Police blocks Ibetshu LikaZulu commemorations marking end of Gukurahundi killings

The police in Bulawayo has blocked an event by Ibetshu LikaZulu meant to commemorate the end of the Gukurahundi massacres.

The commemorations were being held at Stanley Square, but the police moved in to stop it.

On December 22, 1987, the late former President Robert Mugabe and the late Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo signed the Unity Accord in a bid to end the hostility of the Gukurahundi killings which took place in the Matabeleland and Midlands regions.

Gukurahundi is a term used to refer to disturbances in Matabeleland and Midlands in the 1980s which resulted in the death of an estimated 20 000 Ndebele people.

It was conducted by the North Korean trained 5th Brigade which was an elite regiment of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

The term Gukurahundi is derived from a Shona language term which loosely translates to “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains.

Meanwhile, Ibetshu LikaZulu is a not for profit organisation based in Bulawayo Zimbabwe in pursuit of justice for the victims of post independence genocide and other related human rights abuses.

Zwnews