Zimbabwe launches hearings over Mugabe-era massacre

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Sunday launched a long-awaited process of reconciliation over notorious 1980s massacres by government troops that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Survivors will be interviewed in a series of hearings opening the way for possible compensation, in a bid to settle long-standing grievances and tensions.

“Today is a pivotal moment in our history. This is the day where we demonstrate that as a country, we are capable of resolving our disputes as Zimbabweans, regardless of their complexity or magnitude,” Mnangagwa said in the southern African country’s second-largest city, Bulawayo.

“This initiative is a potent symbol of our collective will to bridge the divides that have separated us for too long,” he added, describing the process as a “pilgrimage towards healing”.

Starting in 1983, Mugabe deployed an elite North Korean-trained army unit to crack down on a revolt in Bulawayo’s western Matabeleland region, the heartland of the Ndebele minority.