Four decades have passed since the Gukurahundi massacres, a dark chapter in Zimbabwe’s history that continues to haunt the people of Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces.
Launched in early 1983, Gukurahundi was officially described by the government as an operation to eliminate dissidents who were attacking civilians. In practice, however, it predominantly targeted the Ndebele communities in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.
Human rights groups estimate that 20 000 people were killed during the genocide.
READ: https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/42456-zimbabwe-mugabe-is-buried-not-the-past.html
Despite numerous attempts by the government to address this sensitive issue, the victims and their families remain without justice, their voices stifled by a lack of political will to acknowledge and atone for the atrocities committed.
Government efforts to establish commissions and dialogues have been met with skepticism, as reports remain unpublished, recommendations go unimplemented, and resources are insufficient to address the scope of the problem.
READ: https://cite.org.zw/nprc-dumbutshena-chihambakwe-reports-missing/
The Dumbutshena Commission, led by the late former Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena, presented its findings to then-Prime Minister Robert Mugabe in 1981. The commission had been tasked with investigating sporadic violence that erupted following Zimbabwe’s first democratic elections in 1980.
The elections, held after the country’s liberation war, saw Mugabe’s Zanu PF securing 57 of the 100 parliamentary seats. However, tensions simmered near guerrilla assembly points across the nation, culminating in violence.
In November 1980, clashes broke out between former Zipra and Zanla guerrillas, who had been relocated from rural assembly points to Entumbane in Bulawayo. The unrest escalated in February 1981 when a second, more intense outbreak of violence spilled over into Ntabazinduna and Connemara in the Midlands. Over 300 guerrillas, predominantly from Zipra, were killed as Mugabe’s government deployed air support to quell the clashes.
The Chihambakwe Commission followed in September 1983, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Simplisius Chihambakwe. It was established to investigate atrocities committed by the Fifth Brigade, a military unit deployed in Matabeleland starting in December 1982 under the pretext of combating “dissidents.” This referred to a small group of former Zipra fighters who had resisted disarmament and Mugabe’s rule.
The commission, composed of Justice Chihambakwe, lawyers John Ngara and Prince Machaya (currently Zimbabwe’s Attorney-General), and the commander of 1 Brigade Mike Shute, began its work in January 1984.
However, in November 1985, the government, through then Minister of State Security Emmerson Mnangagwa, announced that the findings of the Chihambakwe Commission would not be made public. The decision fueled speculation that the report contained damning evidence against the government.
While the Unity Accord, signed in 1987 by ZANU and ZAPU, may have ended the massacres, it also introduced an amnesty proclamation that effectively forced the population to move on without addressing the social injustices of that period.
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), established in 2012 with a ten-year mandate, struggled with resource constraints, remaining dormant for the first five years and making limited progress in the remaining tenure.
A former Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo described previous attempts to address Gukurahundi as “sideshows” that failed to achieve meaningful results.
In an interview with CITE, Moyo argued that these commissions failed because they were led and supervised by alleged perpetrators, making it impossible to implement meaningful recommendations.
“Nothing has been done to resolve the genocide. What we have seen are just sideshows, where the perpetrator pretends to address an issue for which they must be held accountable,” Moyo said.
“It is highly unlikely that a perpetrator can lead the process of resolving a case in which they are implicated or stand as an interested party. I would be reluctant to expect any serious efforts under such circumstances.”
Moyo noted that the NPRC was not established to address Gukurahundi directly but rather to pursue peace and reconciliation, which he deemed futile without prior acknowledgment of the atrocities.
“The NPRC had nothing to do with Gukurahundi. It merely sought reconciliation. But how can people reconcile when the alleged crimes have not been acknowledged? You cannot begin with reconciliation without understanding and addressing the root causes of the conflict,” he said.
Moyo also expressed skepticism about the current process involving traditional chiefs leading Gukurahundi discussions, stating it contravenes principles of effective conflict resolution.
“Recently, chiefs were placed at the forefront of this issue, forming yet another sideshow that has not even begun to be implemented. This is a disaster because chiefs, themselves victims of Gukurahundi, cannot be expected to lead a process of gathering public opinions on the matter,” he said.
“This approach is awkward from a conflict resolution standpoint. While Mnangagwa may appear to want to resolve this, he cannot pronounce, lead, or supervise the process as he is implicated as one of the alleged perpetrators of the genocide.”
Political analyst Effie Ncube echoed these sentiments, asserting that the government must heed the people’s suggestions and act on them to enable healing.
Ncube attributed the failure of past commissions to the government’s disregard for public demands, withholding reports, and neglecting recommendations.
“Nothing substantial has been done to address this issue, which is why we are still discussing the chiefs-led dialogue. What we need are results. Chiefs must examine past processes, identify their failures, and avoid repeating them,” Ncube said.
“The chiefs’ process must differ significantly from previous attempts. There must be official acknowledgment of the atrocities before anything else can be addressed.
“We do not want this process to end in yet another failure. Chiefs must listen to the people—not just their pain and narratives but their demands—and act on them to foster genuine healing.”
Never will ZANU investigate its own blood excesses..