Inside the Gukurahundi Genocide and its Destructive Impact on Bukalanga - A Summary of What Actually Happened.

Bukalanga or the Kalanga Nation is used in this article with reference to Bakalanga, Vhavenda, Banambya, the Ndebele (for many Ndebele-speakers are indeed Bakalanga).

The Gukurahundi Genocide remains one of the most emotive issue to the people of Matebeleland, and its legacy is still being felt today. The tragedy of it al is that no healing process was ever done, and there is surely no guarantee that it will not happen again. If anything, some ill-informed Shona people actually take pride in the Genocide and boldly declare that Part II is on its way. Whether they know what actually happened or not cannot be ascertained. In this article I give a summary of what happened during the Genocide so as to bring many to the light, with a focus on the impact of the Genocide on Bukalanga. This is an extract from my book, The Rebirth of Bukalanga: A Manifesto for the Liberation of a Great People with a Proud History. The excerpt follows:

One of the worst things to happen to the Kalanga nation was the Gukurahundi Genocide that was unleashed by the exclusively Shona-speaking 5th Brigade army unit of the government of Robert Mugabe in the period 1982-1987. Whatever the cause or motive of that barbaric act, the thing is that, whilst the Ndebele and Tonga were affected, Bukalanga were the worst affected, being the majority population of the so-called Matabeleland. I would say it falls upon this generation of Bukalanga to ensure nothing of this sort ever happens again, for rarely in human history has a nation been subjected to such inhuman brutality, savagery and barbarism in recent times.

To help us understand this one of the most barbaric acts ever unleashed on Bukalanga, I have turned to a report on the genocide by Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP). Following are excerpts from that report.

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A Summary of 5 Brigade Impact in Matabeleland North

To summarize, 5 Brigade [a North Korean trained all-Shona speaking army unit] was deployed in Matabeleland North in January 1983, coinciding with the imposition of a severe curfew in the region. Thousands of atrocities, including murders, mass physical torture and the burnings of property occurred in the ensuing 6 weeks. 5 Brigade was withdrawn for a month in the middle of the year, then redeployed. Disappearances and detentions became more common than other offences.

Mbamba Camp in the south of Tsholotsho is frequently referred to as a detention centre. 5 Brigade was mainly deployed in Matabeleland South in early 1984, although a platoon of 5 Brigade was in Matebaleland North at this time too. However, there was no curfew in force in Matebaleland North in 1984, and 5 Brigade activities were centred on the southern half of the country.

The presence of the 5 Brigade in an area in 1983 meant an initial outburst of intense brutality, usually lasting a few days, followed by random incidents of beatings, burnings and murders in the ensuing weeks, months and years. It meant that any community which had once experienced 5 Brigade lived in a state of intense anxiety and fear, unsure where and when it might strike again, or who its next victims might be.

The terror and insecurity throughout the region also led to many hundreds of people, especially young men, fleeing to urban centres such as Bulawayo, or to Botswana. To stay in the area if you were a young man meant almost certain victimization by 5 Brigade, who assumed that all such people were ex-ZIPRA [the ZAPU army unit] and therefore dissidents.

Many communities suffered massive material loss in the initial onslaught, losing huts and granaries. They also lost village members who had been killed or abducted, and were frequently forced to watch others close to them dying slowly from injuries sustained from beating, burning, shooting or bayoneting. Villagers were warned not to seek medical help, and risked being shot for curfew breaking if they did seek help.

Many who were beaten were left with permanent disabilities, ranging from paralysis, blindness, deafness, miscarriage, impotence, infertility, and kidney damage, to partial lameness and recurring back and headaches. These injuries have left victims with impaired ability to work in their fields or do any of the heavy labor, such as carrying water, on which survival in the rural areas depends. Inability to work in the fields is a recurring theme in interviews.

In addition to the physical injuries, it is clear from interviews that large numbers of people in Tsholotsho suffered some degree of psychological trauma, leading in extreme cases to insanity, and in many cases to recurring depression, dizzy spells, anxiety, anger, or a permanent fear and distrust of Government officials.

Wives were left without breadwinners. Children were left without one or both parents, and with the trauma of having witnessed appalling violence against those they loved. Families were left without the consolation of truly knowing the fate of their kin, or their burial places.

Communities were left to deal with the trauma of having seen their parents, husbands and community leaders harmed and humiliated. Many families have had to face practical problems arising from the number of dead for whom death certificates were never issued. This has meant problems gaining birth certificates for children, or drawing money from bank books in the name of the deceased. Other people who fled employment in the area in order to protect their lives have been denied pensions for having broken their service without notice.

A Brief Chronology of Events in Matabeleland South

In February 1983, the northernmost areas of Matabeleland South felt the effects of the first 5 Brigade onslaught, which hitherto had primarily affected Matabeleland North. Civilians using the main Bulawayo-Plumtree road were particularly vulnerable, with several recorded instances of people being taken from buses at road blocks, and neverseen again.

The 5 Brigade was first reported further south in Matabeleland South in July 1983, where they were reported at Brunapeg Mission, in Bulilima-mangwe. By late 1983, there were several major 5 Brigade incidents on record, including some deaths, beatings and the burning of 24 homesteads in Mbembeswana in Matobo.

However, it was in February 1984 that the 5 Brigade launched a systematic campaign of mass beatings and mass detentions in Matabeleland South, lasting several months. These tailed off after May 1984, after which the 5 Brigade was withdrawn for retraining. Sporadic reports of violations by both the army and dissidents continued throughout the ensuing years, until the Amnesty in 1988.

Apart from abuses at the hands of 5 Brigade, there was a far higher incidence of CIO as perpetrator than in Matabeleland North, mainly because of their involvement at Bhalagwe Camp and Sun Yet Sen. In addition, there were several reports of “Grey’s Scouts”, or a mounted unit, abusing people while on follow-up operations. There were no complaints filed against mounted ZNA units in Tsholotsho.

1. The Food Embargo

The Food Embargo was a major factor in events in Matabeleland South in 1984. Throughout the early months of 1984, residents of Matebaleland South were suffering from starvation caused in the first place, by three consecutive years of drought and in the second place, by government restrictions preventing all movement of food into and around the region. Drought relief was stopped and stores were closed. Almost no people were allowed into and out of the region to buy food, and private food supplies were destroyed.

The psychological impact of the food embargo was profound. While the village by village summary which follows does not make continuous reference to the food embargo, many of those interviewed mentioned its effects. All events which occurred did so against the background of a seriously weakened and demoralized populace, who were having to watch their children cry and beg for food which their parents were unable to provide on a daily basis. State officials, largely in the form of the 5 Brigade, also actively punished those villagers who shared food with starving neighbors. The speeches of 5 Brigade commanders at rallies repeatedly stated the desire of the government to starve all the Ndebele to death, as punishment for their being dissidents. In the cruelest speeches, people in the region were told they would be starved until they ate each other, including their own wives and children.

Those interviewed recount how they struggled to stay alive during the embargo, by eating the roots and fruits of wild plants. However, in some areas the 5 Brigade tried to prevent even this, and punished people for eating wild marula fruit. Even water was severely rationed. People also talk of risking their lives and breaking the curfew to share food with neighbors after dark, and their disbelief at seeing bags of maize ripped open and destroyed wherever 5 Brigade found them – on buses or in homes.

CCJP archives reveal grave concern at the food situation, which church missions in Matabeleland South monitored on a continual basis. Their requests to be allowed to administer food in rationed amounts to their parishioners and employees were denied by the authorities, although St Joseph’s Mission was allowed to feed 300 under-fives on a daily basis. Other feeding schemes which had been operating collapsed as mealie meal stocks ran out.

CCJP also kept track of which stores were open, and on which days. From March onwards, the total ban on stores was slightly modified. 3 stores in Matobo were opened for only 2 days a week, at Bidi, Kezi, and Maphisa (Antelope). This meant that people near St Joseph’s Mission were 60 km away from the nearest store, too far to walk in a day under curfew conditions. Others were even further away. People were banned from the use of any form of transport under the curfew. This not only affected access to operating stores, but also access to clinics. All the hospitals and clinics in Matabeleland South reported falling attendances, and a concern at the fact that sick people were unable to walk the often extensive distances to reach help, and could die as a result. In addition, those being beaten by 5 Brigade were expressly forbidden to seek medical help, even if they were within the vicinity of a clinic.

There is mention that even operating stores were not allowed to sell mealie meal. On some occasions the stores were opened purely for propaganda purposes. There is a reference in mission correspondence to Col Simpson of the Paratroopers opening a store for 3 hours to coincide with a tour by the local press on 10 March 1984. On 21 March, 84 people gathered at Bidi Store and waited all day only to be told that no mealie meal was to be sold. This was the pattern at other stores too, where people gathered, having walked 30 km or more, and would wait for hours only to be told they could not buy anything.

Stores were not allowed to restock any products during the curfews, and those which occasionally opened soon had no food of any kind to sell. The army took control of the regional National Foods depot to ensure mealie meal was not distributed to stores. Anyone wishing to buy food in Bulawayo to send to relatives in curfew zones, needed a permit from the police or army, and these were rarely granted. There are also in interviews many accounts of people being brutally tortured when found waiting at shopping centres, the accusation being that they were trying to break the food curfew.

School-teachers were among the few who were allowed food, as the government expressly intended the schools to remain open, but the teachers were severely restricted in terms of how much they could request, to prevent them from feeding others in the region. Mechanisms of how teachers received food depended on the orders of local army commanders: some were allowed transport into Bulawayo to buy for themselves, others were only allowed to place a food order with the army who then purchased on their behalf. This placed teachers in an awkward position with others starving in their areas: while teachers may have had some food, their pupils had none.

CCJP records indicate a request for supplementary feeding through the schools being denied, and reports falling school attendance as pupils become faint with hunger, and as others flee the area hoping to find a place in schools in Bulawayo. At some mission schools, pupils would be given a drink of ‘mahewu’, made from a local grain by mission staff during lessons, but staff comment that this was not enough to sustain their growing bodies. Pupils also had to face being picked up and beaten up by the army – mission staff were very aware this was happening, but were powerless to protect the school children. In addition to preventing food from coming into the area, 5 Brigade also broke down fences around fields to allow cattle to graze whatever few hardy crops might have survived the drought, thus ensuring that starvation was absolute.

Catholic Mission staff in affected areas expressed increasing alarm and by the end of March 1984 they began to fear for the lives of the sick, the elderly and the very young. As people became more desperate, there were even those who wished to be detained, in the hope that in custody they might at least receive food. In fact, those in custody were kept in appalling conditions and received little food. Hunger and the problem of getting food to those nearing starvation became a dominant theme in CCJP correspondence during the curfew months.

The food embargo alone was thus a significant and effective strategy which proved to 400,000 ordinary people in Matabeleland South the power of the State to cause extreme hardship.

2. The 5 Brigade and CIO

In Matabeleland South in 1984, the pattern of 5 Brigade behavior differed notably from their behavior in 1983. Killings were less likely to occur in the village setting. However, mass beatings remained very widespread, with many variations on a theme. While the most common pattern still involved making people lie face down in rows, after which they were beaten with thick sticks, there are a large number of interviews referring to sadistic refinements in mass physical torture. People were on occasion made to lie on thorny branches first, after which 5 Brigade ran along their backs to embed the thorns before the beatings. People were made to roll in and out of water while being beaten, sometimes naked. They were made to push government vehicles with their heads only, and were then beaten for bleeding on government property. Women were made to climb up trees and open their legs, so 5 Brigade could insult their genitals, while simultaneously beating them. Men and women were made to run round in circles with their index fingers on the ground, and were beaten for falling over.

These mass beatings invariably ended with at least some victims so badly injured that they were unable to move, so that they had to be carried away by others the following day. As in Matabeleland North, people were threatened with death if they reported to hospitals or clinics, and the majority of injuries remained untreated. Victims mention fractured limbs which set themselves crookedly, perforated ear drums which became infected, and other injuries which might have been simply treated, resulting in long-term health problems.

Genital mutilation is more commonly reported in Matobo than in Matabeleland North. The practice of forcing sharp sticks into women’s vaginas is independently reported by several witnesses. This phenomenon was apparently common at Bhalagwe, and witnesses refer to women at Bhalagwe adopting a characteristic, painful, wide-legged gait after receiving such torture. In addition, men were also subjected to beatings which focused on their genitalia. The testicles would be bound in rubber strips and then beaten with a truncheon.

Some men complain of permanent problems with erections and urinating as a result of such beatings. At least one man is reported as dying after his scrotum was burst during a beating. Several witnesses also report being told to have sex with donkeys while at Bhalagwe, and being beaten when they failed to do so. The practice of widespread rape, of young women being “given as wives” to 5 Brigade at Bhalagwe is also referred to by several independent sources.

The CIO seemed to work very closely with the 5 Brigade in Matabeleland South, and gained a reputation for being even more lethal in their methods of torture than 5 Brigade. The CIO conducted most of the “interrogation” at Bhalagwe and Sun Yet Sen: they would ask questions, while 5 Brigade, who could not speak or understand Ndebele, beat the victim regardless of how he/she responded. CIO used electric shocks to torture people. They attached wires to the backs, ears and mouths of witnesses before shocking them.

Witnesses frequently refer to being tortured by 5 Brigade and then CIO consecutively, or being passed from the custody of one to the other and back again. In Bhalagwe, there is repeated reference to a particularly cruel woman CIO officer who used to sexually torment her male victims. Water torture was also apparently wide-spread under both CIO and 5 Brigade. This commonly involved either holding a person’s head under water, or forcing a shirt into somebody’s mouth, then pouring water onto the shirt until the victim choked and lost consciousness. The perpetrator would then jump on the victim’s stomach until s/he vomited up the water. This practice commonly stopped once the victim was vomiting blood.

While killing by 5 Brigade was less widespread than in Matabeleland North in 1983, there are still many horrific atrocities on record, including the following, all perpetrated by 5 Brigade. A four month-old infant was axed three times, and the mother forced to eat the flesh of her dead child. An eighteen year-old girl was raped by six soldiers and then killed. An eleven year-old child had her vagina burnt with plastic and was later shot. Twin infants were buried alive.

3. Mass Detention

Mass beatings and rallies invariably ended in mass detentions in 1984. Those detained included all ex-ZIPRAs, all ZAPU officials, and other men and women selected on a seemingly random basis. Those detained could include the elderly, and also schoolchildren. Trucks seemed to patrol, picking up anyone they met and taking them to detention camps.

It was usual for detainees to be taken first to the nearest 5 Brigade base, for one or more days, before being transferred to Bhalagwe. Interviewees report being held in small 5 Brigade camps, until there were enough of them to fill an army vehicle to Bhalagwe. A truck-load seems to have been around 100 people. In southern Matobo, the main ‘holding camp’ was at Sun Yet Sen, where both the CIO and the 5 Brigade were based. This camp reportedly held up to 800 detainees at one time, and people were sometimes held here for a week or longer. There were smaller bases in the west and north.

Detainees in southern Matobo were commonly beaten before their detention, tortured at Sun Yet Sen, and then transferred to Bhalagwe for further torture and detention. In addition to detentions after rallies or mass beatings, 5 Brigade also went through some areas on foot, hauling out villagers from the homesteads they passed, and then herding them ahead on foot, while beating them. Some interviewees report covering extensive distances in this way, as 5 Brigade made a sweep through many villages in an area, gathering a growing number of detainees as they went.

The Notorious Bhalagwe Detention Center

The most notorious detention centre of all was Bhalagwe Camp, situated just west of Antelope Mine. From interviews, Bhalagwe operated at full capacity throughout the early months of 1984, from the beginning of February until the end of May, a period of 4 months. It continued to operate after this, but the phenomenon of mass detentions had dissipated by then, and there were fewer new inmates after this.

On 15 May 1982 aerial photographs of the Bhalagwe area were taken for the purposes of updating maps of the area. An enlarged section of one such photograph shows that at this date, Bhalagwe was an operational military camp: military vehicles are visible, as are soldiers on parade. It would appear that 1:7 Battalion was based here in 1982, consisting mainly of ex ZIPRAs incorporated into the Zimbabwe National Army.

At some point in 1982, the ZIPRAs here were allegedly accused of being dissidents, and Bhalagwe Camp was surrounded by elite Paratroop and Commando units and was shut down. However, a military presence was maintained here, as there are references to Bhalagwe being used as a detention centre for ex-ZIPRAs and others from mid-1982 onwards, when the anti-ZIPRA sweep in the wake of the tourist kidnapping gained momentum [ex-ZIPRA were accused by the government of kidnapping the tourists].

Visible at Bhalagwe in May 1982, are 180 large, round roofed asbestos “holding sheds”, each measuring approximately 12 meters by 6 meters, and 36 half-sized ones, measuring 6 meters by 6 meters. According to testimonies on record since March 1984, which have been confirmed in interviews in 1996, these asbestos structures were where detainees were kept. It is also clear from the aerial photography, that these structures were arranged, apparently within fences, in groups of a dozen – eleven 12 x 6 meter structures and 1 smaller one. What is not clear is how many of these groupings were used in 1984 to house detainees, and how many were used to house military personnel, or served storage or interrogation purposes. Perhaps many were out of use. There is also reference by some detainees to some of the asbestos sheds having suffered wind and storm damage, so by February 1984 the camp may have been less intact than it appears in the May 1982 photograph.

Detainees confirm that 136 people were routinely kept in each 12 x 6 meter shed. There were no beds, and the floor space was so limited people had to sleep squeezed together on their sides, in 3 rows. There were no blankets or toilet facilities.

An assumption, based on affidavits, of 136 per shed would allow for the detention of at least 1500 people within each fenced enclosure of a dozen sheds. Bhalagwe camp has been variously estimated by ex-detainees to have had 1800, 2000, 3000 up to 5000 people detained at one time. On 7 February 1984, the number of detainees was 1 856, consisting of 1000 men and 856 women. This figure was given to CCJP in 1984 by a detainee who was ordered by 5 Brigade to help others count the number of detainees. As the curfew had only been in effect a few days at this stage, and the phase of mass detentions was just beginning, it is very likely the number rose over the following weeks.

It is quite clear from the aerial photograph that Bhalagwe’s holding capacity was vast, and easily capable of absorbing at one time the highest figure currently claimed, that of 5 000. However, the exact number detained at Bhalagwe’s peak remains unconfirmed.

The first records of detentions in the Bhalagwe area date from the middle of 1982, coinciding with the detention exercises going on in Matabeleland North at that time. Reported detentions in 1982 and 1983 are few, however: it is in February 1984 that Bhalagwe becomes the centre of detentions throughout Matabeleland.

The remains of Bhalagwe Camp were still visible in November 1996. The camp is ideally situated in terms of combining maximum space, with maximum privacy. There are natural barriers on three sides: Bhalagwe hill lies to the south, and Zamanyone hill demarcates its western edge. The eastern perimeter lies in the direction of Antelope Dam, and there are no villages between the camp and the dam. Water was piped in from Antelope Dam nearby, into water storage tanks. Although the camp is scarcely a kilometer from the main road running south of Bhalagwe hill, it is invisible to passers’ by.

People were trucked in from all over Matabeleland South to Bhalagwe, not just from Matobo. Women and men were separated. Different zones within the camp were designated to detainees who had been brought in from the different bases at Bulilima-mangwe, Plumtree, Gwanda, Mberengwa, Sun Yet Sen and northern Matobo. There is even reference to detainees from Chipinge – these could have been potential MNR dissidents, although who they were exactly is not clear. As well as being sorted by district, Bhalagwe survivors refer to new arrivals being sorted and designated holding rooms on the basis of their usual line of work and their employers, such as whether they worked in town or were communal farmers. At times school children were also sorted and kept separately. Detainees also refer to identity documents and letters related to employment being taken by 5 Brigade, and the latter destroyed. Interviewees also refer to the fact that ex-ZIPRAs and ZAPU officials were kept separately from the ordinary civilians.

As detainees at any one time at Bhalagwe had been selected from a wide area, people in detention together seldom knew more than a handful of the other detainees. As most travel in the rural areas is on foot, people then (and now) did not know those who lived even a few villages away from their usual footpaths. One of the consequences was that when a person died in detention, possibly only one or two other inmates from the same village, and possibly nobody at all, would know that person’s name.

Inmates of Bhalagwe speak of daily deaths in the camp, but they are seldom able to name victims. They will merely comment how they witnessed people being beaten or shot, or how on certain mornings there would be people in their barracks who had died in the course of the night, as a result of the previous day’s beatings. The digging of graves is mentioned as a daily chore by some in early February. However according to witnesses, at a certain point, although the date is not clear, these graves were dug up, and the bodies taken away on the trucks. The empty grave sites were still clearly visible in November 1996. Other accounts refer to the nightly departure of army trucks, carrying away the dead and dying to an unknown destination. It is now believed that these people were disposed of in local mine shafts, and in 1992, human remains were found in Antelope Mine, adjacent to Bhalagwe. Other people speak of their belief that Legion Mine, near Sun Yet Sen, also contains human remains from the 1980s.

The ex-ZIPRAs and ZAPU officials were singled out and kept in a separate area, in small buildings with low roofs and no windows, although there were ventilation slats. They were also kept shackled throughout their detentions, unlike the other detainees, and were subjected to the most brutal torture.

Turn-over at Bhalagwe was high. The length of detentions varied greatly. Most people recount having spent a few days or weeks in Bhalagwe. Approximately one to two weeks seemed a common detention period. Some interviewees claim to have spent as long as six to nine months in detention here, but these tend to be the ex-ZIPRAs and ZAPU officials. Women were commonly held a few days, unless selected as “wives” for the soldiers, in which case their detention might stretch to a few weeks. If two weeks was assumed as an average stay, and a conservative turnover of 1000 every two weeks was assumed, it could be estimated that around 8000 people passed through Bhalagwe in the four months it operated at its peak. The turnover could have been nearer double this figure.

Whatever the length of detention, those detained were subjected to at least one brutal interrogation experience. The majority were beaten on more than one occasion. There is reference to electric shocks being administered by the CIO. Some witnesses report making false confessions under torture, naming invented people as dissidents, only to be caught out the next day when they failed to remember their previous day’s testimony.

Interrogations always involved accusing people of being dissidents or feeding dissidents or of failing to report dissidents. This was routine, with no evidence being cited. The sexual focus of much of the torture has already been mentioned, with widespread rape, genital mutilation and forced sex with animals.

Bhalagwe survivors have referred to a wide variety of physical tortures. One pastime for the 5 Brigade was to force large numbers of detained men and women, to climb on to branches of trees, until the weight of human bodies snapped the branch, sending everyone crashing to earth. People broke limbs as a result of this. Several interviewees comment on the way 5 Brigade laughed to see them suffer.

Another form of torture was to force three men to climb into a 2 meter asbestos drainage pipe. The ones on each end would be told to come out, and as they started to leave the pipe, the 5 Brigade would begin to beat them fiercely, causing the men to spontaneously pull back in to the pipe, crushing the third man who would be crowded in the middle. On occasion, this resulted in the man in the middle being crushed and kicked to death by his two panicking companions.

Detainees were fed only once every second day, when mealie meal would be dished up on dustbin lids, with between 10 and 20 people per lid. Sometimes people would be forced to eat without using hands, for the amusement of 5 Brigade. People were given half a cup of water a day each. Detainees had to dig toilets, wash army clothes and pots, and chop firewood in between their interrogation sessions. Interrogations used to begin at 5.30 a.m. every day.

The Legacy of the 1980s for the Victims

The full scale of the impact of the civil conflict on those who survived it has yet to be forensically established. However, from interviews now on record, it is apparent that those years have left people with a legacy of problems which include physical, psychological and practical difficulties. Some of these negative legacies are listed below:

1. Families were left destitute, without breadwinners and without shelter.

2. Many people, possibly thousands, suffered permanent damage to their health as a result of physical torture, inhibiting their ability to seek work, or to maintain their lands and perform daily chores such as carrying water.

3. Possibly hundreds of murder victims have never been officially declared dead. The lack of death certificates has resulted in a multitude of practical problems for their children, who battle to receive birth certificates, and for their spouses who, for example, cannot legally inherit savings accounts.

4. Others who fled their homes to protect themselves were considered to have deserted their employment without due notice, and forfeited benefits including pensions as a result.

5. Many people, possibly thousands, who were either victims of physical torture, or forced to witness it, continue to suffer psychological disorders indicative of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Such disorders as unexplained anxieties, dizziness, insomnia, hypochondria and a permanent fear and distrust of senior government officials are evident in victims. Typically, such victims pass on their stress to their children and create a heavy extra burden on existing health care structures.

6. As a result of the atrocities, children could not attend school properly, partly because their parents were unable to see them through school, and because of the prevailing situation of starvation in Matabeleland South. This has affected a whole generation as parents’ lack of access to work and educational opportunities during the Gukurahundi genocide has meant lack of access to economic opportunity, leading to a vicious cycle of poverty. To add salt to the wound, today Bukalanga [as well as the Tonga and Ndebele] are being accused of being “un-educated” when they raise complaints over lack of access to job opportunities in their home area, where most jobs are given away to Shona people, and when they complain about the unfair distribution of jobs, they are in some cases arrested and charged with inciting tribalism. One such case was reported in the press in Victoria Falls in the month of March 2012.

7. The lack of educational opportunities, combined with an evident general distrust and “fear” of government officials has often meant that the people of Bukalanga cannot access political power which is necessary for their access to economic opportunity, with those in power just there to do the bidding of the Shona-led government which has monopolized all real power in Mashonaland. This is seen even today when people generally are slow in taking up whatever government is offering in terms of development in fear of the ramifications in the event that they are required to pay back.

8. The lack of opportunity in their homeland has resulted in migration to neighboring countries, notably Botswana and South Africa, leading to broken families and women and child-headed families, with dire consequences for children who grow up without both parents or at least one parent to nurture them. This results in untold psychological problems, teenage pregnancies, further lack of access to educational opportunities, and so on.

9. The spread of HIV and AIDS is one of the horrifying legacies of the Gukurahundi genocide as families are forced to live apart for extended periods of time in search of economic opportunity. In a sense by the agency of the HIV/AIDS virus the genocide continues in this generation. Matabeleland South is the province with the highest HIV infection rate in Zimbabgwe today. Whilst admittedly this is a problem for all nations in southern Africa, there can be no doubt that the Gukurahundi genocide has compounded the problem for Bukalanga and other communities living in the so-called Matabeleland.

Such has been the lot of Bukalanga in the land of our forefathers. Hounded and hunted, murdered and dislocated, marginalized and discriminated against for no other reason other than that we are not Ndebele or Shona. How is it that we can still continue to be denied our identity after all that has happened to us? Surely, not only the international Jew had to face this question. It is time for us to begin finding answers to the Bukalanga Question. Shall we, perhaps the first Bantu to arrive in Southern Africa, remain a stateless people, or should steps begin to be taken to seek sovereign statehood? I only imagine how great and prosperous a nation would be built if we, Bukalanga, peaceably pursued sovereign statehood and united with our fellow compatriots across the border, Bukalanga in the so-called Botswana, that is, the North-east and Central-Bukalanga Districts, and created our own state in a Federal Democratic State of Zimbabgwe! Well, like Dr Martin Luther King Jr., I have a dream.

But let us leave that for now and take a look at how war affected the aptness for civilization and progress of Bukalanga. To do so let us take a look at the writings of S. M. Molema on the de-civilizing and retrogressive effects of war as was practiced during the Ndebele Massacres and the Shona-sponsored Gukurahundi Genocide. Mr. Molema wrote:

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The effects of the inter-tribal wars among the Bantu can easily be understood. Large tracts of the country were entirely depopulated by the complete extermination of their inhabitants, whole tribes being wiped off the face of the earth, as by the bloody campaigns of Tshaka … in the middle of the nineteenth century - and the almost equally relentless, though unprovoked, massacres of the Matabele by Moselekatse; the remaining tribes, if conquered and put to flight, were so confused as to lose connection for ever with their ethnical relatives, thus leaving gaps which are to be found in the ethnographical history of the Bantu.

But these effects were trivial when compared with the third effect which war, especially constant inter-tribal war, must invariably produce, and that is, the production of stagnation, the hindrance to, and prevention of any social progress and intellectual advancement. For it is a remarkable fact that while the love of war itself is primarily a result of ignorance, war in its return reacts on the people who practice it as to arrest all progress, and is thus at once a cause and effect of ignorance and backwardness. And while the stagnation and stereotype of the Bantu cannot be explained away simply on the ground of their devotion to war, yet it cannot be denied that war has been one of the chief factors of their lagging behind in the general onward march of humanity. This fact is beautifully illustrated in the relative condition of the Bantu themselves, for we have already shown that, according as their devotion to war decreased, or in other words an inverse ratio existed between their practice of war and their degree of civilization (Molema 1920, 120-121).

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If these be the effects of war, it is easy to explain why for so many centuries the Great Nation of Bukalanga has progressed so much as we saw in the earlier chapters, for it has for most of its history been characterized by a great love for peace. I am not suggesting perfection on the part of Bukalanga, but there can be no doubt that it is that love for peace, among other factors, which helped it to attain the levels of civilization that it enjoyed during the pre-colonial era which no other nation in southern or central Africa was anywhere close. And it is unfortunate to say that, since the destruction of the Lozwi Kingdom, Bukalanga have remained a persecuted and subjected people.