Zimbabwe launches hearings over Mugabe-era massacre

• Published On: 14 July 2024 at 21:20

President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe began the much-awaited process of reconciliation on Sunday, addressing the infamous murders by government troops that occurred in the 1980s and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.

Survivors will be questioned during a series of sessions aimed at resolving long-standing issues and tensions and pave the way for potential compensation.

This day is very important in our history. In Bulawayo, the second-biggest city in southern Africa, Mnangagwa declared, "This is the day where we demonstrate that as a country, we are capable of resolving our disputes as Zimbabweans, regardless of their complexity or magnitude."

He went on, calling the project a "pilgrimage towards healing," saying, "This initiative is a potent symbol of our collective will to bridge the divides that have separated us for too long."


A few years after Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain, the so-called Gukurahundi massacres occurred as former leader Robert Mugabe consolidated his hold on power.

Beginning in 1983, Mugabe used an elite army force trained in North Korea to put down an uprising in the western Matabeleland district of Bulawayo, which is home to the Ndebele minority.

Amnesty International supports the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe's estimate of 20,000 deaths over a period of years.


Gukurahundi, which means roughly "the early rain that washes away the chaff" in the Shona language spoken by the majority, is the name given to the operation.

Opponents claim it was directed at dissidents who supported Joshua Nkomo, a fellow revolutionary leader and Mugabe's adversary. The minority Ndebele tribe was home to the majority of the victims.

"Bad patch"

Mugabe, who passed away in 2019, refused to take ownership of the atrocities and called the information compiled by Amnesty International a "heap of lies."

Following his ascension to power in 2017, Mnangagwa established a commission of chiefs to investigate the massacres and pledged a resolution. The village hearings will now be presided over by the 72 chiefs.

However, activists claimed that because there had been no formal apology from the government, the process was faulty and had started off incorrectly.

"Mnangagwa had a perfect chance to apologize during the launch, but he did not. He ought to have taken advantage of that chance, according to Buster Magwizi, a representative for ZPRA veterans, a former Nkomo-aligned military force.


Mnangagwa was Zimbabwe's security minister at the time and has always denied any involvement in the killing, calling it “a bad patch” in the country's history.

Mbuso Fuzwayo of the pressure group Ibhetshu LikaZulu told AFP, "It is unfortunate that the exercise that must bring healing, closure, is micro-managed by those whose hands are dripping of the blood of the innocent people who were killed."