MatabelelandReport

They have survived two terrible civil wars in as many decades, and they have received no guarantee that it will not
happen again. Only one senior minister in the last 13 years has expressed public regret for what happened. In fact,
ministers are on public record as saying they will never apologise.
The single exception to this is Minister Mahachi, who said in the Sunday Mail of 6 September 1992 that:
"...events during that period are regretted and should not be repeated by anybody,
any group of people or any institution in this country."
However, if most people do not know in the first instance what it was that happened, and why it happened, how can a
repetition be avoided?
Part of the process of psychological healing for any victim of abuse, is being given the opportunity to recount that
suffering to a supportive, non-judgmental audience. It is at least partly in recognition of this principle that truth
commissions have taken place in other parts of the world in recent years. Those involved with taking testimony for the
South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission have noted:
In many instances the act of telling their stories to a sympathetic statutory body which acknowledges their pain has
proved a cathartic one for witnesses. A common thread running through their testimonies is an extraordinary
capacity to forgive, if they can only know the truth.
One of the most tragic effects of events in the 1980s is that it served to harden "ethnic" differences in Zimbabwe,
resulting in what could be referred to as "quasi-nationalism". Recent events in Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Yugoslavia
provide sad testimony to what happens when such conflicts are not satisfactorily resolved. Recent conflicts in all these
countries have their roots in previous, unsatisfactorily resolved internal conflicts.
While the signing of the agreement of National Unity in 1987 was an important step towards reconciliation, there are
many issues that still need to be aired by ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe and taken into account by its national
leadership, if we are to prevent a recurrence of violence between future generations of Zimbabweans.
More than a thousand ordinary citizens came forward in the last five years to relate their experiences to the compilers of
this report. People often travelled long distances to give evidence, and waited overnight to tell their stories. For many,
this was the first time they had been given the opportunity to have their experiences formally recorded. Many wept, or
expressed anger, or voiced confusion as to why violence of the 1980s ever took place.
Many expressed pain at the memory of how senior officials had refused to acknowledge events at the time: the
disappearances of people were repeatedly denied in the 1980s, and death certificates were denied for corpses who
officially had not been murdered. Others related how their pain at the loss of a loved family member was compounded
by a death certificate with a fallacious cause of death filled in: for example, one murdered person had "stomach injury"
recorded as the cause of death.
All evidence was given entirely voluntarily, and without suggestion of reward or future compensation. The need to
document events historically was explained as the primary intention of this report, and the desire to help set the record
straight was apparently motivation enough for witnesses.
While those who came forward gave evidence freely, some told of other victims who were still too afraid to tell their
stories. That this fear was not unjustifed was borne out in our second case study area, where the CIO made what were
perceived as intimidatory appearances at interview sessions and interrogated at least one person who helped the data
collection process, and where certain councillors also actively discouraged their ward members from giving statements.
According to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission,enabling the victims to talk freely and not to be
dismissed as liars without being given due consideration is an important aspect of "restoring the dignity and honour as
well as the good names of victims".
3.SYSTEMATIC COLLATION OF INFORMATION
A substantial body of evidence, some published and most previously unpublished, has long been in existence detailing
the broader historical events and the abuses suffered by individuals in the 1980s. This report aims to bring together data
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