BLPC also interviewed people in Matobo. However, they did not speak to as many people as they had in Tsholotsho. This was partly because there was not enough time and partly because people were afraid to talk. There was still enough information collected to give some idea of what things were like here, and what Bhalagwe camp was like.

5 Brigade had its first impact on Matobo in early 1983. The northern edge of Matobo was affected by the first curfew, and young men were taken off the buses at this time and never seen again. By the second half of 1983, 5 Brigade had been reported burning homesteads and beating people in Matobo. However, it is in Januaryuary 1984 that 5 Brigade begin a systematic process of mass beatings and mass detentions in the region. People were taken from their villages to detention centres at Sun Yet Sen and Bhalagwe.

Bhalagwe Camp
Bhalagwe Camp was originally a military camp. In 1982, the mainly ZIPRA army unit there were accused of being dissidents. The camp was shut down, and not used much. It became a feared place in 1984, when thousands of civilians from all over Matabeleland South were trucked in and detained there. They were brutally tortured and many were killed. People were kept in very bad conditions. They were overcrowded and beaten daily.

CIO as well as 5 Brigade also gave people electric shocks, submarine and other forms of torture. There was a lot of sexual torture at Bhalagwe. Women were raped, and had sticks forced into them. Men had their genitals tied in rubber and beaten. People had to dig graves for those killed. Later, these bodies were removed, and those who died were thrown down mine shafts in the region.

The detentions of people, thousands at a time, continued from Januaryuary until May 1984. After this, detentions eased off, although some ZIPRA ex-combatants and ZAPU officials were kept on in detention for some months.

The figures for atrocities in Matobo do not reflect the scale of what happened, because only a few people were interviewed. But the following numbers are what we were told about.

The following "village" summary reflects events in one area of south western Matobo. Some villagers in the more northern part of this area were taken directly to Bhalagwe on their detention. This is particularly the case for those who lived in the vicinity of St Joseph's Mission. There was a small 5 Brigade base near to the mission, at Bidi, and people were often rounded up to this base, and from there to Bhalagwe.

"**" indicates source is CCJP archive;
"****" indicates perpetrators are dissidents.
The numbers in brackets record BLPC interview codes:

ST JOSEPH'S MISSION: (approx. 30 km south west of Kezi)
[For the purposes of this report, the designation "St Joseph's Mission" refers to an area of approximately 10 km in radius around the mission, inclusive of many settlements which are not always clearly indicated by name on topographical maps of the region.]

****November 82:
Bango Area: unknown people came at night and shot dead 2 men, an ex-ZIPRA and his uncle. (3451/2)
****November 1982:
Dissidents tied up a woman and abducted her daughter and 2 other young girls, whom they raped and released in the morning. (3477/8)
**End February 1983
(CCJP report): Enos Nkala addressed a rally at Kafusi Dam and people were trucked there from all over Mat South. The Provincial ZAPU treasurer was detained for 2 months after this meeting, was given electric shock treatment, and severely beaten. He was detained because he challenged Nkala who said people willingly supported dissidents: the ZAPU official asked Nkala when in history people without guns had been able to arrest those with guns. He also asked if the 5 Brigade really intended to kill all the Ndebele, as they kept saying. This same man had been badly beaten by the army a month earlier. (3456 also reports the incident). The Chronicle also reports on this rally (on 1 March), and on the first comment made by this man, although it neglects to mention the man"s subsequent detention and torture for this comment.
December 1983:
Mgulatshani area: 8 named men and women plus "many others" were detained by a ZNA unit (not 5 Brigade). Some were demobbed ZIPRAs. All were severely beaten. They were tortured by CIO and given electric shocks to the testicles, at Kezi Air Strip.
One of those detained in 1983 was detained again in May 1984 at Bhalagwe. He was with other ex-ZIPRAs, held for 4 months and regularly tortured. Many of the ZIPRAs just disappeared during this time, and others were threatened with ending up "down mine shafts". 5 named. (3459-68)
January 1984:
ZANU-PF officials addressed a rally at Mbembeswana in central Matobo. People were forced to attend and were trucked in from all over the region, including St Joseph"s.
** (CCJP formal report) On the way home from this rally, an army puma crashed, killing 6 school children from St Joseph"s Mission and injuring 104 others, some very seriously. The CCJP report comments that The Chronicle reports the incident, but gets the location of the accident wrong. ( 3469-76 also refer, giving all names of dead).
February 1984:
Villagers in the area were rounded up first to the 5 Brigade camp near St Joseph"s and then to Bhalagwe. (Tshipisane village mentioned, among other unnamed villages). Victims, both men and women, refer to being beaten with "logs" and also thorn branches. People talk of being tortured into making false confessions. There is also reference to women having sharp sticks pushed into their vaginas. (3418-3424 incl., 3448-50 )
A man found herding donkeys west of the mission was beaten by 5 Brigade for "curfew breaking", taken to Bhalagwe where he was tortured and detained for three months. (3447)
February 1984:
An elderly woman who ran a grinding mill was severely beaten by 5 Brigade at Bidi Store for breaking the curfew and the food embargo. The next day her female co-workers were also beaten, and forced to open the store so the 5 Brigade could drink beer. (3481)
2 villagers (ZAPU branch secretary and 1 other) were severely beaten by 5 Brigade in the bush, and were hospitalised for 3 months. ((3482/3)
2 villagers, a man and a woman were severely beaten in their home by 5 Brigade one morning. (3484/5).
2 women, 1 with a baby, badly beaten by 5 Brigade, one of them on 2 occasions. (3486/7)
A husband and wife found on the road were badly beaten, the wife stripped naked first. Another was beaten with them and taken to Bhalagwe. (3488-90).
A woman, her brother and 2 others were removed from their homes, beaten, taken to Bhalagwe, and the woman had sharp objects forced into her vagina, along with further beatings. (3491/3)
February 1984:
An old man and 1 other were severely beaten for "parenting dissidents", and were taken to Bhalagwe for several months. (3494-7)
February 1984:
MZOLA DAM area: a group of at least 8 elderly men (named) were severely beaten by 5 Brigade for eating at 11 in the morning. They were forced to do strenuous exercise while being beaten throughout the day. One was then released, while the others were kept overnight, transferred to Guardian Angel and then Mabisi Dip. Torture continued and several of the men collapsed completely and one was finally beaten to death (named).(3497-3504 incl.)
February 1984:
Near St Joseph's dam: 5 Brigade summoned an old man across a field and beat him for not running. He fell over and was beaten with sticks until his nose and mouth bled. His family took him home by wheelbarrow. (3505).
April 1984:
A man found driving a car at Bidi Shopping Centre was accused of being senior ZAPU and beaten, His wife and child were beaten and his car was shot full of holes. He was then detained at Bhalagwe for 3 months and was tortured by CIO. (3453-55)
November 1984:
Mtsuli village: 9 members of 5 Brigade severely beat a man in front of others and kicked him in the diaphragm until he vomited blood. (3446)
**11 February 1985
(CCJP formal report): A man from Bidi was among many abducted throughout Matabeleland in nightly raids by CIO. By November 1985 he had not been located.
2 other named men went missing in this area in February 1985 (3339/40)
****May 1987:
Dissidents accused people in Mtsuli village of being sell-outs. They severely beat 2 men. The incident was reported to ZRP and the 2 dissidents were later shot. (3457/8)