Matabeleland has experienced more trauma
London, UK: 3/09/08
For immediate release
Mthwakazi Action Group on Genocide in Matabeleland and Midlands (MAGGEMM) today welcomed the findings of a new report by Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), a leading rights group in Zimbabwe.
The report, called "Counting the Cost of Courage: Trauma Experiences of Women Human Rights Defenders in Zimbabwe", says Matabeleland has witnessed and experienced more trauma than other provinces in Zimbabwe.
Traumatic experiences such as "displacement" - where victims' lives are subjected to severe social and material disruption - and "organised violence and torture", were more severe in Matabeleland during Gukurahundi than they were during the 1970s liberation war.
WOZA says "women from Matabeleland reported higher rates of trauma" and that "it was evident that Gukurahundi had significant effects during the 1980s.".
WOZA interviewed almost 2000 women in a study of trauma covering both the pre-independence and post-independence eras. It found that there was a "marked and statistically significant increase in the number of trauma types reported in the 1980 to 1999 [Gukurahundi] period compared to the pre-independence era."
Commenting on the report, MAGGEMM director of programmes, Thembani Dube said; "this report didn't cover the whole of Matabeleland and Midlands yet its findings are very significant in that they give us a snap shot of the extent of Gukurahundi damage in Matabeleland."
What we now need to do - and MAGGEMM will lead the effort - is to uncover the full extent of the trauma in all of Matabeleland and the Midlands so that the suffering communities can be healed."
MAGGEMM also agrees with WOZA's recommendations that
1. All members of the government, defence forces and party institutions who are identified as perpetrators be required to appear before a forum where they admit their crimes;the more senior officers identified as giving orders should be prosecuted.
2. A transitional authority should form a body to consult and develop a transitional justice plan of action designed to bring healing and then deal with justice and restitution for victims in the new Zimbabwe.
Click WOZA to read full report:
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 Zimbabwe 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. For more information, please contact Mpho Ncube (ncubem@maggemm.org), telephone 07776326521 or visit www.maggemm.org
