Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe
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It is ten years since the original publication of ‘Breaking the Silence: A Report on the Disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands’ (by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) and the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)). We are delighted to let you know that the report has been re-published in book form by the South African publishing house Jacana under the title ‘Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe’.
Gukurahundi is a traditional Shona word, which means ‘the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains.’ It is the word chosen by the Mugabe regime to describe a military operation against a civilian population during the 1980s.
In 1980, a few short months after Independence Day, Robert Mugabe signed an agreement with the North Korean President Kim Il Sung to have the North Korean military train a brigade for the Zimbabwean army. Training of the 5th Brigade lasted until September 1982. The objective of the 5th Brigade was to crush the people of Matabeleland, force them to submit to Mugabe’s Zanu PF and relinquish their loyalty to Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu).
The infamous red-bereted 5 Brigade were soldiers equipped with unusually cruel skills. We learn through the ‘Breaking the Silence’ report that the methods used to address “reorientation”, “change”, “unfounded grievances” - methods designed to teach a community to “accept defeat” - included civilian murders, civilian rapes, civilian torture and the destruction of civilian property.
The report describes in detail some of the techniques used, and it’s important to understand that all the techniques were calculated to maximise terror, pain, grief and humiliation. The soldiers, under Mugabe’s instruction, set out to injure and mutilate human beings, to kill them, but to do so in such evil cruel ways that the scars would be indelibly etched in memories for generations to come.
Mugabe intended to leave this civilian population with fear for the rest of their lives, for the horror to be so great that they would pass the fear down to subsequent generations. This is how he believed he would manage discontent in the region, and hold onto power indefinitely.
When the soldiers were first deployed in Matabeleland, the shock was significant and the impact immediately felt:
“Five Brigade passed first through Tsholotsho, spreading out rapidly through Lupane and Nkayi, and their impact on all these communal areas was shocking. Within the space of six weeks more than 2000 civilians had died, hundreds of homesteads had been burnt and thousands of civilians had been beaten. Most of the dead were killed in public executions involving between one and 12 people at a time.”
The book form of the report, ‘Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe’, has an introduction by Elinor Sisulu and a foreword by Archbishop Pius Ncube:
Sisulu recounts how she was horrified by the detailed account in the CCJP report of the “mass shooting of 62 young men and women” on the banks of Cwele River in Matabeleland. She contrasts the silence that greeted the 1983 massacre in Matabeleland with the shock and dismay throughout the world occasioned by the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa in March 1960. (The Sunday Independent SA: 27 May 2007)
One of the most difficult things for decent people to comprehend is that these perverse barbaric acts of cruelty were not the actions of psychopaths, but soldiers. Their ‘enemy’ was not an invading army from foreign borders, nor were they fighting for freedom against a repressive racist regime; the vast majority of the ‘enemy’ were our fellow Zimbabweans - men, women, children, and the elderly: the innocent and the defenceless; the helplessly isolated.
Donald Trelford, editor of The Observer (UK) at that time, recalled an interview that he had with Robert Mugabe in 1984 where he asked Mugabe whether he would ever consider a political solution to the Matabeleland issue rather then the military one. Trelford describes Mugabe’s response to his question as ‘blunt’ and ‘chilling’:
“The solution is a military one. Their grievances are unfounded. The verdict of the voters was cast in 1980. They should have accepted defeat then … The situation in Matabeleland is one that requires a change. The people must be reoriented.”
Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, carries another chilling quote from Mugabe in the early 1980s: “We eradicate them. We don’t differentiate when we fight because we can’t tell who is a dissident and who is not.”
The publishers of ‘Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe’ write: “the [Breaking the Silence] Report is offered again at a time when the events it describes - the Gukurahundi have acquired a fresh relevance”. They say that they hope “the reavailability of the Report will mean that more people will campaign for an end to human rights violations in Zimbabwe, and for restorative justice for the victims”.
‘Fresh relevance’ indeed. We only need to look at the language used by Zanu PF to see a recurring pattern in thinking: Gukurahundi (1980s) - ‘the early rain which washes away the chaff’, and, Murambatsvina (2000s) - ‘clearing out the trash’. The ‘chaff’ and the ‘trash’ being anyone who dares disagree or challenge the power of Robert Mugabe, or anyone that Mugabe thinks might one day in the future disagree with him or challenge his power.
This book – ‘Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe’ - is an essential book to read for anyone who wants to fully understand Zimbabwe’s history. Both the government enquiries - the Dumbutshena enquiry into the Entumbane battle and the 1984 Chihambakwe enquiry into the 1983 massacres - have never been made public and the Legal Resource Foundation’s attempt to get an order through the Supreme Court (on the basis of access to information in terms of the Constitution) failed. This book therefore stands as perhaps the most critically important record of the violations against the people of Matabeleland during the 1980s. It exposes Mugabe’s capacity for evil, and the enormity of the threat he and his party’s politics of violence presents for any hope that our country might ever enjoy a peaceful non-violent future where human rights are fully respected.
We are delighted that it is now easily available to a worldwide audience.
The book is available for purchase from Exclusive Books in South Africa (full details below). International readers can buy the book via the Exclusive Book website.
Please buy the book and read it and please encourage everyone you know to do the same. If you have a website or blog, please help publicise the fact that this book is now available.
Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe (Price: R189.00)
Sub-title: A Report on the Disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980-1988BP-B12
EAN : 9781770092075
Publisher : Jacana Media Pty Ltd
Country of publication: South AfricaExclusive Books website: http://www.exclusivebooks.com/
Publisher’s website: http://www.jacana.co.za/
Update: 6 June 2007
Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe is also available via Amazon (click here).
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May 30th, 2007 12:17
Thank you - May the Spirit of my God, the Spirit of my Foreparents be with you and bless you for such wonderful work on their behalf. My brother Mike must also be thanking you from his grave, because he too was mutilated and chopped to pieces by Mugabe and His Gukurahundi in July 1984 purely for questioning what was happening to his fellow Ndebeles. He was safe in Kwekwe which is in Midlands, a young man - an Agricultural officer for Matabeleland and Middlands, the best son for his parents, a father to a young family and the best brother God ever created for me.
Now that the truth is internationally known, I can exhale the stale breath I held inside me since he was killed and now I can move on with my life.
May 30th, 2007 15:22
hey
thank you guys for writing about this issue.I was a teacher in tsholotsho and what I experienced as a human being was beyond comprehension.I have now become a born again christian so as to be able to forgive this inhumanity against humans.I lived it all,I watched villagers killed, school girls raped, teachers put in pit latrines and know of mass graves, of which when I go back home I will actively seek decent burials for those innocent lives which were left in those mass graves. I know the areas and the villages very well and they are still vivid in my mind.
I really don’t know if you are doing this to truly find meaning and understanding of what took place in Mat north and south, but whatever the case, God bless you in your endearvuor.
May 30th, 2007 20:32
May God have mercy on Zimbabwe, when will the Terror end?
I pray that one day, the UN will be able to send in forensic teams to open the mass graves and prove what was done in Matabeleland to the world. This is what happened in Rwanda and in Bosnia. Every Zimbabwean needs to hear the truth about Gukurahundi. For this reason, I hope that the graves will not be disturbed, as they are crime scenes. However, residents should try to protect them as there may still be perpetrators alive who do not want their evil deeds exposed or the dead to tell their stories.
June 3rd, 2007 12:58
Gukurahundi was a terrible injustice and demonstrates the psychophathic nature of Robert Mugabe. What is often forgotten though is that the tactics used during Gukurahundi where developed and perfected during the war of liberation. People often view the liberation strugle romantically and fail to apreciate that the ‘libarators’ abused, maimed and killed civilians in the same way they did during Gukurahundi and the same tactics used to subdue and silence the opposition now were used then on defenseless villagers for crimes ranging from being ‘a witch’ being too light skinned. My mother who was a Community Development Worker with the Ministry of Internal Affairs was killed while villagers at a pungwe chanted kill the sellout. Her crime… as a widow she choose to continue working to support and sent her five kids to school. She also choose to remove us from the village where as girls we would surely have been raped during the many Pungwes. In as much as Gukurahundi’s legacy goes unpunished, Mugabe’s crimes against defenceless villagers and those who perished at the hands of the ‘liberators’ goes unaccounted and unreported. This man who has brought so much pain and suffering on our country deserves to be brought to justice. I pray and hope this happens in my lifetime.
June 14th, 2007 12:15
We have said and we we say it again the people of Mat’land need an independent separate state of uMthwakazi from Zimbabwe, this is the only solution. We observe that whilst many have climbed on the anti Gukurahundi bandwagon because of Mugabe’s recent acts outside Mat’land the tribal attitudes have not changed. In Zanu PF John Nkomo is not even being mentioned as a Presidential contender because he is Ndebele, despite his senior position in the party; the MDC split for the same reason and Ndebele are assured of always deputising the Shona. The issue of tribal numbers continues to supersede human rights - todate everything remains defined in terms of tribal majoritarianism. Jobs, resources and opportunities in our region are for the Shona. Farms in our region, in Nyamayendlovu in particular were allocated to the Shona and yet the reverse is not the case. Nobody bothers to investigate or acknowledge the origins of the 1979 Zanu Grand plan of taking over Matebeleland. Nathan Shamuyarira a senior Zanu PF official was never publicly reprimanded by Mugabe or anyother senior Shona speaking official for his recent tribal views on Gukurahundi. What he said clearly says it all. Gukurahundi was never about dissidents. It was a long term plan hetched in the 1970s by Zanu PF to wipe out the Matebele, send them back to South Africa (hence the border jumping) and regain the Matebeleland territories for the Shona - thus reversing Inkosi uMzilikazi’s nation building exercise of the 1880s. Umthwakazi shall be free!!!!!
June 20th, 2007 11:20
There is no genuinely patriotic Zimbabwean men and women of conscience, who do not realize that the Zanu(pf) leadership clique is composed of killers who will kill to hold on to power. The brutal clique headed by Robert Mugabe will eliminate everyone and every body in the opposition. While Gukurahundi was region-specific(N & S Matabeleland & Midlands), since the rise of credible opposition and the competitive plundering of the crumbling economy,killings, abductions, rape,violence, violation of human rights and general repression have been generalized across the country. No Ndau is safe or Zezuru,or Karanga, or Manyika, or Ndebele, as long as they are viewed as Blair’s stooges. In Mugabe’s myopia, any one who does not think like him, is target. Recall Mutasa’s threat of eliminating 6 million Zimbabweans who dont support Zanu and remain with the 6 million who support Zanu? Recall Mugabe’s description of Mbare residents whom he decsribed as people without totems a few years before he thought of Operation Murambwatsvina. People who do not agree with Zanu become trash in the myopic world view of the monster that rules Zimbabwe, or they become tree stumps to be forcibly uprooted by enraged masses or by greenbombers who replaced the 5th brigade of gukurahundi. I think creation of a separate tribal state may not be the right solution. Tribalists should not be allowed to rule Zimbabwe which is a plularistic country, an asset until mugabe turns it in a liability by harrassing white farmers and murdering people of Matabeleland before that. Zimbabwe has fewer tribal groupings in the region. Zambia has over 70 but they have managed to stay together. If the Zambians, S Africans, Mozambicans, Malawians can do it, why not us. The problem is not in our stars, it is with the Zanu(pf) clique. We should thank the authors of the Gukurahundi report for exposing the genocidal activities of the post-independence clique and hope that we will guard against the repetition of such on any people in Zimbabwe,Amen.
June 28th, 2007 12:32
Mahmood Abaza your views about a one Zimbabwe nation are understood but do not offer a solution to the issues raised in my contribution. We all know that Mugabe and Zanu PF have been the main cause of the divisions in our country in the last 27 years, but we cannot continue to divert attention away from our own culpability towards Mugabe and Zanu PF in the name of unity as if Zimbabwe is made up of children who cannot think for themselves.
Now that the general Shona populace knows that Gukurawundi was a farce and they are also facing the Mugabe wrath what are they doing to embracing the victims. Continued domination of the Mthwakazi in terms of language, culture, opportunities etc is still justified on the basis numbers. In other words majoritarianism supersedes human rights. Language, culture and opportunities particularly in one’s home area are issues of human rights not numbers!
July 4th, 2007 16:36
“All of Africa” should bring Mugabe to trial for mass murder. This should be done through the war crimes commission.
Access to the sites where these many mass murders took place should be sanctioned by the UN and operated by NATO and African Forces.
Mugabe must not be allowed to hide behind his postion any longer. He should be arrested on an Interpol warrant and incarcereted immediately. His camp followers should suffer the same fate.
Government should be determined by new elections controlled by the UN and overseen by the Elections commission.
Oust Mugabe now, no more chances for this murderer.
August 8th, 2007 16:46
Chaff kupela
August 8th, 2007 18:07
I can’t put the tragic and terrifying images against the hills of Matopo; 1896, 1970’s and now 1980. Some thought the leasons had been learn’t then; one other needed re-orientation. It appears systemic of our human nature to let atrocities occur only so that history can record them - safe in the knowledge that there will be an end; how pathetic!! We are all guilty, none but ourselves…..
September 4th, 2007 14:32
How sad and now to show a cruel it mercy oh in the heavens
September 4th, 2007 16:30
Mugabe is seen is the UK as something a joke figure, a nut case blaming all his ills on the whiteman, specifically the British.
He is in truth a criminal, on a par with Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot.
He needs to be brought to justice.
I fear he will die safely in his own bed, before his people get their justice.
September 12th, 2007 11:54
iam disturbed by the events that occurred before i was born my grand mother would tell me things that made me shudder and always with tears in her eyes, i feel a part of my family died in those massacres and the only way to purge the spirits of my and your lost relatives is to call a spade a spade and remove this megalomaniac before this happens to our children.
September 12th, 2007 12:41
And the African Nations have given Mugabe a job, no, not chief executioner but overseer of human rights. Shame on these Africans.
For goodness sake, send him the way of Saddam Hussein and “Chemical Ali”, and Hitler before them and so on down History.
The UN, USA and Britain did not hesitate to suppress Saddam, so why are we so coy now?
September 20th, 2007 19:35
It is a pitty we have some Ndebele people go to the ballot and boldly put an X in front of ZANU PF after what they have put us through. Did that tyrannic Robert Mugabe ever think we will be “re-orientated” ?.ZANU PF and its mean leader only managed to fuel the tribal divide and hate between the Shona and the Ndebeles. He never once imagined that his deeds will one day come to haunt him. We are aware of the involvement of Emmerson Mnangagwa who was the chief of intelligence then. Enos Nkala, you are not innocent as well, you were in the fore-front talking bad about your own tribe as the so called “Minister of Defence”. The day shall come when you will be in that box and we shall demand to know what exactly you did. And forget about telling us “you cant remember”. The day of judgement is nearing and you all must be ashamed of what you have done to the powerless Ndebele people. Why should the Ndebele people always be second class citizens even in Mat’land?. Looking for a job is a nightmare as the job will be reserved for someone coming from Mhondoro. Getting a teacher’s training vacancy at Hillside is just but a dream if you are unknown. When are we gonna be recognised as a people?.
September 23rd, 2007 10:22
Zwai Jozi’s story is truly moving and more so because he and his people are so helpless against a monster and his cohorts. And the fact that he is now living in South Africa, like so many of his countrymen shows that Mugabe has succeeded in his aim to rid himself of all opposition, regardless of the cost to Zimbabwe. What intrigues me though, is why Africa - its leaders and civilians - are so reluctant to intervene. Why must they wait for the rest of the world to act?
September 23rd, 2007 23:41
mugabe why are doing like this or god help us
September 23rd, 2007 23:56
yes sory about that speech but zim is a reachest country is only that iconomy is going down we have lot of minerals in zim let;s bring whit’s back is only that our farms are poor zim was bleesed as from 1980
September 25th, 2007 18:22
Britain is mainly to blame in for the Zimbabwe crisis. If she had not reneged on her promises to pay for Land Reform, none of these sad events would have arisen. But, at the end of the day, the land had to be taken from those who essentially stole it - with extreme violence. Mugabe is guilty only to the extent that he trusted Britain as an honest broker - far too much.
September 26th, 2007 20:42
In response to ZIK and those of you who still have to research about the Lancaster Agreement, be advised that Britain paid £44 million for Land Redistribution in 1980 but vast amounts of that money went to Mugabe and his cronies and never filtered to the ordinary Zimbabwean and could not be accounted for properly. Mugabe knows he was the first to breach the Lancaster House Agreement as early as 1982 when he initiated radical changes to the State Institutions when the Agreement stated that he had to wait a certain number of years before he could do that. That is government riddled with corrupt, greedy, tribalistic, rotten, murderous and egotistic people who are proud of nothing other than their own stupidity. I honestly have no idea where they were made, God doesnt make them like that anymore.
September 27th, 2007 18:44
It took me 20+ years to come to terms with what I saw and experienced in Matabeleland in the early to mid 1980s as a young police officer.
I was one of the few that was instructed to clean up the mess and pick up the pieces…
Truly horrendous. But I did it and 20+ years later I finally found the courage and strength (thanks to a lot of other people) to write of my experiences.
Available at http://www.lulu.com/content/779062, “Without Honour” tells my story. It hurt to write the story but it is something that I need to share with my fellow Zimbabweans.
I look forward to the day when with no Mugabe or ZANU PF, in unison we can all repeat Martin Luther King’s words, “Free at last, free at last! Thank God, we’re free at last!”
Take care.
‘debvhu
October 17th, 2007 13:39
Wow. I have placed an order fro Gukurahundi In Zimbabwe. I am Thirty one years old and I only found about the massacres in Matland when I read the report by the CCJP. Very tragic and I hope this will open my eyes even more. I do sympathise with the people of Matland and infact it took me a long time to finish the whole report because of how horrific it was.
I want to ask a question though to this person who is peddling this idea of Mtwakazi.” Where do you see this idea going?” Does that idea fit in with a new Zimbabwe that people are all talking about.
We all know Mugabe’s days are numbered. How then can there be harmony in Zimbabwe if such thoughts are being spawned by some of us. Ndebele and Shona alike, noone with such twisted ideas of seperation can exist in a new Zimbabwe so be warned. If you dont see that the whole tribal debate is a divide and rule tactic then indeed you have serious issues and you need to perhaps read widely and deeply. hate is not going to get you anywhere. you shall find that instead of going back to Zimbabwe to build a better life for yourself, you will spend all your remaining days in exile where you will never be a first class citizen. think hard and remember its Mugabe who is the dark that hangs over us all. Be careful, because if you carry on with your mutterings Mugabe and you will be no different. besides whoever said Mugabe was Shona. Any Zimbabwean has suffered at the hands of this despot white, Shona, Ndebele, Kalanga,Manyika, Kore Kore, Shangani to name a few, this man does not discriminate. The Key word to him is “OPPOSE” and he will crush you
October 23rd, 2007 08:43
Take a close look at Mugabe,what do you see?Do
you note the thin moustarche on his upper lip?
What does his trademark remind you of?ADOLF HITLER.With his grotesque megalomania,he is indeed a clinical case of a disgruntled embattled psychopathic geriatric who suffers from additional insomnia combined with paranoid delusions.At some point he would have wished to be the black “Fuhrer”.At least psychopaths like Idi Amin did not hide their admiration for Hitler,he actually built a statue for him in Kampala at some pont in time.
He did not however try to physically emmulate
Hitler like Mugabe has done.He only hero worshiped him.Mugabe on the other ahnd wanted to physically pass as the Black Fuhrer.
At the Heroes Acre in Harare,that is the place Mugabe showed the world what a monstrocity he is.How many Heroes who lie at the Heroes Acre died a natural death?Beginning with Tongogara who was killed under Mugabe’s orders on his way to Zimbabwe from Mozambique after Lancaster House Conference.He had to go because he would have forged a unified approach with Zapu and he was a direct challenge to Mugabe.Going back to Zambia where people like Herbert Chitepo were blown up with car bombs at the helms of Zanu’s power.Mugabe had to eliminate.People like Hamadziripi and other challenging feagures had to go to pave way for Black Hitler Mugabe.Ever since indipendence Mugabe used orchestrated funerals at intervals of up to three to four times a year,using the dead as his podium to issue his policy speeches and lamentations at the same time strategising his survival.His executioner Emmerson Mnangagwa,one of the most evil and ruthless leutenants of the ZANU killer machine,is by no wonder poised to be one of the succesors.The question to ask is
“How many Heroes at the Heroes Acre died a natural death?’Most were died by Mugabe and his henchmen.Rumours have it that his current wife is actually someone elses wife who was exiled forcibly to leave the leg for the impotent Mugabe.He is one of the most grotesque mass murderers that have walked the face of the earth.The world shall yet to be shocked when the ZANU elite spill their beans on one another.Today Zimbabwe is the worst country in the world because of Mugabe.Actually
he is not even Zimbabwean by birth.Who has ever heard Mugabe speak of his father?Almost none.THe man ic clinically mentally ill.He even
has continous nightmares of Tongogara’s spirit
haunting him,we understand he often leaves a plate of food for him to appease his spirit and stop the haunting.All these closest members of ZANU’s elite should stand trial for human right abuses,genocide and wanton corruption.There is no justification at this day and age to let such go by without the Milosevic style or the Charles taylor style of an end.
ZANU’s doctrine was to reverse the Matebele
victory over the Mashonas in the 1880’s.The
machinery they used was the Gurahundi.The shere
evil of these people was tantamount to the german officers of the final solution over the Jews in Germany.There is today no wonder that these young men who were trained by the Koreans to perform such grotesque atrocities on innocent people are today mentally deranged and are psychopaths who are guilt laden and are suffering from various psychiatric conditions as a result of their participation.
In the ealy 80’s the Mashonas were taught tribal superiority.None of them even raised a voice of concern at the knowledge of what their leaders were doing in Matebeleland.Some of them were even denying that such evil was being perpetrated by their own chidren.Today they are suffering at their destruction of Zimbabwe.They were busy singing the PAMBERI
slogan.Where has it taken them 27 years after.
Mugabe must be shaddering with shame when he sees people he used to despise like Chissano winning the award for good governance.Mugabe must never be allowed to evade the HAGUE Tribunal or some trial for him to explain himself to the Zimbabweans what actually took place.He should not be allowed to die before answering to his deeds.The whole shoot of them from Sekeramayi to Mujuru.The world must
help to bring them to Justice.
A movie like Hotel Rwanda must be shot in order to honour the dead and let the world know what evil was allowed to walk on earth in the name of Robert Mugabe.
October 24th, 2007 12:46
Mugabe keeps bleating that the white farmers should have been compensated by the UK.
Why? The UK did not pull them off their land, the UK did not fail to train and supervise the cronies Mugabe put in their place.
Zim is now saddled with a greedy, vicious, corrupt dictator who will use any excuse to avoid blame for any problems Zim has.
Throw him out, a better man or woman must surely be available.
Throw Mugabe in jail and throw away the key. Use his $25,000,000 USD palace on the river as a prison for his cronies or a hospital for his surviving victims.
Africa should rise up and help Zim out of this terrible man’s grip. Death will take him soon, but that is not soon enough.
The people of Zim must take the fight to Zanu and crush their despotic regime.
November 13th, 2007 19:44
Britain is to blame for everything regarding Zim. Rhodesia was forced and screwed by england to give up, and install a black dictator. From the very beginning Mugabes agenda has not changed.
Unfortuantly i feel it is a total waste of time to cry about the situation and keep asking for justice. UN and African Union dont care. (one he is black and a commrade) The only person to make a noise is George Bush.
Personaly I would like to see the whole zanu pf goverment executed. That is the only way forward - not forgiveness like in Rwanda. We can only dream. Mugabe killed my family, and the ones still alive are slowly dying. He must die
November 14th, 2007 13:23
Deon, you are swimming against the stream. You are just looking for someone other than Mugabe in Zim to blame.
He threw the white farmers out not UK. The UK gave millions of £’s to Mugabe to subsidise this landgrab.
Everybody I know in Zim are insistent that Mugabe and his Zanu party are the real villains, no body else.
Is the fault of the UK that people are being killed and tortured, no it is Muagabe.
Is it UK’s fault that Mugabe is jailing innocent zim citizens, no it is Migabe. Lose Zanu and Mugabe and Zim has a chance to come out of its nightmare of deprivation, starvation and homelessnes.
Oh and by the way it was not the UK who buldozed all those homes and shops, it was who? Yes surprise Mugabe.
Get real Deon!
January 22nd, 2008 17:55
I was born in 1981, did not see Gukurahundi though I have heard of it here and there.As I have been sitting here and reading this article I can’t help but shed tears, I am crying as I don’t understand how a human being can just kill for the sake of killing. How can one be so consumed with hatred, so hungry for power to act this way. Where did the heart of flesh go, how can one have such a stony heart for cold, how does Mugabe sleep at night, i wonder? God help him and God help us all. I am a born again christian and my bible teaches me to love and to forgive no matter what and I pray God will help not only me, but all of us including everyone directly affected to love and forgive and to remember vegeance is the Lord’s ( Deut 32:35) and Mugabe’s time will come. He can be the dictator, the president, ‘his excellency’, and all the names good and bad under the sun but God is God and no one can escape judgement day. Lord have mercy on my country, my people, my world thats my prayer. Chenzie UK
January 23rd, 2008 23:34
Chenzie:
The Gukurahundi is significant because it was a major series of incidents. Do not forget the many, many other atrocities which have taken place in the name and cause of so called “freedom” …I doubt if your God even notices, or cares. If mugabe dies today, his seat will be quickly taken by yet another self serving tyrant.
January 25th, 2008 15:05
i juss luv this men they call MUGABE RG. he is the best. because of him i am wiser. because of him you the reader you are educated. its all because of his wise policies. be like jews man. these guys were brutally killed by this crazy germany guy. but they dont cry like we do over spilt milk. lets move on. if we expect that Cde RG MUGABE is going to aplogise them i dont know how best we can describe ourselves. the best we can do is to change our mindsets and think positively about a better tomorrow. this thing of soliciting Mugabe for an apology stings like the waters in Umguza tirbutary.
January 27th, 2008 23:33
Tshabalala
I find your comment to be pretty appalling. You appear to adopt a totally laissez faire attitude to Mugabe’s atrocities as if they never really happened. A typical african response, just turn a blind eye, go into denial. As long as attitudes like yours persist in Zimbabwe, the country will just sink further into ruin. Perhaps the Jews do not cry any more but they certainly have not swept their holocaust under the carpet as you seem to advocate as a panacea for Zimbabwe.
Your changing your mindset is a pretty poor substitute for justice for the victims of the Gukurahundi and all the other atrocities committed on both black and white by this despotic regime.
February 9th, 2008 00:55
Zimbabwe stands where she is toady because we let people escape with murder. Anybody who feels and thinks that people of Zimbabwe are suffering today must know that it is because Mugabe is a ruthless murder.He killed even the unborn children. The question now is what then were the churches and civil organisations doing. What did the interantional community do. They all swept that under the carpet because they were benefitting form this man.
February 12th, 2008 16:13
hie
i am a 20 year old young lady who is from zimbabwe and is currently still leaving in zimbabwe i just want to understand why now?. why is gukurahundi all of a sudden an issue that you want to address i lost people relatrives that i will never get to know but then people turned thier backs on the issue and nothing was done. is it because zimbabwe is now unstable and mugabe is now the bad person that it becomes okay to publish books on his past actions that were ignored when it mattered. it is just wrong
February 14th, 2008 14:44
This Book must be sold in Zimbabwe, for the people of Zimbabwe, its very excellent
February 19th, 2008 08:28
the incident was quiet unfortunate but we must be gratefull it happened once in 27 years, what of if it had continued to happen. at least mugabe had tha right message and we are now enjoying peace
March 13th, 2008 10:36
Mugabe must certainly be booted out in these elections. His history is not good. From 1980 he has been intimidating people. I fail to understand. The Gukurahundi atrocities were just too much. No wonder Dabengwa defected. He had not been happy all along. He spent 4 years in detention. 4 wasted years. The people in ZANU-Pf have always supported the man. This is very bad. Simba Makoni this might dent your Presidential bid. You were part of the bandwagon. Turned a blind eye on this, so people might be skeptical of you as well.
March 22nd, 2008 22:40
Viva mugabe, viva Gukurahundi, Viva arrogance incompetence and ignorance…
Chief Justice…You talk the talk but the reality is that you do nothing but talk.
Kudzai… Crime does not have a prescription period…go figure.
mhlahlandlela: The holocaust also happened once so that makes it ok then? Go read your history,the Gukurahundi was not just one incident but a whole series of incidents..
March 24th, 2008 17:07
Oh God help us to remove this idiot Mugabe. Lord, you created people but this man whose brains are like a toilet is destroying the very country you created. He is joulous that he is old and will die very soon. He wants to die with everything you made for us. Please God judge this adulterous idiot. He has children born out of adultery and has taken someone’s wife to make him his. Just imagine:
Tongogara
Gukurahundi
People abducted by his CIO’s since 1980
white farmers killed
Murambatswina
Solders who died in DRC
Those killed by the War Vets, him instructing them
The industry is destroyed
The country without currency
OH God the list is endless
Think of any dead in Zimbabwe one way or another ROBERT MUGABE has a hand
March 29th, 2008 13:44
The Bible says ALL leaders come from God. I think it is very evil to wish anyone dead, irregardless of his/her evilness. Judge not. What happened during Gukurahundi was and is still bad but i think we should just move on and reconcile.For those who think its not a progressive idea then i think its equally curious that we also visit the Ndebele invasions of the Shonas in the 1880s or even the British invasions!! Why not start rectifying issues from the root cause but rather start the history of Zimbabwe during the 1980s? I have no doubt ALL agree that we should ignore about whatever happened before Gukurahundi because ALL of you just want to try & get read of Mugabe.. I am not justifying what he did but i am just enlightening you about some EQUAL evillness which happened THROUGHOUT the history of Zimbabwe. Was it fair for the Ndebel people to forcefully take our cattle and women during the 1880s,? Was it ok for the white man to drive us away from our land using a gun? and AGAIN was it ok for Mugabe to kill the Ndebeles in 1983? The answer to ALL is NO. BUT we would rather forgive each other and progress for the sake of a better Zim. But if at all we think of revisiting some issues lets take issue straight from the ROOT cause. We cant just cut the branches of a tree we no longer want and hope that the tree will die? Why shouldnt we just uproot everything?
March 29th, 2008 17:31
It has dawned on me after all this time looking at the woes of Zim, that the proplem is the people are prepared to put up with any atrocities just for a quite life. In any other nation I can think of someone like Mugabe would have been hunted down and shot like a dog for his calous treatment of his people and the country he says he loves so much.
Wake up Zim, If Mugabe fiddles the elections rise up against him and bring in a fair government.
And on another matter, Zim would be a lot better off if they had stayed British. At least the could buy bread and fuel and have decent wages. Get real Zim
March 29th, 2008 20:03
Stayed British? What? Will America be ok if it stays Zimbabwean? certainly not isnt, but you think Zim will be ok under colonial rule. Are you out of your mind Damien. Mugabe needs to go but to be told to go under British colonial policies is an insult on our sovereignty Mugabe has failed to rule the country but most of these so called 1st world countries have the wrong reasons to kick him out…. .
March 30th, 2008 15:36
the discussions are so shallow. Please raise the level of debate.
March 30th, 2008 16:55
Hey Ms Shallowness
I am sorry if we raise the level you wont be able to understand anything since you couldn’t understand this debate
March 30th, 2008 17:20
What I said was Zim would be better off than they are now. Hard to disagree with eh.
March 31st, 2008 15:17
Yes as a Christian I believe that all leadership is permitted by God however that doesn’t mean that it is right or acceptable for the leader to go on a rampage. The situation in Zimbabwe is 90% locally brewed - the other 10% is external. I have spent quality time with Church leaders, students and professionals alike - very compitent people in Zimbabwe. There are better decision makers outside the Government and leadership of our nation. We have good politicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers, cleaners and labourers to make it a fantastic nation. The sad thing that I learnt is that our people are riddled with fear. Fear is the ruler of the hearts of Zimbabwe. Fear to confront bullies and tyrants. Our Bishops are sore afraid, they feel it an honour to be invited to our President’s office rather than an opportunity to speak sense to him. People of Zimbabwe would rather deny a Mighty God than tell President Gabby that he is wrong. It is easy to blame Bush/Blair/Brown or any other Neo-Arpartheid Colonialist but when are we going to be men and women who are prepared to die for our childrn’s future. I can’t imagine my children, the oldest being 12, bowing down to all the other nations because we have failed them in yet another generation. Come on Zimbos, they can kill some of us but they can’t kill us all. Not anymore.
April 1st, 2008 09:25
Gukurahundi is a very disturbing feature in the Zimbabwean history, but it does not warranty an INDEPENDENT OR SEPARATE MATEBELELAND as proposed by one embecile Mthwakazi. Because supporting tribalism is as good as supporting Gukurahundi. Look @ Kenya, Iraq,Rwanda,Congo, Sudan, Somali,Ethopi that’s tribalism at work. So let us emulate @ the British, Germans, French,Soviets,Spaniards even Malawins, Mozambicans, Zambians their politics is not tinted by TRIBALISM. WE NEED POSITIVE & PEACEFUL MINDS.
April 1st, 2008 09:35
Gukurahundi is a crime that can not be redeemed by an one extenuating circumstances.Now that Mugabe has lost the polls but not willing to relinquish power is yet another challenge that Zimbabwe facing.
April 1st, 2008 13:10
your document is flawed and biased. delete it.
April 1st, 2008 17:35
mugabe get lost. Give sanity a chance, come on Morgan what is the country waiting for?
April 4th, 2008 23:23
I have an utmost sadness, feelings of distaste, a bewildering question that asks, why? How can someone or something do this to anyone. Possession is a valid assumption. Human values never entered into an equation. What is been dealt with here? This is a force that has reared it,s ugly head, spread like a cancerous disease, for what. Power, greed, control, malicious from the onset. I choose not hatred but knowledge to learn how to forgive such chaos. What can we learn from this? I send peace and hope that Zimbabwe may once again enjoy prosperity and beauty.
April 5th, 2008 11:59
whats gukarahundi?is it some frankenstein monster
April 15th, 2008 23:10
When we judge Mugabe for his Matebeleland madness,don’t forget his good friend Colonel Dyke. He killed a lot of people because they were Ndebele and Black.
April 19th, 2008 17:07
For the sole purpose of democracy we should investigate Mbuya Nehanda’s execution.
April 21st, 2008 13:21
In 1860’s King Lobengula gave our family a farm
We asked Mugabe if we could have it back; the British took it away from us after the Mat. rebellion. We lost it for ever but we have 820 Mombi’s in Botswana and would love to return to our land of birth. BUT….
This whole sad story is just another tale of what the African continent is all about.
What we need to sort out the mess is a Coalition Govt of ALL people , who only have one thing in their hearts and that is to SORT out the mess , punish the wrong do-ers , put good government in place. Please invite the whites back to help you do it. May of them will love to help ; lets acknowledge all mistakes of the past , and build the future for ALL , especially our children. We need wise people , willing to work hard and build a NATION.Mtagati will get Mugabe !
April 22nd, 2008 12:33
Ithink nyagura needs to really think and think hard of cause. I am Kalanga and my father was killed in Plumtree. Now think……….Were the kalanga not part of the Rozvi empire including of course the Lozi, venda, Nambya etc. so why did you kill the Kalanga and tonga who were part of the rozvi empire of which you were part of. Think gain……Did anything called Shona exist before 1930. Of course it did not. If you need history lessons i can offer some.
April 22nd, 2008 22:00
behind every “great” man, is a ……..?
many great leaders was brought down to inhuman behavior by the woman “behind” them!
April 23rd, 2008 11:08
I was living in Inyanga in 1981-83 when the 5th brigade was trained by the North Koreans. They were terrifying the local people and hotels. They killed 3 British tourists, they stole their car, which was seen on the back of an army truck heading out. Not knowing they were heading towards Matabeleland.
I am sorry to scatter your opinion about Mugs, but during the war, his vets did the same things. Rural people were locked up in their huts and set alight, his troops were killing the rural folks mombis, raping their daughters, cutting off lips and ears and the victim’s family were told to cook it and eat it. The election in 1980 was total fear as not voting for Zanu pf, meant that the war would continue and the rural people would be the first target.
A leopard never change his spots and Mugs never changed.
April 25th, 2008 18:21
Would not waste my time reading it as Mugabe was justified in defending Zimbabwe from insurgents that were aided and abeted by the former apartheid regime in South Africa which carried out a total onslaught against black frontline states to destabilise them because they were supporting the struggle against apartheid. Zimbabwe was a target for destabilisation just like Mozambique and Angola and Mugabe was despised by the whites in South Africa because he started SADC to fight apartheid and he will always be considered a hero for that. ZAPU which was a front for the apartheid regime’s destabilisation strategy was assisted by former Rhodesian intelligence operatives and Selous Scouts.
As for the casualties which number no more than 2,000, they were victims of a war to defend the country against the imperialist assault by South Africa.
As for Mugabe today, South Africa under the ANC will never support any person that would serve as a puppet of both Western neo-colonialist interests and their Rhodesian surrogates in Zimbabwe. Viva Robert Mugabe! Viva Zanu-PF! Pasi ne Tsvangirai! Africa is for Africans!
April 25th, 2008 23:39
I can think of only one reason for Mugabe to delay the elction results. He knows he has lost. If he had won he wouuld be crowing it to the rooftops. Mugabe is a total power crazed fraud.
April 26th, 2008 17:31
We can all keep on blaming the past, but its the present and the future that matter.
Mugabe must be stopped from his madness, and held accountable for the crimes against humanity that he is responsible for.
The people of Zimbabwe have had more than enough.
That beautiful country deserves to have the peace that the public have waited so patiently for.
May 1st, 2008 15:23
I think the Gukurahundi was a hateful act.Thanks to Zenzele for showing bravery by compiling a documentary.We wish to have many people of your kind SIR!!!!!
May 8th, 2008 15:56
I am surprised no-one has addressed Kevin Hughes, even though it is fairly obvious this character is deluded or simply a troll. I’ve decided to respond.
Sir/Madam, your misinformed views are completely unacceptable. Your understanding of the history of our region is completely biased. You seem unwilling to accept that a military action against defenceless civilians, AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER is simply not justifiable, especially by the obvious and tired lies you are reciting.
The disbanding of combatants after the war was not only difficult, it was undermined by both sides, wary of the other. The Red Berets were not only specifically targeting civilians, they also actively ignored armed bands in the region (in many cases, groups of armed combatants turned towards banditry). In fact, as a military group it has been said they would not have fared well in any sort of armed conflict. Their sole purpose was the one described above.
Although I doubt you are a fellow Zimbabwean, if your are I am horrified. In any case I am deeply ashamed of you as a human being.