Gukurahundi: Upon reading some of the material, and from our evidence gathered - it is apparent to us that the term “Gukurahundi” fails to portray the absolute horrors of that genocide - the hunting down and brutal torture, murder of children, women and men folk by deranged psychopaths - all upon the orders of Mugabe, Mnangagwa and 'others'.
The term itself has been framed as an almost poetic “moment of madness” (Mugabe’s cynical words). This period wrought incomprehensible brutality that we in the West, and within the British Establishment can never fully understand. That period within Zimbabwe from 1983-1987 cannot be ignored, cannot be cured with “an apology” - it requires JUSTICE - because some of the perpetrators of that unimaginable genocide are alive today and within the current regime. Like the sword of Damaclease - it is still there - still an aberration - yet to see Justice.
No, Gukurahundi is not the correct description; it is from the same depraved psychosis that started this horrific genocide itself. It needs a new, fully descriptive terminology, one that we cannot yet construct in our minds
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- Written by: Grok2 and additional materials John Burke
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We asked GROK2 about Mugabe and Mnangagwa's involvement in the Genocide Campaign and the purpose of their Scheme. It provided, based on research over the decades to following;
The organization and control of the Gukurahundi campaign by Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa were primarily aimed at consolidating power and eliminating political opposition in Zimbabwe after independence. Here's how they orchestrated and controlled the campaign, and why ZAPU was targeted:
Organization and Control:
Fifth Brigade: The Gukurahundi was executed mainly through the Fifth Brigade, a military unit trained by North Korean military experts starting in 1980. This brigade was directly under Mugabe's control and not part of the regular Zimbabwe National Army command structure, allowing for direct orders from Mugabe to be carried out without interference. The brigade was largely composed of ex-ZANLA (Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, the armed wing of ZANU-PF) fighters, which were predominantly Shona.
Political and Military Strategy: Mugabe's government used the Fifth Brigade to conduct a campaign of terror in Matabeleland and parts of the Midlands, areas where ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union) had strong support. The operations were not just military but also served political ends by weakening ZAPU's organizational structure and support base. This was part of a broader strategy to establish a one-party state under ZANU-PF.
Intelligence and Security Measures: Emmerson Mnangagwa, as Minister of State for National Security at the time, played a significant role in the intelligence and security aspects of Gukurahundi. His ministry was involved in identifying and targeting ZAPU members and sympathizers, often using brutal methods to gather information or eliminate opposition.
Targeting ZAPU:
Political Rivalry: Despite being allies during the liberation struggle against white minority rule, ZANU-PF and ZAPU had significant ideological and strategic differences, compounded by ethnic tensions between the Shona-dominated ZANU-PF and the Ndebele-dominated ZAPU. After independence, these tensions escalated into open conflict when Mugabe accused ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo of plotting a coup, leading to Nkomo's dismissal from the government in 1982.
Elimination of Opposition: The aim was to dismantle ZAPU's political and military influence. Gukurahundi was seen as a means to "cleanse" the political landscape of ZAPU's presence by targeting not only armed dissidents but also civilians perceived as ZAPU supporters, thereby creating a deterrent against opposition to ZANU-PF's rule.
Control Over Matabeleland: The campaign was particularly vicious in Matabeleland because this region was a stronghold for ZAPU. By targeting this area, Mugabe and Mnangagwa sought to break the spirit and organizational backbone of ZAPU, ensuring ZANU-PF's dominance across the country.
The Gukurahundi campaign resulted in the deaths of thousands, with estimates around 20,000, and was later described by Mugabe himself as a "moment of madness." However, it effectively led to the 1987 Unity Accord, where ZAPU was absorbed into ZANU-PF, creating a de facto one-party state under Mugabe's leadership. This move was strategic in silencing opposition and centralizing power but left a legacy of trauma, ethnic division, and unresolved justice issues in Zimbabwe.
Emmerson Mnangagwa's role in the Gukurahundi campaign is a subject of significant debate, controversy, and analysis:
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- Written by: Michael Sibangilizwe Nkomo
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To: President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, President Dr Emmerson D. Mnangagwa
From: President of Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), Michael Sibangilizwe Nkomo
Date: 13 January 2024
RE: Gukurahundi Conflict Management and Resolution Program Headed by Traditional Leadership.
1. Background.
Mr President, you will recall that when the armed struggle was launched, it was after a realization that peaceful engagement yielded nothing for the black majority. By then, you were a juvenile when the first War Council was established in 1961 at Dr Tsvarai’s residence in Gweru. Later on in 1962, you were sent for military training in Egypt under ZAPU but defected when ZANU broke away from ZAPU in August 1963. By then, the struggle was for One Man One Vote and achievement of human dignity.
Immediately after independence, minus freedom in 1980, a disturbing and false security threat was created by your government and apartheid South Africa, claiming instability in Matabeleland and the Midlands. Your party’s appetite for a one-party state compelled your government to go into an unholy alliance with Apartheid South Africa in an effort to destroy the long-standing progressive alliance of ZAPU/ZPRA and ANC/Umkhonto weSizwe whom you viewed as a threat to your respective governments. Dissidents sponsored by your party and those of Super ZAPU created by Apartheid South Africa created havoc in Matabeleland and Midlands as a prelude to the genocide that was to follow. This operation code named Gukurahundi turned to target Ndebele Speaking people and the whole world kept mum.
You will remember Mr. President, that ZPRA combatants were directed to surrender all their liberation uniforms, to the nearest police or military stations which were later used for pseudo dissident operations. You will remember Mr. President when you referred to the people of Matabeleland and Midlands, particularly Ndebele Speaking people as cockroaches that needed DDT pesticide. Surprisingly, in the Midlands where Shona and Ndebele live side by side, Shonas were spared while Ndebele homesteads were savagely burnt and people indiscriminately murdered. You are on record wanting to exclude Midlands from the Gukurahundi Conflict Management since it confirms your genocidal behavior.
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- Written by: Lena Reim, Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal African Society
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‘Gukurahundi Continues’: Violence, Memory, and Mthwakazi Activism in Zimbabwe
Lena Reim Author Notes: African Affairs, Volume 122, Issue 486, January 2023, Pages 95–117, https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adac043
Published: 09 February 2023 Article history: Permissions Icon Permissions
Abstract
One effect of Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup was to unleash a new wave of public engagement with the unresolved state repression of the 1980s, known as Gukurahundi. This wave was led by the ‘post-Gukurahundi generation’ and particularly by activists whose narratives of Gukurahundi were entwined with calls for a separate ‘Mthwakazi nation’. This article explores these activists’ stories of Gukurahundi and asks why they broke through into the public realm after decades of relative silence. It argues that Mthwakazi activists’ engagement relied on an interpretation of Gukurahundi not simply as a discrete historical event, but as the clearest expression of an ongoing ‘Grand Plan’ of ethnic marginalization. This narrative was foundational to the construction of a moral order that divided the country along ethnic and regional fault lines, ultimately legitimizing Mthwakazi nationalism. The paper roots this narrative’s emergence in two interrelated processes. Speaking to the role of silencing in keeping conflicts alive across generations, it examines how the ‘noisy silence’ that has surrounded Gukurahundi in both public and private has meant that Gukurahundi lingered as a readily available interpretative lens. This lens became meaningful when the second generation, faced with political and economic marginalization, was grappling for meaning and political belonging.
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- Written by: Dr. Gregory H. Stanton - President GENOCIDE WATCH: Update: Laura Drysdale
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Genocide Watch
Genocide Watch; calls for prosecution of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe for genocide
Washington, DC and Capetown, South Africa
16 September 2010
Genocide Watch, Chair of the International Campaign to End Genocide, based in Washington, DC and Capetown, South Africa, today called for prosecution of President Robert Mugabe and other Zimbabwean leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity for the “Gukurahundi,” the mass murder of over 20,000 Matabele citizens of Zimbabwe in 1983 and 1984.
“There is no statute of limitations for genocide or crimes against humanity,” said Dr. Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch. “We campaigned for over thirty years to bring the leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia to justice for genocide and crimes against humanity, and they are finally on trial. We call upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct a full investigation of the Gukurahundi, with the aim of establishing a mixed UN – Zimbabwean Tribunal to put Mugabe and his co-perpetrators on trial for their crimes. They think they have gotten away with mass murder. It is time to end such impunity in Zimbabwe.”
Genocide is a special crime against humanity, because it must be intentionally carried out against a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The Gukurahundi meets the definition of genocide because it was carried out by the North-Korean trained, exclusively Shona Fifth Brigade under President Mugabe and it targeted ethnic Matabele people. Shona youth militias, the notorious “green bombers,” also participated in the genocide. These militias still exist, like neo-Nazi groups, and conduct terror campaigns against opponents of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF in election campaigns. General Constantine Chiwanga, Commander of the Zimbabwe Army, and Sidney Sekeramayi, Minister of Defense, were senior officers directly involved in the 1983-84 genocide.