The Gukurahundi was a genocide in Zimbabwe which arose in 1982 until the Unity Accord in 1987. It derives from a Shona-language term which loosely translates to "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains".
During the Rhodesian Bush War, two rival nationalist parties, Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), had emerged to challenge Rhodesia's predominantly white government. ZANU initially defined Gukurahundi as an ideological strategy aimed at carrying the war into major settlements and individual homesteads. Following Mugabe's ascension to power, his government remained threatened by "dissidents" – disgruntled former guerrillas and supporters of ZAPU.
ZANU recruited mainly from the majority Shona people, whereas ZAPU had its greatest support among the Ndebele and Kalanga peoples. In early 1983, the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, an infantry brigade of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), began a crackdown on dissidents in the Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, and Midlands provinces, home of the Ndebele and Kalanga. Over the following two years, thousands of Ndebele and Kalanga were detained by government forces and either marched to re-education camps, tortured, raped and/or summarily executed. Although there are different estimates, the consensus of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) is that more than 20,000 people were killed. The IAGS has classified the massacres as a genocide.
Background
Before the Rhodesian Bush War, the main black nationalist organisation in Southern Rhodesia, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), split into two groups in 1963, the split-away group being the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). Though these groups had a common origin they gradually grew apart, with the split away group, ZANU, recruiting mainly from the Shona regions, while ZAPU recruited mainly from Ndebele-speaking regions in the west.
There is a much earlier source for Shona hostility to the Ndebele, going back to the arrival in 1837 of Mzilikazi and his Matabeleland kingdom. Mzilikazi carved out a territory for himself by fighting and dispossessing the local VaRozvi led by Changamire Chirisamhuru, the then patriach.
The armies of these two groups, ZAPU's Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), and ZANU's Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), developed rivalries for the support of the people and would fight each other. When Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980, following the Lancaster House Agreement, the two armies so distrusted each other that it was difficult to integrate them both into the national army. In the elections held in April 1980, ZANU received 57 out of 100 seats and Robert Mugabe became prime minister.
Dr. Stuart Doran, a historian specialising in Zimbabwe, using historical documents, has written a short article 'New documents claim to prove Mugabe ordered Gukurahundi killings' way back in 1983. Quoted in part: The documents point to internal killings neither provoked nor sustained by outsiders, suggesting that the atrocities were driven from the top by ZANU–PF in pursuit of specific political objectives. Viewed across a period of several years, the documents appear to provide evidence that the massacres were but one component of a sustained and strategic effort to remove all political opposition within five years of independence. ZANU–PF leaders were determined to secure a "victory" against a non-existent opposition in elections scheduled for 1985, after which there would be a "mandate" from the people to impose a one-party state.
Entumbane uprisings
In November 1980 Enos Nkala made remarks at a rally in Bulawayo, in which he warned ZAPU that ZANU would deliver a few blows against them. This preceded the first outbreak of fighting in Entumbane Bulawayo, during which ZIPRA and the Zimbabwe National Army fought a pitched battle for two days.
In February 1981 there was a second uprising, which spread to Glenville and also to Connemara in the Midlands. ZIPRA troops in other parts of Matabeleland headed for Bulawayo to join the battle, and the Zimbabwean National army units had to come in to stop the fighting.
The government asked Justice Enoch Dumbutshena, the former Chief Justice of Zimbabwe, to hold an inquiry into the uprising – ZIPRA was found to be preparing for war.
Many ZIPRA cadres defected after Entumbane, fearing retribution.