MatabelelandReport

source, particularly in terms of dates: they also capture the horror of those years in a way less contemporary accounts
cannot. Priests and doctors were recording events and noting the broader picture as well as the details, such as the
movement and numbers of troops, as well as civilian casualties. CCJP files provide a firm framework within which data
from other sources has been placed in context.
Strict curfews prevented the movement of all civilians in Northern Matableland during parts of 1982 and in early 1983,
and in Southern Matabeleland in early 1984. This meant that resident mission staff were among the few who observed
closely and recorded the unfolding of events during these years. They also made strenuous efforts at the time to protect
people and to bring an end to the atrocities.
TSHOLOTSHO has three Catholic missions: Pumula Mission in the southwest, Magama Mission in the east, and Gwayi
Mission in the north. In addition, there is Regina Mundi Mission, which is on the Tsholotsho-Lupane border, and whose
parishioners are all from Tsholotsho, as there is only forestry land on the Lupane side of this border. Reports on events
filtered back from all these missions. St Luke's Mission, which is also in neighbouring Lupane, has a hospital, and
recorded some Tsholotsho victims among its patients.
MATOBO has two Catholic missions: St Joseph's Mission in the south-west, and Minda Mission in central Matobo. In
addition, there are several Catholic schools - Guardian Angel School, St Thomas School and St Mary's School, along
the western border of Matobo and Bulilimamangwe. There are also Brunapeg, Embakwe and Empandeni Missions in
Bulilimamangwe. Again, mission staff at all these missions monitored events in their regions and kept invaluable
records.
Presentation of CCJP data is of various types, and includes the following:
1. Seventeen very detailed statements, sworn and witnessed in front of lawyers, which were prepared for the
Government Committee of Inquiry into alleged atrocities by security forces in 1983 and 1984. These are each several
pages long and are accompanied by copies of medical records in a few instances. In all instances they give full details of
victims, times, perpetrators and places where events occurred. There are also other well-documented and prepared
statements by civilians, which were not notarised, as they were not ultimately selected for presentation to the
Committee.
2. Detailed hospital records from mission hospitals, recording precise name, age, date of arrival, village of origin and
the nature of injuries suffered by hundreds of victims. Injuries include evidence of beatings, bayonetings, burnings and
gun shot wounds. There is a long statement of events in early 1983, made by a doctor at St Luke's. In addition there is
also a long written statement from a government doctor working at Tsholotsho District Hospital, sent in February 1983
to the CCJP and detailing information given to him by patients, as well as his own observations of events in the village
of Tsholotsho itself. There are also details of victims beaten and shot by soldiers from a doctor at Embakwe Mission, in
Matabeleland South in 1984.
3. A significant data base, known as "Matabeleland Case Files", listing names and other details of approximately 1000
victims. There are several thick interview files which contain some, but not all, of the source interviews for this data
base.
4. Letters written by priests at the various missions, recounting their horror at what they were witnessing and appealing
for intervention and help.
5. Many other letters from Catholic priests or parishioners appealing for help in locating missing family members, or
detailing other atrocities. Some of these are written by priests resident in Bulawayo or elsewhere, who have had news of
events affecting their friends or families in the rural areas of Matabeleland.
6. General reports which were submitted to the Government at various times during 1983 and 1984, giving evidence of
human rights violations by both security forces and dissidents, and appealing for a more humane approach to the
security problem.
7. Files with lengthy legal documentation concerning specific people detained without trial, including requests for
information as to their whereabouts, requests for detention orders to be reviewed, requests for medical treatment for
certain detainees. There are also other files on detainees listing page after page of people known to be in detention at
Chikurubi, or other centres, at certain points in time.
8. Statements taken by CCJP members based in Bulawayo in the 1980s, made by refugees from the rural areas.
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