The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security has criticised President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Gukurahundi outreach programme, dismissing it as a “politicised” and “perpetrator-led” process that will not deliver justice to survivors of the 1980s massacres in Matabeleland and the Midlands.
In a statement released on December 11, 2025, the Institute said the programme, launched in July 2024, lacked a legal foundation, genuine victim participation and accountability.
“Given that no perpetrators of the Gukurahundi genocide have ever been held accountable, the Lemkin Institute rejects the idea that a genuine peace process is underway,” the statement read.
Mnangagwa, who was minister of State for National Security during the Gukurahundi period between 1983 and 1987, oversaw the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) at the time. The CIO was implicated in the mass abductions, torture and killing of Zapu officials and supporters during the pogrom.
An estimated 20 000 people, mainly from Ndebele- and Kalanga-speaking communities, were killed at the height of the military campaign.
The massacres were carried out by the North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade, which operated under the direct control of then prime minister Robert Mugabe.
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According to the Institute, the violence involved systematic killings, torture, rape, forced displacement and public executions of civilians.
It cited findings by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe, which conducted more than 2 000 interviews and identified approximately 20 000 deaths as a conservative estimate.
Later academic work by scholars Jocelyn Alexander and Norma Kriger was also referenced as corroborating the scale and organisation of the killings.
“These atrocities were not isolated excesses by rogue soldiers,” the Institute said, adding that the Fifth Brigade’s operations followed “consistent geographical and ethnic patterns”, targeting civilians in areas associated with Zapu.
The statement also highlighted what it described as genocidal rhetoric by senior government officials at the time.
In August 1984, Mugabe was quoted saying it was “time to declare Zapu an enemy of the people”, while then Home Affairs and Defence minister Enos Nkala warned that people in Matabeleland would be “crushed like lice”.
Mnangagwa was quoted as saying the “Gukurahundi storm” would “leave nothing, but the bones of sell-outs”.
According to the Lemkin Institute, such language dehumanised Ndebele communities and justified violence against civilians.
Although the Unity Accord signed in December 1987 ended the mass killings, the Institute said it failed to acknowledge the atrocities or provide justice, instead introducing a blanket amnesty that shielded perpetrators from prosecution.
“Until today, no apology has been issued for the atrocities of Gukurahundi,” the statement said, adding that survivors continue to experience economic, political, cultural and linguistic marginalisation.
One survivor, quoted in the statement, said discrimination persists in everyday life.
“To this day, many of us must change our names to pass job interviews.
“We must downplay our accents, hide our surnames and endure ‘minority jokes’ in Parliament and cabinet meetings,” the testimony read.
The Institute also raised concern over what it described as continued suppression of survivors’ voices.
It said police have repeatedly blocked public meetings on Gukurahundi, including gatherings organised by political parties and civil society in September 2025.
“Such systematic silencing of survivors not only perpetuates marginalisation but actively shields perpetrators from accountability,” the statement said.
The Gukurahundi outreach programme has been widely rejected by civil society organisations and victims’ groups.
The Institute said the programme violates Zimbabwean civil society’s 2015 Guiding Principles for Transitional Justice, which require independence, transparency, victim participation and reparations.
“It is controlled by the very structures and figures responsible for the original atrocities,” the statement said.
The Lemkin Institute called for an independent, victim-centred justice process, including reparations, memorialisation and witness protection.
It also urged the establishment of an independent international investigation and an ad hoc tribunal to prosecute those responsible, including Mnangagwa.
“The government of Zimbabwe must demonstrate a genuine commitment to international justice by signing and ratifying the Rome Statute,” the statement said, urging Harare to accept the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction over Gukurahundi.
“As a signatory to the Genocide Convention, Zimbabwe bears an ongoing obligation to prevent and punish the crime of genocide,” the Institute added.
“There can be no healing without justice.”