HEAL ZIMBABWE - BASELINE STUDY REPORT The 5th Brigade was an elite North Korean trained roving military unit that was deployed in the Matabeleland region between 1981 and 1987 to deal with allegations of dissidents. The Brigade’s instigated violence, occasionally described as a tribal genocide, claimed over 20,000 lives while many others were tortured, maimed and terrorised.9 The 1987 Unity Accord was signed to stop the atrocities and resulted in an amalgamated Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF).10 The accord symbolised victor’s justice because there were no requisite redress of neither the developmental stagnation of the affected regions or the rehabilitation of the traumatised communities (Raftopolous 2005).11 The damage caused by Gukurahundi continues to reverberate as continued injustice. The government-sponsored Chihambakwe Commission of Inquiry Report (1984), into the disturbances, has not been made public while many of the alleged perpetrators, leaders and planners of the violations, continue to hold senior positions in government and security services mainly, thereby reinforcing impunity and amnesia. To worsen matters, the post Gukurahundi footprints are characterised by allegations of regional developmental stagnation, deindustrialisation, and ethnic decimation by other means. c) Economic Structural Programs (ESAP) Effects Adjustment In the 1990s Zimbabwe’s economic policies were branded by neoliberal structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) that included the privatisation of public entities, introduction of user fees in public health institutions and other public service providers. These actions triggered substantial retrenchments and massive labour protests. As the country was politically vulnerable, because of the rising economic problems associated with the SAPs, President Mugabe offered (first) generous pensions, then land to appease the aggrieved constituencies.12 The resultant economic decline coincided with the war veterans cash hand-outs (compensation) which led to the fall of the Zimbabwean dollar, an incident now known as the Zimbabwean Black Friday (on November 14, 1997). The civil strife of the late 1990s activated the radicalisation of labour and the eventual formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which set the stage for the reactivation of violent state machinery with the co-option of youths, war veterans and state security elements. These historic moments also marked ZANU PF’s deftness in populist politics involving constitutional manipulation, patronage building, exploitation of legitimate grievances and prowess in violence. 9Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (1997) Breaking the Silence: Building True Peace. A Report on the Disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980 to 1988. Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice and Legal Resources Foundation. Harare, Zimbabwe 10Mashingaidze, T. (2005) The 1987 Zimbabwe National Unity Accord and its Aftermath: A Case of Peace without Reconciliation. CODESRIA. 11 Raftopolous, B. (2005). The Zimbabwe Crisis and the Challenge for the Left. Journal of Southern African. 12 Onslow, S. (March 2011) Zimbabwe and Political Transition. London School of Economics and Political Science. [Online] Retrieved from: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/43645/1/Zimbabwe%20and%20political%20transition.pdf 5