GUKURAHUNDI:

Gukurahundi is a Shona word which means “the rain that washes away the chaff before the spring rains”.  It was also the name given to a special force (Fifth Brigade) of 3500 mainly ex-Zanla guerrillas which was outside the normal army command structure and loyal to the ruling Zanu-PF party.  Together with the police and CIO, Fifth Brigade arrested, tortured, “disappeared” and killed thousands of civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands between 1982 and 1988.

The only known account of what happened during Gukurahundi was published in 1997 by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJP) and the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF).  Their ground-breaking report entitled Breaking the Silence: Building True Peace, while quite authoritative in its detail and diligence, only tells a small part of Gukurahundi.

RIGHT TO KNOW:

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states;

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes

freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart

information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

As can be seen, the right to know (seek) is clearly enshrined within the fundamental right to freedom of opinion and expression.

During the1982-88 Gukurahundi genocide, the government of Zimbabwe maintained a tight grip on the flow of information.  A news blackout was imposed on Matabeleland, journalists barred from venturing into the affected areas.  It was government policy to hide what was happening in Matabeleland from the rest of Zimbabwe and indeed the world.

Still, and as evidence of Fifth Brigade atrocities began to emerge, Robert Mugabe, then Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, gave in to pressure and set up two commissions of inquiry.  The first such inquiry, chaired by Justice Enoch Dumbutshena, was set up in 1981 to investigate clashes between ZIPRA and ZANLA forces. The second and more relevant inquiry, chaired by Simplicius Chihambakwe, was set up in 1983 and at the height of Fifth Brigade activity in Matabeleland.  Both these commissions dutifully did their jobs and delivered their final reports to the Government of Zimbabwe. Neither report has ever been released to the public.

Mthwakazi Action Group has adopted the 9 principles produced by ARTICLE 19 to lobby the government of Zimbabwe to publish the Dumbutshena and Chihambakwe reports.