The report, Breaking the Silence, Building True Peace, A Report on
the Disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980-1988 gives an outline of how the Gukurahundi disturbances of the mid 1980's in the Matabeleland and Midlands regions still affect the provinces people decades later.
"The purpose of this report is to record
for posterity what transpired in our post-independence era. We want the
government to acknowledge that the massacres took place and also to make
an apology to the relatives of the victims and find ways of assisting
the affected dependents of the victims", Mike Auret, the CCJP director
said in the report.
But President Robert Mugabe has refused to give an apology for the
massacres saying that it "it is not unusual for people to die in a war
situation." He has even refused to entertain suggestions that the
victims' surviving relatives must be compensated. The President contends
that the legitimate government of Zimbabwe had a right to use any
method to stem the tide of insurrection.
Even after signing a unity accord with ZAPU in 1987 that ended the
military disturbances in the affected region, Mugabe has still refused
to proffer an apology to the relatives of the victims.
Conservative members of his government point out that the Ndebele,
Zimbabwe's minority tribe that was deeply opposed to the Mugabe
presidency turned down the offer of peace at independence in 1980.
They add that the key Ndebele leader, Joshua Nkomo, and his
Lieutenants instead opted for war. Thus from 1981 to 1983, Ndebele
militants carried out a reign of terror in Matabeleland and Midlands
that resulted in massacres of about 40 white farmers, destruction of
government properties in the region and systematic massacres of
government supporters and officials.
http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/supporting/achronicleofpostindependencemassacre_16july1997.html
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