The CCJP has kept many letters and reports, including reports they sent to the Government at the time, asking them to stop the killings and beatings. They also kept the statements from victims they collected for the Government commission of inquiry into events, which took place in 1984.

The daily newspapers also provide a record of what was happening, in particular of what the Government claimed the dissidents were doing and what certain Government ministers had to say about events. The Bulawayo Chronicle was used a great deal to confirm opinions and dates of events. Monthly magazines such as Horizon and Moto also had information.

Medical records
Some missions still have medical records of civilians who were beaten or shot and then treated at their hospitals. Other people we spoke to still have their clinic or hospital cards and x-rays showing their injuries.

Evidence from graves and mine shafts
Skeletons have been taken out of mine shafts at Antelope in Matobo, and at Old Hat Mine in Silobela in the Midlands, some with coins showing they were killed after Independence. In 1983, bodies were also taken from a mass grave at Cyrene Mission in Matobo. These bodies at Cyrene showed clear evidence of gunshot wounds.

Evidence collected from people in the 1990s
In order to try and get a more complete idea of what it was like to be a civilian in a rural area in the 1980s, the Bulawayo Legal Project Centre (BLPC) sent interviewers into two chosen districts to collect more information. It was only possible to reach a few hundred people in this way, and it was only possible to go to these two areas. We know there are thousands of others who suffered and who did not speak to us. We also know that districts such as Lupane, Nkayi, Silobela, Gokwe, Bulilimamangwe, Gwanda, Beitbridge and others also suffered violence in the 1980s. It would have been too expensive and have taken too long to try to speak to everyone. But by choosing one district in each province we hoped to give everyone some idea of how things were in these years.

The history is far from complete. But what we have written in the original report we know to be accurate, because we used only those pieces of evidence that we felt were reliable. In the end, more than a thousand people told something of their stories. Others can now add to this history.

The computer sorted names alphabetically which meant that it was easy to see if the same person had been entered twice. It was also possible to see if the newspaper was reporting the same things as the other sources. In this way it was possible to count up all the people who had suffered different kinds of injuries, whether this was death, torture or property loss, and also to note the year, and districts where people were from. Who committed the offences, such as 5 Brigade or dissidents, was also recorded. From this information, it was possible to draw graphs showing the general way in which things happened over the years from 1982 to 1987. This is one way the information was looked at.