Gukurahundi Massacres: What really happened in Zimbabwe?

Thousands of lives were lost, and the tragedy is that 30 years later the questions remain unanswered. What really happened? It is a case that is as old and has its roots in pre-colonialism. When brother takes arm against brother this is the ultimate betrayal of Ubuntu. It is of course the classic divide and conquer that was used by British to take over land north of the Limpopo River.

Cecil John Rhodes exploited tribal differences to take over Zimbabwe. In the same way the South African apartheid government under Botha and De Klerk exploited differences between Zanu led by Mugabe and Zapu led by Nkomo to create a civil war in Zimbabwe. Nkomo was known as a moderate which put him at odds with the nationalist hardliners in Zanu.

Through the operation plan known as Operation Barnacle which was meant to destabilize several African countries, Mozambique, Angola and Zimbabwe, the apartheid South Africa regime was able to interfere in Zimbabwe. In Mozambique, they succeeded in creating RENAMO and in Angola through rebel groups which created crimes against humanity against Africans who simply wanted to be free.

Dhlakama and Savimbi in Mozambique and Angola were considered by many as African white supremacists. They had no issues destroying the African heartland and millions of Africans at the behest of the white supremacists in South Africa. Some believe that the same white supremacists sought their own Dhlakama and Savimbi in Zimbabwe but were crushed by the Zimbabwe National Army.

Gukurahundi which went from 1983-1987 started after Mugabe discovered thousands of weapons at Ascot Farm owned by Zapu. However, several questions still remain unanswered about the events leading to it.

Questions that demand answers:

• Why were arms being stockpiled in Bulawayo? (This was certainly not to sing to sing kumbaya)
• Who was stockpiling guns and why?
• Why was Mugabe so quick to punish his brother in arms Joshua Nkomo instead of the apartheid regime and former Rhodies?

During this time, the apartheid regime in South Africa also launched an economic war on Zimbabwe through several attacks. They tried several assassination attempts, attacked military bases and places of significance in Zimbabwe.

Military Sabotage to Zimbabwe’s Sovereignty

1. South Africans acted as double agents when they were left in the Zimbabwe army under the guise of reconciliation and building a rainbow nation
2. Double agents from Smith Regime and SADF Special Forces operatives were involved in the attack on the Thornhill Airforce base near Gweru on 25 July 1982, in which thirteen fighter trainers of the Zimbabwe Air Force were destroyed
3. $250,000 worth of arms stolen from Cranbourne Army Barracks in Harare in December 1980
4. In December 1980, an attempt was made to blow up thirty army vehicles at the King George VI Barracks.
5. On 16 August 1981, an explosion at the Inkomo Barracks near Bulawayo destroyed weapons valued at approximately $50 million.
6. On 8 December 1981, the offices of the ruling ZANU Party in Zimbabwe were blown up in Harare in an assassination attempt on senior Zimbabwean politicians, including Mr. Mugabe. This created paranoia in Mugabe

Mugabe reacted to the dissident threat in the most unbecoming manner slaughtering as much as 20,000 Ndebele people. However, it is bizarre that he did not devote the same energy in punishing the apartheid government whose dirty fingers are so evident and everywhere.

In 2020, while Africans are neck to neck destroying each other demanding compensation for the atrocities none of them have made the same demands to the apartheid government. This is surprising for a nation which is dubbed the most literate nation in Africa. Surely since Zimbabweans are that smart and educated, they can read the apartheid papers and know what really happened. but many have been indoctrinated because they accept prevailing revisionist narratives without asking the pertinent question why?

The real tragedy of Gukurahundi is that more than 30 years after the war the real masterminds and perpetrators of Gukurahundi are alive and well in South Africa. The two brothers Shona and the Ndebele are still fighting, and the perpetrators in the apartheid regime are walking free ready to take the wealth of Zimbabwe after the Africans are done fighting each other and took weak to resist neo-colonialism.