MatabelelandReport

MAZHOU: (near Egomeni?)
FEB 83: 4 villagers were abducted to the bush, and were tortured with sticks and knives. One villager attacked his
assailant, allowing another to escape. 3 were then killed. (file H)
Dead: 3
Beaten: 1
ST WILFRED'S SCHOOL ( Pumula Mission area)
2 FEB 1983: Some of the ex-ZIPRAS in this area ran away in January. The mothers of 2 were tortured for "parenting
dissidents", and were then shown 5 men including their sons. These 5 were taken to Tsholotsho town, and 2 weeks later
one returned, with serious gunshot wounds. He had climbed out of a mass grave in which he had been shot with many
others, and had made his way home. He died a day later. (609-11)
Dead: 5 plus possibly others
Beaten: 2 plus possibly others
MANALA: (West of Pumula Mission, resettled)
29 MARCH 1983: 1 beaten, bayonetted, finally killed the next day, and his body burnt, by 5 Brigade. (1230)
Dead: 1
SALANKOMO ( approx 5 km NW of Mission):
**28 JAN 1983: 20 5B soldiers came in the morning and killed the village ZAPU chairman and 2 schoolboys, one aged
14. They were beaten in front of the villagers first, and all the adults present were also beaten. (Comm of Inquiry
Statement, also file H).
**28 FEB 1983: same soldiers rounded up people in the village and put 2 men, 7 women, 2 with babies, and 3 children
into one hut. They set fire to the hut, and the men inside forced the door open. As the 12 ran out, 6 were shot and killed
including a baby and a girl, and 1 was shot and left for dead.
**CCJP has on record the Medical Cards and Comm of Inquiry statement of the victim who suffered a GSW to the
stomach in Feb 83 incident - records start from May 83 by which time wound is very infected. (file A, also file H)
Two more homesteads were burnt at a later date. (BLPC 338-9, 457, 3274-5)
Dead: 9
GSW: 1
Beaten: 5 plus possibly others
Homes burnt: 3 known
NDAWANA (6 km west of Pumula Mission):
FEB 83: 2 villagers from here were curfew breaking and their tracks were reported by villagers from Egomeni nearby,
who did not know who they were. 5B prepared to beat and destroy all at Egomeni, and had already dug mass graves.
However, the 2 from Ndawana were caught before this happened, and they were killed instead. (file H, also 3273-6).
The soldiers then moved to Ndawana, where the commander ordered the whole village into a hut and set fire to it. Once
the commander left, another 5B soldier let the villagers out of the hut, so they were spared. (file H)
MARCH 83: an old man from here was taken to Pumula Mission, tied to a tree and forced to make animal sounds. 5B
also killed his ox. (3272)
Dead: 2
Tortured: 1
Burnt: 2 homesteads
SOLONKWE: (4 km north west of Pumula Mission, now resettled)
**JUNE 1983: CCJP Comm of Inquiry report of 22 villagers including women and children burnt to death in a hut,
after being brutally beaten first. The owner of the hut begged for the lives of his 4 youngest children to be spared, and
this was allowed, although the life of an older daughter was not spared. (file A, file H also refers, also 316-17, 322, 462)
Dead: 22
Burnt: 1 hut
PELANDABA (west of Pumula Mission):
29 JAN 1983: 5B rounded up many men from the area, tortured them until they couldn't walk and shot them. File H
names 8 victims, **CCJP case files also reports 11 other named deaths here in 1983, probably same day, and 1 death in
1984. BLPC names 2 more victims from Jan incident. (342-346)
3 others killed, including a married couple who went to report dissidents in the area. (345, 348)
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