UK fomented Gukurahundi: Ex-Zipra official 

Source: UK fomented Gukurahundi: Ex-Zipra official -Newsday Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) war veterans say the Matabeleland disturbances that occurred soon after independence were fomented by the British who were angry that PF Zapu had bought properties all over the country and was ready to rule.

One of the former ZPRA trainers Cetshwayo Sithole told Southern Eye this week that they had no intention of becoming dissidents when they had equipped themselves with properties.

He said the Gukurahundi atrocities in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces were triggered by PF Zapu’s property acquisition spree.

“The reason as to why there was Gukurahundi in Matabeleland was due to anger by the British after they had realised that Zapu had bought most of the properties across the country and was ready to govern,” he said.

“The British saw this as a threat to them because they did not want to let go of this country after they were defeated. The late former President Robert Mugabe described the massacres as‘a moment of madness’ after failing to prove that the dissidents belonged to PF Zapu.”

Sithole said it was surprising that during the 1980 elections, PF Zapu got the least number of seats, 20, when it had all the support from across the country.

Some of the properties bought by ZPRA include Magnet House, Kudu Motors, Hampton Farm, Ascot farm, Nest Egg Farm, Woodglen Farm, Nyamandlovu Farm, Mbalabala Garage and the Snake Park, among others.

The properties were then forfeited to the State.

During the Gukurahundi massacres, Special Forces from the Zimbabwean National Army’s elite 5th Brigade killed morethan 20 000 people in predominantly ethnic Ndebele provinces.