I cannot forgive Mugabe’s soldiers – massacre survivor
An astounding number of mass graves surround Thabani Dhlamini’s home in south-western Zimbabwe.
One pointed out to the BBC lies near the ablution block at a primary school in the village of Salankomo in Tsholotsho district. Teachers were killed and dumped there in the 1980s.
In another, steps away from Mr Dhlamini’s house, 22 relatives and neighbours are buried in two graves – all killed by Zimbabwe’s military under the command of then-leader, Robert Mugabe.
Mr Dhlamini was just 10 at the time – but the slightly built, soft-spoken farmer is still haunted by the memories.
“We were not able (to talk about it) and we were in fear to speak about it,” the 51-year-old told the BBC.
They were all victims of ethnic killings between 1983 and 1987, when Mugabe unleashed the North Korean-trained Five Brigade in strongholds of Joshua Nkomo, his arch-rival.
Some describe what followed as a genocide. It is not known how many people died – some estimates put it at more than 20,000 people.
Nkomo was a veteran freedom fighter from the south-western province of Matabeleland who, more than two decades after his death, is still fondly known as “Father Zimbabwe”.
The two men had had a fractious relationship during the long liberation struggle against white-minority rule – Nkomo came from Zimbabwe’s Ndebele minority and Mugabe from the nation’s Shona majority.
—BBC
