Of Mugabe gukurahundi and genocide on Mthwakazi

-o00o-

There is a website that has been launched that focuses on the Gukurahundi in Matabeleland in the early to mid-1980. Visit that website here.

Mthwakazi Action Group

"What we are launching today is not just the website but also the re-birth of MAGGEMM," says Rorisang Masiane. "Even though we have been around for a number of years now, this is the first time we are making a proper web presence to internationalise our work. We want to be the main voice for those who have to deal with the trauma of Gukurahundi alone and almost forgotten."

The launch of MAGGEMM’s new website also comes with a revision of their mission and sees the group go back to basics. "In the last two years, we have carried out informal research within the affected communities and our findings made us go back to the drawing board and revise our strategy. With the launch of our website, we are also presenting a return to what we were originally formed to do, which is to focus on the Gukurahundi genocide and the fight for truth and justice on behalf of victims," says Rorisang Masiane.
Notes to Editors;
1. Mthwakazi Action Group on Genocide in Matabeleland and Midlands (MAGGEMM) is a not-for-profit group for victims of the Gukurahundi genocide in between 1982 and 1988.
2. MAGGEMM is not a political party/organisation and its actions must not be viewed as such.
3. Gukurahundi is a Shona word which means "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains” and was the codename for the government military operation in Matabeleland and Midlands between 1982 and 1988.
4. At least 20,000 people were massacred during the Gukurahundi campaign."

-o00o-

Another reason for Mugabe to be a little concerned. He offered a refuge for the Ethiopian when he was ousted and Mengistu readily took up that offer and has stayed in Zimbabwe since the early 1990s.

Mengistu was initially sentenced to life in prison in January 2007 but prosecutors appealed saying the sentence did not match his crimes. Over a 17-year rule Mengistu eliminated his opponents using a combination of famine and the so-called ‘Red Terror’ purges. He was ousted in 1991 and fled to Zimbabwe where he has lived in great comfort under Mugabe’s protection. He was tried in absentia over a 12-year period, which saw the conviction of dozens of other senior officials directly responsible for the murders, torture and starvation of thousands. On Monday the Supreme Court granted the request from prosecutors and sentenced him to death."