Country: Zimbabwe

Group: Ndebele

Date Finalized: 10/05/2022

Team: Zaida Yancy Arellano Reyes and Erika Walker (leads), Jhanz Garcia, Samuel Kniery, Hajer Rahee, Gabby Staker, Tommy Chia, Alicia Hernandez

Content Warning: Graphic documentation of sexual violence, genocide, torture.

 Approximate Time Period: 1983-2008

Antagonism between the Shona people and the Ndebele people has been present in Zimbabwe since the 1800s (Moyo, 2011). The Shona people believe the Ndebele population received special treatment from European powers. From 1983-1987, shortly after becoming independent from the United Kingdom, the national government and military carried out an intense series of attacks now known as the Gukurahundi massacres/ focused mostly in Matabeleland to repress alleged political dissidents (Killander & Nyathi, 2015; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2019). Shona soldiers were extremely violent toward the Ndebele people. They used the slogan “Mandevere muchakaura,” which translated reads, “Ndebeles, you will suffer” (Minority Rights Group, 2021). During this time, Shona rebel groups like the Fifth Brigade, CIO, PISI, and ZANU-PF Youth Brigades launched attacks on Ndebele civilians (The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe & The Legal Resources Foundation, 1997).  By the end of 1987, government soldiers killed or forced disappeared over 20,000 Ndebele people (Stone, 2022; Minority Rights Group, 2021; United States Holocaust Memorial, n.d.). The Zimbabwe National Army humiliated, terrorized, tortured, raped, forcibly disappeared, and brutally murdered the Ndebele people. Male prisoners of the Bhalagwe concentration camp suffered from crushed or electrocuted testicles. Female prisoners were raped with guns and infected with AIDS. Soldiers forced Ndebele men to commit incest, “destroying families, marriages, and sanities” (Stone, 2022). Outside observers, including Amnesty International and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, reported that government forces beat hundreds to death and burnt Ndebele alive inside their homes. Recovered medical records and excavations of mass graves show clear evidence of lethal violence. Because many survivors reported that they were targeted due to being Ndebele and not supporting the government’s political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the Gukurahundi atrocities can be considered a clear case of genocide against the Ndebele (Killander & Nyathi, 2015). Ndebele people in Zimbabwe continue to face discrimination at the hands of the Zimbabwean government. Zimbabwean security forces have been accused as recently as 2021 of engaging in extrajudicial killings, and ZANU-PF supporters allegedly killed an activist (Amnesty International, 2021). Despite internal and international pressure “to bring about national healing,” the present Zimbabwean government refuses to accept responsibility for the killings (Moyo 2021; Dzirutwe 2019). Currently, the Ndebele young people are suffering from transgenerational trauma with some fantasizing of a revolution to avenge their parents’ sufferings (Stone, 2022; Moyo, 2011).

Data Quality: Data quality is rated a 3/3 due to a vast amount of information from reputable sources that have documented lethal violence against Ndebele people in Zimbabwe.

Sources

  1. Amnesty International. (n. d.). Zimbabwe Archives. Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/africa/southern-africa/zimbabwe/report-zimbabwe/
  2. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe & The Legal Resources Foundation. 1997. Breaking the silence, building true peace: A report on the disturbances in Matabeleland and the midlands, 1980 – 1988. https://hrforumzim.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/breaking-the-silence.pdf.
  3. Dzirutwe, M. 2019. Mugabe’s legacy: Thousands killed in ‘Rain That Washes Away the Chaff.’ Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-mugabe-violence-idUSKCN1VR18H
  4. Killander, M., & Nyathi, M. (2015). Accountability for the Gukurahundi atrocities in Zimbabwe thirty years on: Prospects and challenges. The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, 48(3), 463–487.
  5. Minority Rights Group. (2021). Ndebele. World Directory of Minorities.Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/ndebele/ 
  6. Moyo, K. (2011). Minorities in postcolonial transitions: The Ndebele in Zimbabwe. African Journal of Legal Studies. 4, 149-185. https://doi.org/10.1163/170873811X577311
  7. Stone, J.-P. (2022). Tears after the rain: The legacy of the Gukurahundi genocide in Zimbabwe. The Organization for World Peace. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://theowp.org/reports/tears-after-the-rain-the-legacy-of-the-gukurahundi-genocide-in-zimbabwe/ 
  8. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Zimbabwe: Overview. United States holocaust memorial museum. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/zimbabwe-overview