The Gukurahundi genocide

The Gukurahundi genocide refers to the massacre of more than twenty thousand Ndebele people in Zimbabwe from 1983 through 1987. The killings were carried out by the Fifth Battalion of the Zimbabwe army, a unit that was trained in North Korea. The Fifth Battalion existed outside the traditional military chain of command, instead answering directly to the office of the prime minister. At the time of the genocide, the prime minister was Robert Mugabe.

Before Zimbabwe was formed and recognized, two armies had fought over control of the territory. When the nation was formed, both armies were expected to contribute to the government and the national military. However, the Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the political party led by Mugabe, and its armed wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), quickly secured control of the government of Zimbabwe. The Ndebele people made up the largest majority of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) political party and its Zimbabwean People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). When Mugabe feared that the ZAPU military was preparing for another civil war, he ordered the Fifth Battalion to arrest and execute anyone suspected of belonging to the ZAPU. Most military-aged Ndebele men were targeted. Mugabe named this operation Gukurahundi, which translates to “the early rain which washes away the chaff.”

Background

The Gukurahundi genocide can be traced back to a split between two revolutionary groups. Both the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, which would later be called the Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) fought against the White-minority government, working to free the unrecognized state of Rhodesia from colonial rule. However, they also fought with one another, each seeking to secure power over the government of the newly forming nation.

Though neither side reached a military victory, and conflict between the two revolutionary groups continued, the new nation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia held elections under the supervision of the British government in 1980. In these elections, ZANU-PF proved the clear victor, placing its leader Robert Mugabe in the role of prime minister.

Though Mugabe and the ZANU-PF had won the election and secured control of Zimbabwe’s government, the ZAPU organization did not transition into a purely political force. Instead, it continued to gather military power, hoping to use it to gain influence in the new nation. Both military groups were intended to play a role in national defense, but distrust between them stopped the two armies from effectively cooperating.

In November 1980, following divisive comments from political leaders, the two armies clashed. In 1982, government forces claimed to have found secret weapons caches prepared by ZAPU forces. They formally accused ZAPU of planning for another civil war and removed ZAPU leaders from government.

Overview

Mugabe had previously worked to build an international relationship with North Korean dictator Kim II Sung. In October 1980, Kim had agreed to provide special training to a division of the Zimbabwean army. Later named the Fifth Brigade, Mugabe had intended to use these highly trained soldiers as a domestic militia to combat civil dissidents. Unlike the rest of the Zimbabwean military, the Fifth Brigade was not integrated into the normal chain of command. Instead, it answered directly to the office of the prime minister.

Following the alleged discovery of ZAPU weapons caches, Mugabe utilized the Fifth Brigade to combat any suspect ZAPU loyalists. Many of the ZAPU supporters belonged to the Ndebele people, an ethnic minority predominately found within the borders of Zimbabwe. Because of this, Mugabe and the Fifth Brigade targeted all members of the Ndebele people as potential members of ZAPU. They believed that by systematically attacking this ethnic group that ZANU would finally be able to wipe out ZAPU, securing its control over Zimbabwe.

Between 1983 and 1987, the Fifth Brigade attacked the Ndebele people of the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. They summarily executed anyone suspected of belonging to ZAPU, including any Ndebele men of fighting age. More than twenty thousand people were killed by this specialized wing of the Zimbabwe government. Many of these killings were carried out in public, after the victims were forced to dig their own graves, as an example to anyone who might support ZAPU or resist the government. However, on several occasions, the Fifth Brigade carried out massacres of Ndebele groups wholly unrelated to their relation to ZAPU. Those who were not executed were often forcibly moved to violent re-education camps.

Much of the Western international community condemned the genocide against the Ndebele people. The United States threatened to withhold the substantial amount of financial aid that Zimbabwe received each year if the extreme violence was not stopped. According to human aid organizations, this caused the Fifth Brigade to reduce the number of public killings in its operations. However, the Fifth Brigade then attempted to break the will of the Ndebele people through torture, believing that it would draw less negative attention to the African nation. Additionally, the Fifth Brigade carried out brutal reprisals against anyone who spoke openly about the massacres occurring in Matabeleland and Midlands.

When confronted about the atrocities occurring in Zimbabwe, Mugabe and his administration denied that any military actions were being carried out against civilians. Instead, they argued that the attacks were carried out on suspected militants belonging to ZAPU, as well as officers and other senior officials of the party. Additionally, the government of Zimbabwe exhumed mass graves throughout the nation, reburying the bodies in carefully controlled locations. Emmerson Mnangagwa, president of Zimbabwe since Mugabe was pushed out by his party in November 2017, met with international aid organizations regarding the genocide. They were working to heal the divide between the people of Zimbabwe. However, critics allege that Mnangagwa played a substantial role in the planning of the massacres during his time in Mugabe’s regime. Because of this, they questioned the sincerity of the leader’s claims.

Bibliography

“Genocide Country Report: Zimbabwe.” GenocideWatch, 2021, www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/genocide-watch-country-report-zimbabwe. Accessed 7 June 2023.

“Gukurahundi Atrocities.” Mthwakazi Independent, mthwakaziindependent.com/gukurahundi-atrocities/. Accessed 7 June 2023.

“Tears After the Rain: The Legacy of the Gukurahundi Genocide in Zimbabwe.” OWP, 2022, theowp.org/reports/tears-after-the-rain-the-legacy-of-the-gukurahundi-genocide-in-zimbabwe/. Accessed 7 June 2023.

“Zimbabwe’s Genocide: An Open Wound.” FairPlanet, 2022, www.fairplanet.org/story/zimbabwes-genocide-an-open-wound/. Accessed 7 June 2023.

“Zimbabwe: Overview.” Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2023, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/zimbabwe-overview. Accessed 7 June 2023.