Abstract
In virtually every village in the Zimbabwean provinces of Matabeleland and parts of Midlands, there are reminders of unspeakable atrocities perpetrated against defenceless civilians by the government between 1982 and 1987. These atrocities, known as the ‘Gukurahundi’, resulted in the deaths of an estimated 20,000 Ndebele civilians. Many of those killed were abducted and forcibly disappeared, and their bodies thrown into mine shafts or buried secretly in shallow graves. Others were publicly executed and buried in mass graves. Thousands more starved, tortured, raped, unlawfully detained, and their homes and belongings destroyed during the senseless carnage. Survivors continue to bear physical, emotional and psychological scars whilst high-level perpetrators continue to rely on their political incumbency to enjoy impunity and remain shielded from accountability for their crimes. This chapter addresses the existing literature gap on the legal classification of the atrocities. It seeks to determine whether Gukurahundi atrocities committed against the Ndebeles by the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and other security agencies constitute international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It assesses the application of international criminal and humanitarian law in Zimbabwe and investigates the status of the conflict in Matabeleland under international law. Further, it explores whether perpetrators can be held individually criminally responsible for Gukurahundi atrocities under international law. Finally, this chapter is expected to contribute to understanding Gukurahundi atrocities, the role of perpetrators and the victims’ demand for justice.
This chapter forms part of a PhD research thesis by the author.
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Notes
- 1.
‘Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace: A Report on the Disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980–1988’ Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe & Legal Resources Foundation (1997) 56; KP Yap, ‘Uprooting the Weeds: Power, Ethnicity and Violence in the Matabeleland Conflict’ (2001); S Doran, Kingdom, Power, Glory: Mugabe, ZANU and the Quest for Supremacy: 1960–1987 (2017) (Sithatha Media); B Berkeley, ‘Wages of War: A Report of Human Rights in Zimbabwe,’ Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, 1983, Amnesty International Annual Report, 1984 accessible at https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/POL1000041984ENGLISH.PDF; SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni ‘Rethinking Chimurenga and Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe: A Critique of Partisan National History’ (2012) 55 African Studies Review 1, 1–2.
- 2.
The term Gukurahundi derived from the Shona word that describes the ‘early spring rains that wash away the chaff’ is commonly used to describe the atrocities that were committed in Matabeleland and Midlands by the 5 Brigade of the Zimbabwe National Army. The term was derived from the mission of the brigade by the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe. Handing over the Brigade flag emblazoned ‘Gukurahundi Brigade’ to its commander, Perence Shiri at its passing out parade in December 1982, he instructed that, in keeping with its name, its mission and purpose was go into to go into Matabeleland and Midlands to ‘use the knowledge it had acquired to work with the people, plough and reconstruct’ signalling an explicit targeting of the civilian population. The 5 Brigade was trained by North Korean instructors between August 1981 and September 1982 and deployed to Matabeleland in February 1983.
- 3.
SJ Ndlovu-Gatsheni ‘Rethinking Chimurenga and Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe: A Critique of Partisan National History’ (2012) 55 African Studies Review 1 at 1–2; S Doran (n 1 above).
- 4.
P Santos Representing Conflict: An Analysis of the Chronicle’s Coverage of the Conflict in Zimbabwe Between 1983 and 1986 (unpublished MA thesis, Rhodes University, 2011); D Coltart, The Struggle Continues; 50 Years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe (2016) Jacana 275–276.
- 5.
‘Gukurahundi 5th Brigade Mass Graves in Nkayi’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvx-cxygig8 (accessed on 28 February 2021).
- 6.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 56.
- 7.
M Killander and M Nyathi, ‘Accountability for the Gukurahundi Atrocities in Zimbabwe Thirty Years On: Prospects and Challenges’ (2015) 48 (3) Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa 463–487, http://0-www.jstor.org.innopac.wits.ac.za/stable/26203994 (accessed on 25 November 2020); LA Bagnetti ‘Ghosts of Gukurahundi Still Haunt Survivors, as Zimbabwe Officials Refuse to Acknowledge’ RFI 12 March 2019, https://rfi.my/3lts.W (accessed on 7 March 2020); Open letter from Amnesty International to His Excellency the President Robert Mugabe concerning the need for public discussion and action on the disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands in the 1980s, 23 May 1997, Amnesty International; accessible at https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/156000/afr460021997en.pdf.
- 8.
This includes current President Emmerson Mnangagwa who was Minister of State Security Vice President Constantine Chiwenga who was Commander of the Brady Barracks former Airforce Commander, Perence Shiri who commanded the 5th Brigade; and current Zimbabwe National Army Commander and Lt-General Edzai Chimonyo who was Deputy Commander and later Commander of the 5th Brigade at Bhalagwe.
- 9.
See Killander and Nyathi (n 7 above).
- 10.
N Duduzile ‘Violence and Memory in Breaking the Silence of Gukurahundi: A Case Study of the ZAM in Johannesburg, South Africa’ in I Palmary, B Hamber & L Núñez (eds) Healing and Change in the City of Gold: Case Studies of Coping and Support in Johannesburg (2014) 59–77 at 63; N Mlambo ‘The Politics of Bitterness: Understanding the Zimbabwean Political Crisis, 1980–2005’ (2006) 3 African Renaissance 2 at 56; E Masitera ‘Creating a Culture of Impunity in Zimbabwe: A Case for Philosophical and Developmental Issues’ (2011) 5 Africana 2 at 100; A Kunambura ‘Zimbabwe: Gukurahundi Carefully Planned’ Zimbabwe Independent 18 April 2019, available at https://allafrica.com/stories/201904190398.html (accessed on 29 February 2020); BBC News ‘Mugabe: Madness of Matabele deaths’ BBC News Online 2 July 2000, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/816129.stm (accessed on 29 March 2020).
- 11.
S Eppel ‘Healing the Dead: Exhumation and Reburials as a Tool to Truth Telling and Reclaiming the Past in Rural Zimbabwe’ in Borer Tristan Anne (ed) Telling the Truths: Truth Telling and Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies (2006) 259–288; R Murambadoro ‘We Cannot Reconcile Until the Past Has Been Acknowledged: Perspectives on Gukurahundi from Matabeleland, Zimbabwe’ (2015) 15 African Journal on Conflict Resolution 1 at 33–57; MT Vambe ‘Zimbabwe Genocide: Voices and Perceptions from Ordinary People in Matabeleland and the Midlands Provinces, 30 Years on’ (2012) 10 African Identities 3 at 281–300; D Ngwenya and G Harris ‘The Consequences of Not Healing: Evidence from the Gukurahundi Violence in Zimbabwe’ 2015 15 African Journal on Conflict Resolution 2; D Dube and D Makwerere’Zimbabwe: Towards a Comprehensive Peace Infrastructure’ (2012) 2 International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 18; C Muchemwa, ET Ngwerume, and M Hove ‘When Will the Long Nightmare Come to an End? Challenges to National Healing and Reconciliation in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe’ (2013) 22 African Security Review 3 at 145–159; D Ngwenya Healing the Wounds of Gukurahundi: A Participatory Action Research Project (unpublished DTech thesis, Durban University of Technology, 2014); P Machakanja ‘National Healing and Reconciliation in Zimbabwe: Challenges and Opportunities’ (2010) Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, https://www.africaportal.org/publications/national-healing-and-reconciliation-in-zimbabwe-challenges-and-opportunities/ (accessed on 5 March 2020); V De Waal The Politics of Reconciliation: Zimbabwe’s First Decade (1990); S Mpofu ‘Diasporic New Media and Conversations on Conflict: A Case of Zimbabwe Genocide Debates’ in O Ogunyemi Media, Diaspora and Conflict (2017) at 204–221.
- 12.
Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013.
- 13.
See National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, http://www.nprc.org.zw/ (accessed on 29 February 2020).
- 14.
Constitution of Zimbabwe (n 12 above) s253; National Peace and Reconciliation Act [Chapter 10:32] 11 of 2017; See also National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, http://www.nprc.org.zw/ (accessed on 29 February 2021).
- 15.
S Alison ‘Gukurahundi Ghosts Haunt Mnangagwa’ Mail and Guardian, 24 November 2017, available at https://mg.co.za/article/2017-11-24-00-gukurahundi-ghosts-haunt-mnangagwa (accessed on 29 February 2020); Ndlovu (n 11), Masitera n 11); Murambadoro (n 11); Vambe (n 11); see also S Malunga ‘The False Choice Between Reburials and Justice for the Gukurahundi Victims’: Daily Maverick 6 May 2019, available at https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-05-06-the-false-choice-between-reburials-and-justice-for-the-gukurahundi-victims/ (accessed on 29 February 2021); T Moyo ‘Digging Up the Graves of Gukurahundi Victims and Burying the Evidence’ Mail and Guardian, 10 May 2019, available at https://mg.co.za/article/2019-05-10-00-digging-up-the-graves-of-gukurahundi-graves-and-burying-the-evidence/ (accessed on 29 March 2021).
- 16.
See Killander and Nyathi (n 7 above).
- 17.
See (n 11 above).
- 18.
S Eppel Gukurahundi: The Need for Truth and Reconciliation (2004) 43–62.
- 19.
A Chetman, A Theory of International Crimes: Conceptual and Normative Issues in KJ Heller et al., The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law (2020) Oxford University Press. C Bassiouni, M (ed) Proposed Guiding Principles for Combating Impunity for International Crimes, in Post Conflict Justice (2002) Transnational Publishers; T Meron ‘International Criminalisation of Internal Atrocities’ (1995) 89 (3) American Journal of International Law 554–557.
- 20.
WA Schabas ‘Punishment of Non-State Actors in Non-International Armed Conflict’ (2002) 26 Fordham International Law Journal 4 at 907–933; D Fleck (ed) The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (2008) 2; M Boothe, The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (2013).
- 21.
K Kittichaisaree International Criminal Law (2001) Oxford University Press; See also M Crettol and AM La Rosa ‘The Missing and Transitional Justice: The Right to Know and the Fight Against Impunity’ (2006) 88 International Review of the Red Cross 862; S Ratner and J Abrams, Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law: Beyond The Nuremberg Legacy (2001) Oxford University Press: 41.
- 22.
R O'Keefe, International Criminal Law (2015) Oxford University Press: 220; KJ Heller, ‘What Is an International Crime: (A Revisionist History)’ (2017) 58 (2) Harvard International Law Journal 353–420.
- 23.
JE Stromseth (ed) ‘Accountability for Atrocities’: National and International Responses’ (2003) Transnational Publishers, New York; CM Bassiouni (ed) ‘Post Conflict Justice’ (2002) Transnational Publishers, New York; TO Hansen ‘The Vertical and Horizontal Expansion of Transitional Justice: Explanations and Implications for a Contested Field’ in S Buckley-Zistel, TK Beck, CB and F Mieth (eds) Transitional Justice Theories (2014); PB Hayner Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity (2001).
- 24.
A Cassese International Law 2nd ed. (2005) Oxford University Press: 157.
- 25.
Ibid., 157.
- 26.
Minister of Foreign Affairs v Michael Jenrich, Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe and Sheriff of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Supreme Court Judgment No. SC 73/18; See also the older cases of Barker McCormac (Pvt) Ltd v. Government of Kenya; 1983 (2) ZLR 72, at 77; Judgement of Waddington J who held that ‘there is no doubt that customary international law is part of the law of this country’, see also Sibanda and Another V ICRC (2002) (1) ZLR 364 which reaffirmed Barker McCormac.
- 27.
Statute of the International Court of Justice (1945), Art 38 (1) (b): 33 UNTS 993; North Sea Continental Shelf Cases, ICJ, 1969, ICJ Reports 1969: www.icj-cij.org.
- 28.
A Cassese International Law (n 24 above) 157.
- 29.
DJ Harris, Cases and Materials on International Law 6th ed. (2004) 20.
- 30.
Section 327 (2) Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013).
- 31.
Geneva Conventions of 1949 available at http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/1_1_1969.pdf.
- 32.
Section 327 (4) Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013).
- 33.
Section 327 (5) Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013).
- 34.
Section 327 (6) Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013).
- 35.
- 36.
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984; A/RES/39/46.
- 37.
A Cassese International Law (n 24 above) 157.
- 38.
Prosecutor v Goran Jelisic, Case No. IT-95-10, ICTY T. Ch 1, 14 December 1999, para 60.
- 39.
Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic, Case No. IT-94-1, ICTY App. Ch., Decision on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction of 2 October 1995 (‘Tadic Jurisdiction Decision’) quoted with approval in Prosecutor v Furundija, Case No. IT-95-17/I-T, ICTY T. Ch. II, 10 December 1998, para 141.
- 40.
Tadic Jurisdiction Decision (n 39 above) 59.
- 41.
MM Bradley, ‘Revisiting the Scope of Application of Additional Protocol II: Exploring the Inherent Minimum Threshold Requirements’ (2019) 81 African International Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law 83; See also MM Bradley, Unpublished doctoral thesis titled ‘An Analysis of the Notions of “Organised Armed Groups” and “Intensity” in the Law of Non-International Armed Conflict’ (2018) University of Pretoria. See also Article 1(1) of Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), 8 June 1977 (hereafter APII).
- 42.
Despite there being no active conflict at the time, in October 1980, Prime Minister Mugabe signed an agreement with the North Korean President, Kim II Sung that they would train a brigade for the Zimbabwean army. This agreement was soon after Mugabe had announced the need for a militia to “combat malcontents.” see Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 45.
- 43.
5th Brigade was drawn from 3500 ex-ZANLA troops at Tongogara Assembly Point. The training of 5th Brigade lasted until September 1982. The equipment assigned to the Brigade was unique and incompatible with the rest of the Zimbabwe National Army with distinctive red berets. Ibid., at 45, 46.
- 44.
In August 1981, 106 Korean military instructors arrived to train the new Brigade, which Prime Minister Mugabe said was to be used to ‘deal with dissidents and any other trouble in the country’. The government met the costs of the training instructors. At this time, there was no unrest or dissident activity in the country. Ibid., at 45.
- 45.
Apart from the 5th Brigade, the government deployed the 4th and 6th Brigade and the paratrooper regiments to engage actively and combat dissidents. With the arrival of the 5th Brigade, the total military presence in Matabeleland and Midlands reached 5000. Africa Confidential reported estimates of up to 15,000 troops in Matabeleland South in 1984 compared to a maximum of 200 dissidents. However, the 5th Brigade focused its efforts mainly on innocent villagers rather than dissidents. Ibid., at 47.
- 46.
The Brigade, commanded by Colonel Perence Shiri, operated outside typical army structures and was answerable to the Prime Minister, Robert Mugabe. At its pass out parade in December 1982, he instructed it to ‘use the knowledge it had acquired to work with the people, plough and reconstruct’ signalling an explicit targeting of the civilian population. Ibid.
- 47.
The dissidents were armed and attacked public and private installations in rural Matabeleland and Midlands. The 4th, 5th and 6th Brigades, Zimbabwe Republic Police and intelligence units were deployed to engage and neutralise the dissidents militarily. Ibid., at 115.
- 48.
Article 1(1) of APII (n 41 above).
- 49.
Article 1 (2) of APII.
- 50.
M Pedrazzi, ‘Additional Protocol II and threshold of application’ in F Pocar and GL Berute (eds) International Institute of Humanitarian Law: ‘The Additional Protocols 40 Years Later: New Conflicts, New Actors, New Perspectives; 40th Round Table on Current Issues of International Humanitarian Law (San Remo, 7th–9th September 2017)’ available at (accessed on 28 April 2021).
- 51.
Article 4 (1) of APII.
- 52.
Article 4 (1) of APII.
- 53.
A Clapham, ‘Defining Armed Conflicts Under the Additional Protocols: Is There a Need for Further Clarification? in F Pocar and GL Berute (eds) International Institute of Humanitarian Law: ‘The Additional Protocols 40 Years Later: New Conflicts, New Actors, New Perspectives; 40th Round Table on Current Issues of International Humanitarian Law (San Remo, 7th–9th September 2017)’ available at (accessed on 28 April 2021).
- 54.
MM Bradley, ‘Revisiting the Scope of Application of Additional Protocol II: Exploring the Inherent Minimum Threshold Requirements’ (2019) 81 African International Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law 83.
- 55.
Article 8 (2) (f) the ICC Statute sets out what Bradley argues is a new classification delineating the type of armed conflict that is ‘protracted armed conflict’ (emphasis added) which is not contained in APII.
- 56.
MM Bradley ‘Revisiting the Scope of Application of Additional Protocol II: Exploring the Inherent Minimum Threshold Requirements’ (n 43 above) 83.
- 57.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 56.
- 58.
Ibid., see also ‘The Nkomo Affair: Mistrust Never Died’ New York Times, 12 March 1983 available at https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/12/world/the-nkomo-affair-mistrust-never-died-news-analysis.html.
- 59.
Ibid.
- 60.
J Alexander, ‘Dissident Perspectives on Zimbabwe's Post-Independence War’ (1998) 68 (2) Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 151–182, https://doi.org/10.2307/1161277 (accessed on 29 April 2021). See also J Alexander; JA McGregor; T Ranger (2000) Violence & Memory: One Hundred Years in the "Dark Forests" of Matabeleland, James Currey (Oxford).
- 61.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 56.
- 62.
J Alexander (n 60 above).
- 63.
‘Split by Victory in Zimbabwe, Ex Allies Wage a Bitter War’ New York Times, 18 February 1983, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/18/world/split-by-victory-in-zimbabwe-ex-allies-wage-a-bitter-war.html, see also Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 56.
- 64.
Y. Sandoz, C. Swinarski, and B. Zimmermann (eds), Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Geneva/Dordrecht: ICRC/Nijhoff, 1987) at 1343ff; F. Hampson, Direct Participation in Hostilities and the Interoperability of the Law of Armed Conflict and Human Rights Law, 87 International Law Studies (2011) 187–213 at 195–197 and 203; Y. Dinstein, Non-International Armed Conflicts in International Law (2014) Cambridge: CUP.
- 65.
Tadic Jurisdiction Decision (n 39 above) 59.
- 66.
Ibid.
- 67.
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), 8 June 1977, Art 1(2).
- 68.
See Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace: Notably, whilst some dissidents claimed allegiance to Zapu and the political and military leadership, they were disowned by same. The dissidents also operated as individuals and not as part of an organised group. They also committed sporadic acts of violence and attacks mainly targeting unarmed civilians. There is also no evidence of a ‘protracted armed violence between (emphasis added) governmental authorities and organised armed groups’. Instead the Gukurahundi appears to have focused its attacks on civilians and made little effort to combat dissidents.
- 69.
Tadic Jurisdiction Decision (n 39 above) 59.
- 70.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace at 3. Although in establishing the Commission of Enquiry into the disturbances in Matabeleland—prompted by complaints about Gukurahundi atrocities against civilians, the government did not use the term ‘conflict’ there was tacit recognition that the deployment of the military was a response to what the government considered an armed conflict; ZimLive, ‘Gukurahundi was a conflict situation, Mnangagwa's spokesman says’ citing an interview with George Charamba, available at zimlive.com (accessed on 7 March 2020).
- 71.
see Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 45.
- 72.
Ibid.
- 73.
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions (Protocol I) art 147.
- 74.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1951 art 1.
- 75.
Article 7 of ICC Statute does not no mention of when crimes against are to be committed creating an assumption that it can be in either peacetime or armed conflict. In addition, the crimes against humanity provisions in the ICTY, ICTR, Law on the ECCC statutes do not have wartime-requirement.
- 76.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 3, 19, 23, 38. See also Zimbabwe Party Reports Attacks, New York Times, 8 March 1985 available at https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/08/world/zimbabwe-party-reports-attacks.html.
- 77.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 6. The CCJP estimates that between 3500 and 4000 people were killed in only two districts that it accessed. It also reports almost 2000 villagers killed within weeks of the Gukurahundi arriving in Tsholotsho. In view of the fact that the Gukurahundi operated throughout Matabeleland and Midlands, over a period of a year and that it abducted and disappeared thousands of its victims and also the deaths related to the curfew induced food embargo, the death toll could well be beyond 20,000.
- 78.
‘Split by Victory in Zimbabwe, Ex Allies Wage a Bitter War’ New York Times, 18 February 1983’ This included reports by journalists Donald Trelford of the Observer and BBC’s Jeremy Paxman; see Revealed: How British Diplomats Pressured BBC's Jeremy Paxman Over Massacres in Zimbabwe (inews.co.uk).
- 79.
In 1983, the Catholic Bishop Heinrich Karlen sought a meeting with the then Prime minister and presented a dossier of the abuses see ‘Catholic priest who exposed Zim massacre’, Sunday Independent 13 November 2012; J Todd Through the Darkness (2007) Zebra Press.
- 80.
Amnesty International Annual Report, 1984 accessible at https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/POL1000041984ENGLISH.PDF.
- 81.
Commission of Enquiry into the disturbances in Matabeleland (Chihambakwe Commission), see https://www.usip.org/publications/1983/09/commission-inquiry-zimbabwe.
- 82.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 6.
- 83.
‘Government Should Release Chihambakwe, Dumbutshena Commissions Reports’ available at https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/govt-should-release-chihambakwe-dumbutshena-commissions-reports/; https://www.zimlive.com/2019/04/19/dumbutshena-chihambakwe-reports-have-been-lost-nprc-chairman/.
- 84.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 56;
- 85.
‘Grave Containing Up to 60 People Found at Zimbabwe School’ The Guardian, 5 October 2011 available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/05/mass-grave-found-zimbabwe-school.
- 86.
S Malunga ‘The False Choice Between Reburials and Justice for the Gukurahundi Victims’: Daily Maverick, 6 May 2019, available at https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-05-06-the-false-choice-between-reburials-and-justice-for-the-gukurahundi-victims/ (accessed on 29 February 2021); T Moyo ‘Digging Up the Graves of Gukurahundi Victims and Burying the Evidence’ Mail and Guardian, 10 May 2019, available at https://mg.co.za/article/2019-05-10-00-digging-up-the-graves-of-gukurahundi-graves-and-burying-the-evidence/ (accessed on 29 March 2021).
- 87.
National Peace and Reconciliation Commission available at http://www.nprc.org.zw/; see also National Peace and Reconciliation Act [Chapter 10:32] available at https://zimlii.org/zw/legislation/act/2017/11.
- 88.
‘Zimbabwe President Discusses Exhuming Victims of 1980s Massacres’, News24 23 August 2020 available from https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/zimbabwe/zimbabwe-president-mnangagwa-discusses-exhuming-victims-of-1980s-massacre-20200823.
- 89.
Examples include the Shashane and Silwane River incidents. See Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 48: also see Matobo Case Study ibid., at 115–137.
- 90.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 48.
- 91.
Ibid.
- 92.
Ibid.
- 93.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 119–124;
- 94.
Ibid., at 119–124; see also Doran (n 1 above) 515–516.
- 95.
BLPC: Case no 3672 RASD.JS, Ref Bhalagwe, April 1984.
- 96.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, See https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide-convention.shtml.
- 97.
CM Bassiouni ‘International crimes: Jus Cogens and Obligatio Erga Omnes’ (1996) 59 Law and Contemporary Problems (4) 68.
- 98.
Genocide Convention, Art 2 (n 98 above).
- 99.
- 100.
ICTR Stature available at http://www.icls.de/dokumente/ictr_statute.pdf.
- 101.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Art 7: https://www.icc-cpi.int/resourcelibrary/official-journal/rome-statute.aspx.
- 102.
F Chalk, ‘Genocide in the 20th Century’: Definitions of Genocide and their Implications for Prediction and Prevention, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Volume 4, Issue 2, 1989, Pages 149–160, https://doi.org/10.1093/hgs/4.2.149; G Verdirame ‘The Genocide Definition in the Jurisprudence of the Ad Hoc Tribunals’ (2000) 49 (3) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 578–598.
- 103.
Prosecutor vs Jean Kambanda 97-23-S (ICTR) 1998. Kambada was found guilty of genocide, among other things, for his failure to fulfil his duty as Prime Minister of Rwanda to take action to stop on-going massacres, which he had become aware of, or to protect the population from possible massacres after he had been personally asked to do so and his omission resulted in massacres.
- 104.
Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu 96-4-T(ICTR) 1998.
- 105.
AKA Greenawalt, ‘Rethinking Genocidal Intent: The Case for a Knowledge-Based Interpretation’ (1999) 99 (8) Columbia Law Review 2259.
- 106.
Prosecutor v Goran Jelisic (n 38 above).
- 107.
K Kittichaisaree International Criminal Law (n 21 above).
- 108.
Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu (n 106 above).
- 109.
Prosecutor v Georges Riggiu, ICTR-97-32-1, ICTR Trial Chamber 1, 1 June, 2000, para 14.
- 110.
The term Ndebele is used here to describe a group of collective ethnicities from the region of Matabeleland and Midlands including Kalanga, Sotho, Venda and Tonga among others.
- 111.
‘We blame the Ndebele Party Zapu for Gukurahundi’ Mugabe Says: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C1MiDQnQhE.
- 112.
Survivors report that members of the Gukurahundi would separate Shona speakers at road blocks and in villages and spare them from beatings, torture and death. See also Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above).
- 113.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 58.
- 114.
Genocide Convention supra note 48.
- 115.
See note 92.
- 116.
Doran (n 1 above) 584: Reflecting on the Bulawayo operation in a discussion with the Norwegians, Acting Commissioner of Police, Henry Mukurazhizha remarked that ‘this is not [a] political matter but tribal, that [the] Matabele must be crushed.’
- 117.
Pedzisai Maedza ‘“Mai VaDhikondo”: Echoes of the Requiems from the Killing Fields’ (2017) 43 (2) Social Dynamics 215–229.
- 118.
Doran (n 2 above) 420.
- 119.
H Cameron ‘State-Organized Starvation: A Weapon of Extreme Mass Violence in Matabeleland South, 1984’ - Volume 12 Issue 1, Spring 2018, pp. 26–47, Genocide Studies International Journal, University of Toronto Press.
- 120.
At the time Mugabe at the time warn that ‘Ndebeles must stop voting for Zapu if they wanted to live’.
‘New Documents Claim to Prove Mugabe Ordered Gukurahundi Killings’ The Guardian, 19 May 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/mugabe-zimbabwe-gukurahundi-massacre-matabeleland (accessed on 7 March 2021).
- 121.
On 3 April 1983, Enos Nkala likened dissidents to cockroaches and warned villagers who haboured them that they risked being caught in the crossfire, See ‘Reviled in Life and Death’ Mail and Guardian, 30 August 2013, available at (accessed on 7 March 2020).
- 122.
S Doran ‘Mnangagwa and the Gukurahundi: Fact and Fiction’ Daily Maverick, 27 November 2017, available at https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-11-27-op-ed-mnangagwa-and-the-gukurahundi-fact-and-fiction/ (accessed on 28 February 2021). Mnangagwa ominously warned entire Ndebele communities that those that did not support dissidents would have their lives spared whilst those that did would be killed.
- 123.
See Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above). Doran (n 1 above) generally for inciteful statements issues by senior government officials.
- 124.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 48. Doran (n 2 above) 417.
- 125.
AJ McGregor, T Ranger, (eds) (2000) Violence and Memory: One Hundred Years in the ‘Dark Forests’ of Matabeleland. Oxford University Press; T Dube ‘Gukurahundi Remembered: The Police, Opacity and the Gukurahundi Genocide in Bulilimamangwe District, 1982–1988’ Journal of Asian and African Studies- February 2021, Prosecutor v Jean-Paul Akayesu 96-4-T(ICTR) 1998 para 513; Prosecutor v Clement Kayishema and Obed Ruzindana 95-I (ICTR) para 98.
- 126.
K Kittichisaree International Criminal Law at 95.
- 127.
Egon Schwelb ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ (1946) 23 British Yearbook of International Law 178 at 195–197.
- 128.
See Prosecutor vs. Jean Paul Akayesu (n 106 above).
- 129.
Ibid.
- 130.
R Coalson, ‘What's the Difference Between “Crimes Against Humanity” and “Genocide”?’ The Atlantic, 13 March 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/03/whats-the-difference-between-crimes-against-humanity-and-genocide/274167/.
- 131.
PM Wald ‘Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity’(2007) 6 Washington University Global Studies Law Review 621–633.
- 132.
K Kittichaisaree International Criminal Law (n 21 above).
- 133.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Art 7: https://www.icc-cpi.int/resourcelibrary/official-journal/rome-statute.aspx.
- 134.
Prosecutor v. Kupreskic IT-95-16-A (ICTY) 2000.
- 135.
See Rome Statute, Art 7 (n 102 above).
- 136.
Prosecutor v Goran Jelisic (n 38 above) para 53; Prosecutor v Tihomir Blaskic IT-95-14 (ICTY) 2000 para 203.
- 137.
Ibid.
- 138.
Ibid.
- 139.
Ibid.
- 140.
The Prosecutor v Habre, Jugdement, Extraordinary African Chamber, 29 July 2016.
- 141.
SA. E. Hogestol ‘The Habre Judgement at the Extraordinary African Chambers: A Singular Victory in the Fight Against Impunity’ (2016) 34 (3) Nordic Journal of Human Rights 147–156.
- 142.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 41.
- 143.
Dabengwa, Masuku, Malunga, and others. See ibid., at 44, 71.
- 144.
Ibid., at 54, 62.
- 145.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 58. The Guardian, New Documents Claim to Prove Mugabe Ordered Gukurahundi Killings’ 19 May 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/mugabe-zimbabwe-gukurahundi-massacre-matabeleland (accessed on 7 March 2020); S Doran (n 1 above); SABC Interview, ‘We blame the Ndebele Party, ZAPU for Gukurahundi, says Mugabe, 17 March 2018, available at https://youtu.be/0C1MiDQnQhE (accessed on 29 November 2020).
- 146.
Ibid., at 32.
- 147.
Pindula News ‘Former CIO Spy, Woods, Implicates Mnangagwa in Gukurahundi’ available at https://news.pindula.co.zw/2019/04/14/former-cio-double-agent-woods-implicates-mnangagwa-gukurahundi/ (accessed on 29 November 2020).
- 148.
Ibid., at 32, 41, 45.
- 149.
Ibid.
- 150.
Kevin Woods: The Kevin Woods Story: In the Shadow of Mugabe’s Gallows (2007) 30.
- 151.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 56.
- 152.
Ibid.
- 153.
Ibid., at 3.
- 154.
Ibid., at 46.
- 155.
Ibid., at 47.
- 156.
See Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above).
- 157.
See Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above).
- 158.
Rome Statute, Art 7 (n 102 above).
- 159.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 52.
- 160.
Ibid.
- 161.
Ibid., at 52–53.
- 162.
Ibid.
- 163.
Blaskic Judgment (n 138 above) para 214.
- 164.
Ibid.
- 165.
Ibid.
- 166.
Ibid.
- 167.
BBC News (n 10 above) In 1983 Prime Minister Mugabe was quoted as saying, ‘Where men and women provide food for dissidents, when we get there we eradicate them. We don't differentiate when we fight, because we can't tell who is a dissident and who is not …’ see Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 44.
- 168.
Geneva Convention (n 31 above).
- 169.
See Rome Statute (n 102 above), see also Geneva Convention (n 31 above).
- 170.
Ibid.
- 171.
Ibid.
- 172.
Ibid.
- 173.
Ibid.
- 174.
Tadic Jurisdiction Decision (n 39 above) para 59.
- 175.
Prosecutor v Kayishema and Ruzindana -95-1-T (ICTR) 1999 paras 175–176.
- 176.
S Doran, ‘New Documents Claim to Prove Mugabe Ordered Gukurahundi Killings’ The Guardian, 19 May 2015.
- 177.
Ibid., at 89.
- 178.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 48.
- 179.
Rome Statute Art 6 (1), 6 (3) (n 135 above).
- 180.
See Rome Statute supra (n 102 above) Art 25, Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia Art 7 (1) and Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Art 6 (1). E van Sliedregt; Individual Criminal Responsibility in International Law (2012) Oxford Univeristy Press.
- 181.
Tadic Jurisdiction Decision (n 39 above) para 692.
- 182.
Akayesu case op cit note 76 para 469.
- 183.
Ibid., para 479.
- 184.
Blaskic (n 138 above) para 259.
- 185.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 27.
- 186.
‘Reviled in Life and Death’ Mail and Guardian, 30 August 2013, available at (accessed on 7 March 2020). On 3 April 1983, Enos Nkala likened dissidents to cockroaches and warned villagers who haboured them that they risked being caught in the crossfire.
- 187.
‘New Documents Claim to Prove Mugabe Ordered Gukurahundi Killings’ The Guardian, 19 May 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/mugabe-zimbabwe-gukurahundi-massacre-matabeleland (accessed on 7 March 2021).
- 188.
S Doran ‘Mnangagwa and the Gukurahundi: Fact and Fiction’ Daily Maverick (n 122 above).
- 189.
Minister Mnangagwa was quoted as saying ‘Blessed are they who will follow the path of the Government laws, for their ~ lays on earth shall be increased. But woe unto those who will choose the path of collaboration with dissidents for we will certainly shorten their stay on earth’. See Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 54.
- 190.
SABC Interview, ‘We blame the Ndebele Party, ZAPU for Gukurahundi, says Mugabe, 17 March 2018, available at https://youtu.be/0C1MiDQnQhE (accessed on 7 March 2020).
- 191.
See Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 58.
- 192.
Ibid., at Art 7(1) of ICC Statute.
- 193.
See Article 7 (2) of the ICC Statute.
- 194.
Prosecutor v Kayeshema and Ruzindana; see also Dissenting Opinion by Judge Hans-Peter Kaul to Pre-Trial Chamber II's ‘Decision on the Prosecutor's Application for Summonses to Appear for Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali’ in Prosecutor v Uhuru Kenyatta and Others ICC-01/09-02/11; see also; C Kress (2010) ‘On the Outer Limits of Crimes against Humanity: The Concept of Organization within the Policy Requirement: Some Reflections on the March 2010 ICC Kenya Decision’ (2010) 23 (4) Leiden Journal of International Law 855–873. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0922156510000415; Rogier Bartels and Katharine Fortin; Law, Justice and a Potential Security Gap: The “Organization” Requirement in International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal law; Journal of Conflict & Security Law (2015), 1–20.
- 195.
Doran (n 1 above) citing the Hansard, 21 August 1981, Vol 3 pp. 1211–1212.
- 196.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 45, 47.
- 197.
Minister Mnangagwa was quoted as saying ‘Blessed are they who will follow the path of the Government laws, for their ~ lays on earth shall be increased. But woe unto those who will choose the path of collaboration with dissidents for we will certainly shorten their stay on earth’. See Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above) 54. ‘Minister defends Five Brigade’, Chronicle, 5 March 1983 reported on a rally in Victoria Falls in February, where Mnangagwa said that dissidents were like ‘cockroaches and bugs’, and had reached such ‘epidemic proportion’ that the government had to bring DDT (5 Brigade) to deal with the problem.
- 198.
Ibid., at 44.
- 199.
Breaking the Silence—Building True Peace (n 1 above).
- 200.
Ibid.
- 201.
Geneva Conventions, Common Art 3 (n 31 above).
- 202.
Rome Statute (n 135 above).
- 203.
Prosecutor v Kayishema and Ruzindana (n 127 above) para 175.
- 204.
Rome Statute supra (n 135 above) Art 28, see also Art 7 (3) of ICTY Statute: available at https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/icty/icty.html#:~:text=The%20International%20Criminal%20Tribunal%20for%20the%20former%20Yugoslavia,including%20that%20of%20torture%2C%20extermination%2C%20enslavement%20and%20deportation, see also I Bantekas, Principles of Direct and Superior Responsibility in International Humanitarian Law. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2002; G Mettraux, The Law of Command Responsibility (2009) Oxford University Press.
- 205.
Rome Statute (n 102 above) Art 6(3).
- 206.
Ibid.
- 207.
Prosecutor c Delacic (Celebici Case) IT-96-21-A (ICTY) 2001 paras 356–363; Prosecutor v. Musema 96-13-A (ICTR) 2000 paras 136, 146–148.
- 208.
See Prosecutor v Kambanda ICTR 97-23-S (ICTR) 1998.
- 209.
See Prosecutor v Kayishema and Ruzindana (n 127 above) paras 213–215.
- 210.
Prosecutor v. Aleksovski IT-95-14/1 (ICTY) 2000, paras 75–78; Kayishema and Ruzindana Ibid. para 216; Akayesu (n 106 above) para 491.
- 211.
Prosecutor v Akayesu case (n 106 above).
- 212.
Prosecutor v Kayishema and Ruzindana (n 127 above).
- 213.
Prosecutor v Akayesu (n 106 above).
- 214.
I Bantekas, Principles of Direct and Superior Responsibility in International Humanitarian Law, Manchester University Press, 2002; G Mettraux, The Law of Command Responsibility (n 205 above).
- 215.
Rome Statute (n 102 above) Art 6(3).
- 216.
Ibid., at Art 28.
- 217.
See Prosecutor v Kambanda ICTR 97-23-S (ICTR) 1998.
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Bradley, MM Unpublished doctoral thesis titled ‘An Analysis of the Notions of “Organised Armed Groups” and “Intensity” in the Law of Non-International Armed Conflict’ (2018) University of Pretoria.
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Yap, KP ‘Uprooting the Weeds: Power, Ethnicity and Violence in the Matabeleland Conflict’ (2001) University of Amsterdam.
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Malunga, S. (2022). Unpacking Gukurahundi Atrocities Against the Ndebeles of Zimbabwe: What Are the Possibilities for Individual Criminal Responsibility of the Perpetrators Under International Criminal Law?. In: Lubaale, E.C., Dyani-Mhango, N. (eds) National Accountability for International Crimes in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88044-6_16
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