Gukurahundi testimonies reveal scale of atrocities

The government’s announcement that more than 25 000 people have given testimony in the ongoing Gukurahundi Community Outreach Programme has confirmed the vast scale of the 1980s atrocities, reflecting decades of unspoken grief, unresolved trauma with communities still grappling with the social and economic aftershocks of the violence. However, questions over the credibility of the national healing process continue to linger after the government has indicated the hearing phase could conclude within months. This has led to growing calls for clarity on whether the testimonies will be made public or a transparent compensation framework would be established and if those responsible for the abuses will face prosecution.

This week, Attorney-General Virginia Mabiza, who heads the secretariat of the Matabeleland Peacebuilding Outreach Programme, revealed to state controlled media that the cumulative number of documented testimonies had now surpassed 25 000. Mabiza indicated the community consultative programme, launched by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in July 2024 yet officially started last year in June could move towards conclusion within the next four months. The hearings, spearheaded by traditional leaders across Matabeleland North and South, are part of what the government describes as a “home-grown solution” to solve the 1980s genocide.

However, for observers, the sheer number of testimonies collected four decades after the violence underscores the magnitude of the atrocities and raises urgent questions about truth-telling, accountability and compensation. Bulawayo mayor and human rights lawyer David Coltart said the figure itself is telling. “The fact that 25 000 people gave testimony regarding Gukurahundi human rights abuses over 40 years since they happened in itself demonstrates Gukurahundi’s horrendous scale,” he said.

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Coltart was one of the contributors to the 1997 landmark report, Breaking the Silence, Building True Peace, compiled by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) and the Legal Resources Foundation. The report documented widespread killings, torture and sexual violence in Matabeleland and parts of the Midlands during the early years of independence. “When we published ‘Breaking the Silence’ in 1997 we said it was written conservatively to make sure that its findings could never be challenged or disputed, which they haven’t ever been,” Coltart said.

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