Gukurahundi
| Gukurahundi | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Cold War and aftermath of the Rhodesian Bush War | |
| Location | Zimbabwe |
| Date | 3 January 1983 - 22 December 1987 |
| Target | Ndebele population of Zimbabwe |
|
Attack type
|
Pogrom, torture, indefinite detention |
| Deaths | 3,750–30,000 |
Gukurahundi is a Shona language term which loosely translates to, "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains". In Zimbabwe, it has particular reference to an operation carried out by the national army's Fifth Brigade between 1983 and 1987 whereby suspected anti-government elements among the Ndebele community were identified and eliminated.
During the Rhodesian Bush War two rival nationalist parties, Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), had emerged to challenge Rhodesia's predominantly white government. ZANU then defined Gukurahundi as an ideological strategy aimed at carrying the war into major settlements and individual homesteads. Following Mugabe's ascension to power, his government remained threatened by "dissidents", disgruntled former guerrillas and supporters of ZAPU. In January 1983, a crackdown by the elite Fifth Brigade in Matabeleland North was initiated to purge the dissidents. The brigade's directives apparently specified a search for local ZAPU officials and veterans of ZAPU's armed wing, the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). Seizure or detention by the Fifth Brigade was arbitrary. In Bulawayo, for instance, Ndebele men of fighting age were considered potential dissidents and therefore, guilty of subversive activities. Most selected were summarily executed or marched to reeducation camps. On occasion the Fifth Brigade also massacred large groups of Ndebele, seemingly at random—the largest such incident occurred in March 1983, when 55 civilians were shot on the banks of the Cewale River near Lupane.
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe documented at least 3,750 killings and speculated that the actual number could be double that, or higher, since its coverage was limited to the Tsholotsho districts of Matabeleland North and the Matobo districts of Matabeleland South. Local Ndebele put the figure between 20,000 and 30,000. Journalist Heidi Holland referenced a death toll of 8,000 as a typical conservative estimate. In February 1983 the International Red Cross disclosed that 1,200 Ndebele had been murdered that month alone. In a unanimously adopted resolution in 2005, the International Association of Genocide Scholars estimated the death toll at 20,000. Zimbabwean Minister for National Security Sydney Sekeramayi countered that allegations of atrocities were part of a ZAPU disinformation programme to discredit the army. In 1992 serving Defence Minister Moven Mahachi became the first ZANU official who publicly apologised for the execution and torture of civilians by the Fifth Brigade. Five years later, Enos Nkala, former Defence Minister, described his involvement with Gukurahundi as "eternal hell" and blamed President Mugabe for having orchestrated it. Speaking at Joshua Nkomo's memorial service on 2 July 2000, Mugabe admitted that "thousands" had been killed during the campaign, calling it an "act of madness".
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