[6] ZANU initially defined Gukurahundi as an ideological strategy aimed at carrying the war into major settlements and individual homesteads.
This is signified by the large number of people of Shona origin within the top ZAPU leadership structures prior to, and after independence in 1980.
Over the following two years, thousands of Ndebele and Kalanga were detained by government forces and either marched to re-education camps, tortured, raped and/or summarily executed.
The consensus of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) is that more than 20,000 people were killed, the figure first reported by Nkomo.
ZANU–PF leaders were determined to secure a "victory" against a non-existent opposition in elections scheduled for 1985, after which there would be a "mandate" from the people to impose a one-party state.
[11]In November 1980 Enos Nkala made remarks at a rally in Bulawayo, in which he warned ZAPU that ZANU would deliver a few blows against them.
This preceded the first outbreak of fighting in Entumbane Bulawayo, during which ZIPRA and the Zimbabwe National Army fought a pitched battle for two days.
ZIPRA troops in other parts of Matabeleland headed for Bulawayo to join the battle, and the Zimbabwean National army units had to come in to stop the fighting.
In Bulawayo, for instance, Ndebele men of fighting age were considered potential dissidents and therefore, guilty of subversive activities.
On occasion the Fifth Brigade also massacred large groups of Ndebele, seemingly at random—the largest such incident occurred in March 1983, when 62 young men and women were shot on the banks of the Cewale River, Lupane.
They would routinely round up dozens, or even hundreds, of civilians and march them at gun point to a central place, like a school or bore-hole.
Zimbabwean Minister for National Security Sydney Sekeramayi countered that allegations of atrocities were part of a ZAPU disinformation programme to discredit the army.
[1] The government characterised such allegations as irresponsible, contrived propaganda because it failed to give proper weight to the violence by dissidents,[17] who targeted ZANU officials.
[21] In 1992, serving Defence Minister Moven Mahachi became the first ZANU official who publicly apologised for the execution and torture of civilians by the Fifth Brigade.
Five years later, Enos Nkala, former defence minister, described his involvement in the Gukurahundi as "eternal hell" and blamed President Mugabe for having orchestrated it.
[22] Speaking at Nkomo's memorial service on 2 July 2000, Mugabe admitted "thousands" had been killed during the campaign, calling it a "moment of madness".
With the emergence of a 'new dispensation' under Emmerson Mnangagwa, there was a general expectation that for the first time the government would publicly apologise for the atrocities.
This comes after Mnangagwa set up a seven-member Commission of Inquiry in early 2019 chaired by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe which critics like the Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) argue, will not solve the underlying problems.
There is general discontent and people from the affected communities do not believe that the Government is sincere in its commitments towards the Gukurahundi genocide issue.