
of
home
affairs
under
Mugabe,
both
men
distrusted
each
other.
In
1982,
Mugabe
fired
Nkomo,
accusing
him
of
plotting
a
coup
to
overthrow
the
newly
independent
country’s
government,
and
promised
to
root
out
his
supporters
from
positions
of
influence.

The
Fifth
Brigade,
however,
not
only
attacked
ZAPU
members,
it
also
targeted
civilians
in
mass
numbers,
and
at
random,
including
women
and
children.
People
were
executed
in
public
squares
after
digging
their
own
graves
or
marched
into
buildings
and
burned
alive.

“They
killed,
they
raped,
they
tortured,
they
disappeared
people,”
Fuzwayo,
who
is
secretary-general
of
the
local
rights
group,
Ibhetshu
LikaZulu,
said.
His
grandfather
was
one
of
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
considered
to
be
potential
rebels
were
also
targeted,
and
taken
to
concentration
camps.

The
massacres
came
to
an
end
after
the
two
rival
factions
agreed
to
integrate
and
form
a
national
unity
government
in
1987.
The
exact
number
of
those
killed
remains
unclear,
but
local
sources
put
it
at
at
least
20,000
deaths.

Bodies
were
left
in
the
burned
buildings
or
deposited
in
mine
shafts.
Survivors
recovered
thousands,
which
now
lie
in
many
mass
graves
in
the
region.

Although
the
government
has
never
officially
acknowledged
the
killings,
and
has
denied
there
was
a
genocide,
some
attempts
were
made
by
Mugabe’s
government
to
investigate.

The
first
was
the
Chihambakwe
Commission
of
Inquiry.
It
was
set
up
in
1983
while
the
murders
were
still
occurring,
as
the
government
faced
immense
pressure
from
international
press
and
rights
groups.

The
commission,
named
after
chairperson
Simplicius
Chihambakwe,
investigated
the
killing
of
1,500
people,
including
Ndebele
dissidents
and
civilians.
However,
the
government
never
made
the
findings
public,
as
it
argued
the
results
would
provoke
more
violence.

In
2013,
Mugabe’s
government
established
the
National
Peace
and
Reconciliation
Commission.
However,
while
the
commission’s
mandate
includes
encouraging
unity
by
“encouraging
people
to
talk
about
the
past”
it
is
not
specifically
empowered
to
address
the
Ndebele
massacres.

Officials
in
the
former
president’s
cabinet
have
said
it
was
Mugabe
who
ordered
the
killings,
but
this
has
never
been
proven.

Mugabe’s
government
at
the
time
denied
the
allegations.
In
2000,
the
former
president
called
the
murders
a
“moment
of
madness”,
but
did
not
acknowledge
direct
responsibility.
The
Zimbabwean
government
has
also
not
officially
apologised
for
the
killings.

Locals
say
they
were
not
able
to
speak
about
the
massacre
for
a
long
time,
as
they
were
fearful
of
reprisal
attacks
from
soldiers.

President
of
Zimbabwe,
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
[Amanuel
Sileshi/AFP]

Since
former
Vice
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
took
over
the
presidency
in
2017,
he
has
promised
justice
to
survivors.

The
president
promised
to
conduct
exhumations
of
the
remaining
victims’
bodies
and
conduct
burials.
He
also
pledged
to
work
with
local
leaders
and
civil
societies
to
issue
death
certificates
for
victims,
as
well
as
birth
certificates
to
descendants
–
many
of
whom
lost
their
identity
documents
when
their
parents
were
killed
or
when
they
were
forced
to
flee
amid
the
killings.

For
the
first
time,
Mnangagwa
encouraged
people
to
discuss
the
painful
history
openly

In
2019,
the
president
started
to
meet
with
Matabeleland
chiefs
and
civil
society
organisations
for
consultations
on
how
to
bring
about
some
form
of
restoration.

This
July
16,
Mnangagwa
launched
the
Gukurahundi
Community
Engagement
Programme
at
a
ribbon-cutting
ceremony
in
Bulawayo,
the
largest
city
in
the
Matabeleland
region.

“This
chapter
serves
as
a
stark
reminder
of
the
fragility
of
unity
and
the
devastating
consequences
of
disunity,”
Mnangagwa
said
in
a
speech
at
the
launch.

The
programme
is
expected
to
see
local
chiefs
lead
the
reconciliation
process,
supported
by
women’s
representatives
and
religious
leaders.
It
will
consist
primarily
of
community
hearings
where
victims
give
their
accounts
and
provide
evidence.
Officials
say
survivors
will
be
provided
with
psycho-social
support
and
benefits
like
pensions,
health
services,
and
free
education.
It
is
not
clear
when
precisely
the
community
hearings
will
begin.

Some
in
survivor
communities
say
they
have
little
hope
in
the
exercise,
primarily
because
Mnangagwa
is
himself
implicated
in
the
killings
because
he
was
the
minister
of
state
for
national
security
between
1980
and
1988.
That
encompasses
the
period
during
which
the
Gukurahundi
massacres
occurred.
Mnangagwa
has
repeatedly
denied
allegations
of
involvement
in
the
past.

“There’s
no
difference
between
Mugabe’s
government
and
Mnangagwa’s
government,
except
that
this
government
allows
people
to
speak
about
what
happened,”
activist
Fuzwayo
said,
arguing
that
a
proper
investigation
should
be
run
by
external
teams
uninvolved
in
the
massacre.

“People
who
were
active
in
the
extermination
of
people
still
hold
the
levers
of
power,
and
this
government
has
refused
to
accept
publicly:
‘Yes,
we
killed
people.’
Mnangagwa
can
come
out
and
say:
‘We
did
this.’
As
long
as
that
is
not
done,
there
will
always
be
a
culture
of
impunity
in
this
country,”
he
added.

The
Community
Engagement
Programme
does
not
specify
how
perpetrators
will
participate,
and
if
the
shelved
reports
on
the
massacres
will
now
be
disclosed
–
a
condition
that
many
Ndebele
activists
have
called
for.
It
is
also
unclear
if
there
will
be
monetary
compensation
for
survivors
and
victims’
families.

Ellis
Ndlovu’s
son,
Edwel,
was
killed
by
Zimbabwe
army
soldiers
in
what
many
called
the
Matabeleland
Massacres,
or
Gukurahundi
[File:
Jerome
Delay/AP]

Members
of
the
Ndebele-speaking
minority,
who
make
up
about
14
percent
of
the
population,
accuse
successive
governments
of
“marginalisation
and
exclusion”
based
on
tribalism
despite
the
end
of
the
killings.

Most
are
distrustful
of
the
Shona-majority
government.

The
Matabeleland
region,
many
say,
is
impoverished,
lacks
infrastructure
or
employment
opportunities,
and
has
failed
to
develop
at
the
same
pace
as
other
provinces.

Many
also
point
to
the
fact
that
a
core
of
professionals
were
killed
in
the
massacres,
adding
to
the
region’s
lag
in
development.

“They
killed
the
bulk
of
teachers,
architects,
the
core
of
a
society.
Matabeleland
has
lost
its
identity
–
we
were
beaten
into
submission,”
said
Fuzwayo.

Zimbabwe,
under
both
Mugabe
and
Mnangagwa,
has
a
history
of
human
rights
violations
and
discrimination.
As
president,
Mnangagwa
has
been
accused
of
filling
his
cabinet
with
members
of
the
Karanga
community,
a
subgroup
of
Shona
to
which
he
belongs.