Gukurahundi trainer a 'LOVELY' man: Zanu-PF

President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party (the brains behind Gukurahundi massacres) has described the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (Gukurahundi trainer) who died Saturday as a "lovely" man who was a joy to work with, RadioVOP reported.

"He was a lovely man whom we associated with," said Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa who spoke on behalf of his party."He was our great friend and we are not ashamed of being associated with him," he said on Tuesday.

"We got a lot of help from him as his country trained our army and they also built our Heroes Acre that we are very proud of. It was a very good relationship that we shall always cherish. We worked together well," said Mutasa.

The North Koreans trained a special armed force known as the Fifth Brigade which carried out the Matebeleland massacres infamously known as Gukurahundi in the 1980s. The massacres left over 20 000 people dead in Matebeleland and Midlands regions according to the Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice (CCJP).

While most of the world looked at the North Korean leader as a dictator who ran his country with an iron fist for the past 17 years, Mutasa said: "He was not a dictator. He was a popular leader who was chosen by his people and regularly conducted elections."