Role of White Supremacy in the Gukurahundi Massacre

After many years, and many declassified files, it has become clear that Gukurahundi was sponsored by white supremacists seeking to destroy the newly minted nation of Zimbabwe. Gukurahundi which comes from the Shona word the clearing of the dirt, is an unfortunate and often misunderstood period in Zimbabwe’s history. Zimbabwe went through a civil war in the early 1980s, which although not described as such actually was. The world turned a blind eye as these atrocities took place.

During this period, Mugabe was adored by the west, Ronald Reagan had a state dinner hosted in his honour. The Queen of England, Elizabeth II knighted Robert Mugabe. Mugabe spent many days outside the country at celebrations in his honor while thousands of Zimbabweans both Shona and mostly Ndebele lost their lives in the Matabeleland region.

Operation Barnacle Destroy African states

Zimbabwe’s independence was always on shaky ground. Even at independence white supremacist powers in apartheid South Africa wanted to take over Zimbabwe through Operation Barnacle. In addition, there were 5,000 Rhodesian forces who left Zimbabwe at independence. The Rhodies left to join the apartheid army in South African to work on how to topple the Zimbabwean government. Others however stayed as double agents. The South African forces infiltrated the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organization (CIO). Their agents provided faulty intelligence to Mugabe. Their intelligence suggested that the Nkomo forces in ZAPU were trying to topple Mugabe. Mugabe then acted with brutality on this faulty intelligence.

PETER GERICKE: The double agent

Peter Gericke is the name of the man responsible for Gukurahundi. He set the foundation for division and mistrust in the army. Gericke was a captain in the Zimbabwean army. However, he was also a double agent pretending to work for reconciliation. He professed to believe in the rainbow nation. This is the notion of colonialists and Africans all working together. All the while Gericke was performing treason. Gericke undermined democracy and the rule of law. He destroyed Zimbabwe’s ability to defend itself from white supremacists in South Africa by destroying ammunition. This act of treason created paranoia which gave rise to mistrust among the Zimbabwean armed forces.

On 16 August 1981, an explosion at the Inkomo Barracks near Bulawayo destroyed weapons valued at approximately $50 million. The commander of the corps of engineers in the Zimbabwe National Army, Captain Patrick Gericke, was arrested soon after the attack. Gericke was suspected of having led a group in the attack, which resulted in bombs going off at intervals over a four-hour period. The fact that his release from prison in December 1981 was engineered by a Zimbabwean police inspector, Mr Fred Varkevisser, who may also have been a South African agent, suggests that he may have been acting on South Africa’s behalf. Along with Varkevisser’s family, they were then flown to South Africa in a light aircraft, after which Gericke joined the SADF. (South African Truth Commission)

Sabotage On Tourism Industry

On 23 July 1983, six foreign tourists (two British, two American and two Australian) were abducted in the Lupane area on the road between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls. They were murdered three days later.   This was economic warfare being waged on a young country to sabotage its burgeoning tourism industry. The negative publicity severely affected Zimbabwe’s tourist industry for a while. This is also believed to have been engineered by the apartheid South Africa government through double agents working in Zimbabwe.

Disrupting Trade Route to Disrupt Commerce

The oil pipeline to Zimbabwe and the rail route between Beira and Zimbabwe were other frequent targeted to disrupt commerce. Between 1982 and 1987, fuel storage tanks were blown up 37 times with an estimated loss of over ten million litres of fuel.

In the end white supremacy won the war and the peace in Zimbabwe because today the Africans are fighting each other just as the white supremacists intended. The 5th Brigade killed many innocent Ndebele people but allowed the white supremacists to go free why? If it was justice they were seeking then why not bring the war to the white supremacists?

All the people demanding compensation for Gukurahundi are demanding it from other Africans. Zimbabweans are still afraid to tell the truth about Gukurahundi. The truth that white supremacy in the form of the apartheid South African government and former Rhodesians was the cause and main culprit in fanning the flames of genocide though divide and conquer.