Gukurahundi mass grave discovered at a Zimbabwe school

A MASS grave believed to contain the remains of up to 60 victims of the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres has been discovered at a Lupane school.

Pupils playing football at the grounds of St Paul Secondary School stumbled on human bones sticking out of the ground.
 
National Healing Minister Moses Mzila Ndlovu visited Lupane last Friday for talks with school authorities.

He told reporters: "Villagers told me that St Paul and several other local schools were used as detention points by the Fifth Brigade.

"Dozens of people were detained, interrogated and executed before their bodies were dumped in mass graves dug up by the detainees.

"The grave is roughly 5x5 metres and locals told me there could be anything between 30-60 people buried there."

He said the mass grave was uncovered after the ground caved in at two points of the football pitch, exposing the horrific scene to pupils playing kick-about.

School authorities have temporarily refilled the graves and the minister says he will be asking Cabinet to agree on a programme of reburials on a wider scale across Matabeleland and the Midlands.

Mzila Ndlovu, the MDC MP for Bulilima, said: "I will take up the issue with my colleagues in the Organ on National Healing Sekai Holland [MDC-T] and John Nkomo [Zanu PF].