During that period, thousands of mainly Ndebele-speaking people from the Matabeleland regions were detained by government forces.

Some were tortured and raped while others were executed. Various lobby groups have classified the massacre as genocide while the Zimbabwean government maintains it was a crackdown to purge dissidents.

Zimbabwe's National Chiefs Council vice President, Fortune Charumbira says the country can find closure.

“This is not about genocide. let that conclusion come from the victims at the end of the process. but what we know even the late Joshua Nkomo, he also disputed that this was genocide but acknowledged that yes dissidents and soldiers clashed in the communities and in the process, innocent people were also victims. but it was not genocide.”

--ChannelAfrica--