Army pallbearers carry Enos Nkalas coffin ahead of his burial this week. (Aaron Ufumeli)
Zimbabweans consider it un-African to speak ill of the dead, and even when the most notorious criminal dies, only their good deeds are spoken about.
But for Zanu-PF founder Enos Nkala, who died last Wednesday and was buried at Heroes Acre on Thursday, there was no such sympathy.
Many from Matabeleland and the Midlands blasted Nkala for the role he played in the Gukurahundi massacres, in which 20 000 people — mostly of Ndebele origin — were killed.
Nkala, a fierce critic of the late PF-Zapu leader Joshua Nkomo, was defence minister at the height of the Gukurahundi massacres.
Some expressed happiness after Nkala died, and others wished that his soul be tormented in hell.
As public outrage mounted, a family spokesperson this week expressed disgust at the manner in which Zimbabweans had treated his death.
Expected anger
Zenzele Ndebele, a researcher who produced the documentary Gukurahundi: A Moment of Madness, said the anger was to be expected.
“He caused a lot of suffering to the people of Matabeleland, so there is no sympathy for him at all. What pains the people of Matabeleland the most is that he is also from the region and yet he was killing his own people, while the rest of the Fifth Brigade were Shona-speaking people,” he said.
“He hated Ndebeles so much that he once said he wished he could somehow cleanse himself of being Ndebele. People have not forgotten that.
“Nkala participated in the public humiliation of people from the region, especially during rallies where alleged dissidents would be paraded. At the rallies, he would tell people that those who supported Zapu supported dissidents, and therefore deserved to die.
“Often after the public rallies the Fifth Brigade would move in and terrorise people.”
Ndebele said many people had disappeared without a trace during the Gukurahundi massacres. “Their anger can only be directed at people like Nkala.”
Late repentance
Political analyst Dumisani Nkomo, who lives in Matabeleland, said that, though some people were justified in their anger, Nkala had repented later in life.
“Generally, as Africans, we should not speak ill for the dead, but the problem with Nkala is that he personified Gukurahundi. He became the face and mouthpiece of the Gukurahundi operation; that’s why people are so bitter,” he said.
“He was more aggressive than [Robert] Mugabe during the operation and used strong intimidatory language. The anger that we are seeing shows the need for a truth recovery process, so that people can channel their anger and hate. Other than that, the anger will be directed at people like Nkala.”
Though Nkala denied any involvement, media reports from the 1980s seem to confirm Nkala was fuelling attacks aimed at dissidents, Zapu officials and those who supported or harboured them.
On February 12 1983 at Makwe Irrigation Scheme, Nkala was quoted by the Chronicle as telling villagers: “People who supported dissidents in their murderous acts, mayhem and rape risked the wrath of the government. If you are one of them, you shall die or be sent to prison.”
On April 3 1983, he likened dissidents to cockroaches and warned villagers who harboured them that they risked being caught in the crossfire.
Nkala was one of Mugabe’s most trusted ministers and was given important Cabinet positions after independence in 1980. He was appointed finance minister until 1983, before moving to the ministry of national supplies until 1985. He served in the ministry of home affairs and then defence after the 1985 elections.
He was forced to resign from the government in 1988 after being implicated in the Willowgate scandal, in which some ministers imported cars allegedly for government use before selling them at a profit.
Politics interferes with peace
Gukurahundi is a Shona word for early, heavy rains. The rains are associated with the washing away of dry leaves, loose soil and chaff. Those killed in the massacre were considered to be “chaff”.
Gukurahundi is now synonymous with atrocities committed by the Zimbabwe National Army’s (ZNA) North Korean- trained Fifth Brigade, which killed about 20 000 people, mainly from the Midlands and Matabeleland regions, allegedly while fighting former Zipra fighters — commonly referred to as dissidents — who had deserted the army to mount a coup.
Zipra fighters were the armed wing of Zapu and were led by Joshua Nkomo during the liberation struggle. Some former Zipra members who had been incorporated into the ZNA alongside Zanla ex-combatants (Zanu’s armed wing) deserted the army in 1981 after clashes between soldiers from the two former liberation groups.
Tension escalated after arms caches — supposedly belonging to Zapu — were discovered in February 1982. In response, the government arrested former Zipra commander Lookout Masuku and intelligence supremo Dumiso Dabengwa, resulting in more ex-Zipra fighters deserting the ZNA and taking up arms.
The government then deployed the Fifth Brigade, justifying its action by saying it wanted to restore order.
The violence only ended after Zanu and Zapu signed a Unity Accord on December 22 1987, resulting in the merger of the parties. Zanu-PF was formed.