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Our Chief Reporter (CR) talks to film producer Zenzele Ndebele (ZN), the producer of “Gukurahundi: A Moment of Madness,” a controversial movie on the 1980s army atrocities in Zimbabwe’s southern regions.
CR: What prompted you to produce this documentary?
ZN: I realized that its one issue that people have forgotten. If you are to have a society where there is social cohesion there is need to talk about that. There are a lot of people who still have scars, people who were arrested, beaten up, and handicapped. There is need to counsel them or compensate them for the loss.
CR: What problems did you come across while shooting the documentary?
ZN: Fear. People don’t want to talk about Gukurahundi. I have met people with one arm, with no lips, with one leg, paralysed, people with seven holes on their bodies made by bayonets. I met people with 10, 15 bullet wounds. And these people don’t want to talk about it.
CR: Why?
ZN: They think you have been sent by the State to investigate them, or interrogate them. There is also no documentation, no footage of soldiers beating up people, even in the archives. Some people have migrated, others have died. And former Zapu stalwarts have now joined Zanu. And they don’t want to talk about it. Yet, they were the people who were imprisoned, beaten up and they tell you, aah, its has passed and we resolved it.
CR: So how long did it take you to produce the documentary?
ZN: I started working on the documentary in January and...
CR: January 2007?
ZN: Yes January 2007. So it took me 10 months to complete the documentary.
CR: Was it a big budget movie?
ZN: No. I did the research, filming, directing and producing by myself with one or two people to help.
CR: I can also see there is soundtrack CD. Why?
ZN: The soundtrack is for those people without DVD players. The CD has some speeches that I thought people needed to know…
CR: Like President Mugabe calling the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo a “dissident father?”
ZN: Yes. The President saying Nkomo should be hanged. (Defence minister Sydney) Sekeremayi saying what’s the purpose of sending an army if people are not going to be killed. I want people to realize that the Zanu (PF) that was beating up (Morgan) Tsvangirai, harassing the opposition, is the same Zanu (PF) that harassed Nkomo in the same way or maybe worse, because at that time there was no media, no Internet.
CR: So will this movie ever be distributed in Zimbabwe?
ZN: I am definite and certain that one day the movie would be shown in Zimbabwe in the near future.

CR: Were you in any way affected by Gukurahundi?

ZN: There is no one in Matabeleland who was not affected by Gukurahundi. I have lots of relatives who were killed, burnt alive, others disappeared, others shot. I still remember the images vividly. I remember in 1985 I was in Grade 2 and soldiers would come to school…
CR: Where was this?
ZN: In Plumtree. So the soldiers would come to school and and ask us ukuthi ‘where are the dissidents?’ I still remember when I replied 'I don’t know' the soldier gave me a very good slap across my face.
CR: How callous!
ZN: Yes. And this was a six-year-old boy. The other soldiers would bring sweets or tinned beef. And during those days remember there was a curfew, people were starving. Enticed with a bit of food, some kids would spill the beans and tell the soldiers that the so-called dissidents slept at home last night, my father is a dissident, my brother is a dissident. And they would get information from a 5-year old, go to the home, pick up the father and kill him.
CR: Now 24 years after troops were deployed to Matabeleland, what do you think is the attitude here towards government?
ZN: The Ndebele people are angry, frustrated and they want justice. And there is no way this government is going to bury this thing or sweep it under the carpet. Remember the war vets were compensated, with some people claiming 99 percent disability. Why are people of Matabeleland not being compensated?
CR: So are you saying compensation would address this issue?
ZN: At least the compensation would help in showing that the government is concerned. But before the compensation, the truth has to be told somehow.
CR: But there has been no apology so far.
ZN: The only phrase we recall is Mugabe saying “it was a moment of madness.”
CR: Is this why you called the documentary “A Moment of Madness?”
ZN: Yes. But if a moment of madness can last for four years resulting in you killing 20,000 people, it can’t be a moment. People need to be told that we buried your relatives here. There are mine shafts where we know people were buried. Maybe some people were buried with their IDs and if they dig they would be able to identify them. And in our African culture, once someone has died we need to have what we call umbuyiso. But how do you buyisa someone when you don’t know where they are buried. This issue has to be solved because there are voices in the wilderness. There are cultural complications to this whole thing. You can’t just kill and stop there, it will affect you. So there is need of psychological healing.
CR: What’s your perception of the 1987 Unity Accord?
ZN: It was not an agreement between two parties at equal level. Nkomo was afraid the people would continue being killed. He had the likes of (Dumiso) Dabengwa and others in jail. And the conditions were that if you sign the Accord these guys would be out.
CR: But do you think the Accord has been successful in soothing tensions here?
ZN: For the Unity Accord to be successful there is need for Matabeleland to be compensated for loss of development. Remember when the soldiers were killing people here, in other parts of the country they were building boreholes, clinics, roads and schools. That's why you see students from Matabeleland can’t go to NUST. They don’t have science subjects because of a serious shortage of schools and laboratories here. We are 10 years behind in terms of development. Matabeleland is still poor. It is faced with problems of water shortages, unemployment and; generally, people feel they are marginalized and they have never voted for Zanu (PF). So the Unity Accord remains a joke.
First published bt the Zimbabwean newspaper