Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Unidentified individuals recently attempted to dismantle a memorial plaque commemorating the victims of Gukurahundi at Bhalagwe in Maphisa, Matabeleland South.
Ibhetshu LikaZulu, in collaboration with local community members and traditional leaders, installed the plaque just last month.
In an interview with CITE, Mbuso Fuzwayo, Secretary General of Ibhetshu LikaZulu, revealed that this incident marks the fourth instance of vandalism targeting these plaques by unidentified perpetrators.
Fuzwayo described this fourth attempt as a “brazen, illegal and toxic” attempt to undermine their efforts to honour the dead and comfort the victims of Gukurahundi.
In 2022, suspected state agents used explosives to bomb a plaque and vandalised two others erected on separate occasions in 2021. Said Fuzwayo:
There was an attempt to remove the plaque which was erected on February 21, 2024. The vandals tried to remove it and destroyed some of the crosses that we had laid. We are unsure exactly when this happened, but we received the message yesterday and immediately went there to check.
Undeterred by this vandalism, we call on the authorities to take action. It is saddening that this is the fourth plaque to be destroyed. We previously chose not to report the incidents as the authorities were not forthcoming.
Sadly, this happens at a time when the government promises to address the issue of Gukurahundi, yet some are destroying community programs meant to help people heal.
Last week, the deposed Ntabazinduna Chief, Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni, condemned the ZANU PF-led government’s hypocrisy.
This came after President Emmerson Mnangagwa inaugurated a monument at the Pupu Battle site in Lupane, while simultaneously denying the people of Matabeleland the right to erect monuments in memory of the Gukurahundi victims.
Ndiweni said it should be noted that the Ndebele people have tried four times “to erect monuments near mass graves resulting from the Ndebele genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.”
Gukurahundi refers to a series of mass killings carried out by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, an infantry brigade of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), between 1982 and 1987.
The term itself is derived from the Shona language and roughly translates to “the early rain which washes away the chaff”.
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