The way 5 Brigade behaved in Matabeleland North has already been talked about in this
report in the history section. 5 Brigade were deployed to Matabeleland at the end of
Januaryuary 1983. Thousands of atrocities, including mass murders, mass beatings and
burning of whole villages took place in the next six weeks. 5 Brigade was withdrawn for a
month mid-year and retrained. They then returned to the region. Detentions and
disappearances then became more common than murders.
Any village which had experienced 5 Brigade atrocities lived in a state
of intense anxiety and fear, unsure when they might return or who they might target next
time. Many hundreds of people, especially young men, fled the area for Bulawayo or
Botswana, to avoid being accused of being dissidents.
At times villagers had to watch those close to them dying slowly from
untreated wounds. They had been warned not to seek medical help, and could be shot as
curfew breakers if they tried. Many others have permanent disabilities, and cannot work
well in their fields or carry loads any more. Others still suffer mentally, with
headaches, dizzy spells, nightmares and depression.
Families have been left without breadwinners, children without parents,
and with the trauma of having seen their parents, husbands, community leaders harmed and
humiliated.
There are practical problems left behind. People need death
certificates for the missing. Without them, their children have failed to get birth
certificates, they have lost out on pensions and been unable to inherit savings accounts.
5 Brigade atrocities in Nyamandlovu / Tsholotsho
| Killed |
|
900 named or numbered victims |
| Property losses |
|
345 homesteads (involves burning of 26
villages entirely) |
| Individual
assaults |
|
314 named victims |
| Mass beatings |
|
74 (whole villages beaten together) |
The information on dissidents is mainly from The Chronicle newspaper. There is some
reference to dissident murders and beatings in BLPC and CCJP interviews. The dissidents
mainly targeted white farmers in this area, and it was also in Nyamandlovu that the six
foreign tourists were kidnapped. Dissidents also destroyed Government equipment, burnt
several buses and robbed many stores. Their impact was mainly on the commercial farmers,
many of whom left their farms and moved into Bulawayo following the brutal murder of many
farming families.
Dissident atrocities in Nyamandlovu /Tsholotsho
| Killed |
or |
50 (newspaper reports)
39 (HR reports) |
| Property losses |
|
94 homesteads burnt (Newspaper reports); dam
building equipment destroyed |
| Assaults |
or |
30 (newspaper reports)
32 (HR reports) |
The atrocities recorded here are not all those committed in this
region. They are just those which we were told about, or which we could find out about
from written documents. We know these numbers do not show how much suffering there was.
The following piece is taken from the "Village by Village" summaries from the
original report. This refers to only seven villages, or lines, from south-western
Tsholotsho.
The original report looks in detail at 177 villages (lines) in
Tsholotsho, and 17 commercial farms.
The numbers in brackets record BLPC interview codes:
"**" indicates source is CCJP archive;
"****" indicates perpetrators are dissidents.
NESHANGO LINE (next to Ningombeneshango Airstrip):
3 February 1983:
Mass beating of villagers and shooting of 2 young pregnant girls, followed by their being
bayoneted open to reveal the still moving fetuses. These two girls (already pregnant) and
several others had been raped by members of the ZNA in November of 1982, who reportedly
left by helicopter after several days of raping these girls.
(1146 - 1168 inclusive).
Raped: 8
Dead: 2
Beaten: 6 named victims, 50 estimated total
KUMBULA SCHOOL, PUMULA VILLAGE (approx. 5 km SE of Pumula
Mission):
13 February 1983:
Whole village beaten, and 7 shot dead, including a teacher, after digging their own grave.
Witnesses refer to a fountain of blood from the pit. (file H, all named,** CCJP case files
confirms 1 name, also 298-9, 310-11)
April 1983:
Several ZAPU officials badly beaten, one named victim (323)
Dead: 7
Beaten: 50 estimated (Januaryuary), plus 10 estimated (April).
CAWUNAJENA (10 km SW of Pumula Mission):
8 February 1983:
Entire village rounded up, and many were beaten very severely. 12 men and women, including
2 school teachers, were shot dead. This happened during the night. The 5B camped nearby
and the dead were not buried until a year later, by which time many bones were scattered
around.(File H has all names, also 479).
2 other men abducted and killed here in February. (315, 318)
A woman was also abducted into the bush and shot with her baby on her back. (314)
Another woman was also abducted in February and shot. (481)
Dead: 17
Beaten: 50 estimated
GULAKABILI (approx. 20 km SSW of Pumula Mission)
12 February 1983:
Whole village abducted from nearby to the Pumula Mission area, where they were beaten.
Some were then forced to dig a mass grave, made to climb in, and were shot. They were
buried while still moving, and villagers were made to dance on the grave and sing songs in
praise of ZANU-PF. Number of dead given as 12. (File H has all names, also BLPC 300, 305-9
incl.)
One victim locked in a hut and burned to death. (296)
March 1983:
5B burnt 5 homesteads one morning. (3246-48)
ZNA soldier killed while trying to visit his mother, on leave. (304)
2 others from this area also killed by 5B, circumstances unclear. (478, 484)
A woman was accused of cooking for dissidents and was shot dead. (293).
A woman and her child were taken from here to Pumula Mission and killed (292, also file H)
7 others from this area met individual deaths - one was detained trying to get to Plumtree
and was never seen again, another went missing from a house in Bulawayo, and his wife and
child were apparently killed by 5B, while trying to flee to Botswana. Another man had his
throat cut and bled to death. (file H)
Dead: 25 named victims
Beaten: 50 estimated
Destroyed: 7 known 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 January 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 January
incident. (342-346)
3 others killed, including a married couple who went to report dissidents in the area.
(345, 348)
Dead: 25 named victims
Beaten: 50 estimated
SEQWINI: (approx. 15 km due north of Pumula Mission):
15 April 1983:
1 person killed by 5 Brigade, bayoneted to death. (1232)
Dead: 1
KORODZIBA (west of Pumula Mission, now resettled):
February 83:
5B came to the school and took about 60 pupils aged over 14 years. They were all beaten
and asked about dissidents. 20-30 girls were raped and then ordered to have sex with some
of the boys while the soldiers watched. They were beaten for 3 hours. (3311)
4 March 1983:
5 villagers were murdered at night for being PF-ZAPU members. (1223-27 incl.)
Also March: 2 children out of a group of children died of starvation trying to run away
from 5 Brigade in this area. They were trying to reach Ngamo railway siding, which is
about 100 km NE of Korodziba. The dead were aged 9 and 14, the survivor was 15. (1234-5)
Dead: 5 plus 2
Raped: 25?
Beaten: 60