One of the interviewees in my research for
“The intergenerational impact of the Gukurahundi atrocities: A review of contemporary intercultural relations in Zimbabwe”, told me a chilling story.
She said that some time in 1984, the Fifth Brigade descended upon their home in Plumtree in the dead of the night, armed with guns and bayonets and told them all to “get up and get ready to meet their maker”. She was a widow and shared the room with her first-born daughter and her grandchildren. The soldiers told them they had received reports that the granny was entertaining dissidents in her home and cooking for them and for that, she and her family were going to die.