5th Brigade (Zimbabwe)
| 5th Brigade | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1981–present Counter-insurgency[2] |
| Size | Brigade |
| Garrison/HQ | Gweru, Zimbabwe[1] |
| Nickname(s) | Gukurahundi[3] |
| Engagements | Gukurahundi campaign Mozambican Civil War |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Perrance Shiri[2] |
The 5th Brigade was an
The 5th Brigade was reactivated in 2006 following a prolonged period of inactivity.[5]
Organization
The 5th Brigade was subordinate only to the Chief of the Zimbabwe National Army.
History
The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) was created in 1980 through the amalgamation of the former
The infantry battalions were almost immediately wracked by inter-factional skirmishes
In the wake of escalating dissident activity, Mugabe announced his intention to form a fifth infantry brigade composed solely of ex-ZANLA troops.[1] In August 1981, two existing ZANLA battalions and an additional 3,000 ZANLA guerrillas from various units were selected for training in the new 5th Brigade.[1] The officers were largely drawn from ex-ZANLA officer candidates whose poor educational qualifications had resulted in their failing standardised officer school.[7] A smaller number of ex-ZIPRA officers from 4th Brigade were also transferred to the 5th Brigade to serve in various technical and specialist roles.[7]
Unlike the ZNA's other four brigades, this unit was to be armed and trained by a special North Korean military mission, which was chosen to train the newly-formed brigade because of Mugabe's admiration for North Korea's dictatorial regime.[8][2] The 5th Brigade was not structured for conventional military operations but rather as a specialized counter-insurgency unit.[2] Ex-ZIPRA and Rhodesian troops resented the brigade for its apparent exclusiveness and the fact that it was permitted to operate independently from the ZNA's normal command structure, being subordinate only to the Chief of the Army.[1] The 5th Brigade was trained from August 1981, when the first North Korean military advisers arrived in Zimbabwe,[8] to June 1982 at Inyanga, an isolated mountain base near the Zimbabwean-Mozambican border.[1] It was then moved to its permanent base in Gweru.[1]
At the time of its formation, the 5th Brigade was the ZNA's only mechanised infantry brigade, and most of its arsenal—including T-54 tanks, BTR-152 armoured personnel carriers, BRDM-2 scout cars, towed anti-tank artillery, and multiple rocket launchers, far exceeded the capabilities of ground weapons in the other four brigades' inventories.[1] However, serious practical difficulties also resulted in the brigade's use of unique codes and radio equipment which were otherwise incompatible with those of other army units.[9]
Mozambican Civil War
The 5th Brigade was one of the first ZNA units to be deployed into
Tensions with ex-ZIPRA forces
The 5th Brigade's independent nature soon placed it at sometimes violent odds with other brigades of the ZNA.[7] In September 1982, some of its personnel fired on ex-ZIPRA troops serving in the 4th Brigade.[7] This prompted a mass exodus of former ZIPRA personnel from 4th Brigade, which was forced to disband four of its battalions due to the loss of personnel to desertion.[7]
In December 1982, the 5th Brigade dismissed all its ex-ZIPRA officers.[7] Ex-ZIPRA personnel accused the 5th Brigade of purposefully instigating tensions between the factional elements in the other four brigades.[7]
Anti-dissident operations
In January 1983 the 5th Brigade was deployed into Matabeleland North with the objective of eliminating the local dissidents.[9] Its anti-dissident campaign was known simply as Gukurahundi, a Shona language term defined as "the rain which blows away the chaff before spring".[9] The word had been also been applied to ZANLA mobilization tactics during the Rhodesian Bush War in 1979.[9] Prime Minister Mugabe had bestowed the nickname Gukurahundi to the brigade in December 1982 and it figured prominently in the 5th Brigade's emblems and standards.[9]
The Zimbabwean government provided the 5th Brigade with meticulous records of ex-ZIPRA deserters and demobilized ZIPRA personnel, who were to be detained for questioning.[9] While the brigade's directives specified a search for ex-ZIPRA guerrillas, it failed to differentiate between those affiliated with ZIPRA and the same movement's political wing, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU).[7] Prior to the deployment, this attitude had been reinforced by the alleged discovery of arms on several ZAPU properties, leading to the mass dismissal of ZAPU officials from the government and the arrest of senior ex-ZIPRA army officers.[3] In March 1983, 5th Brigade troops ransacked the home of ZAPU chairman Joshua Nkomo, shooting three of his domestic staff during the raid.[9] The 5th Brigade's commander, Perrance Shiri, perceived all ex-ZIPRA troops, including those employed in the civil service or the ZNA, as potential dissidents.[7] Detention by the 5th Brigade was arbitrary and extrajudicial killings of ZIPRA veterans became frequent.[9]
The 5th Brigade imposed a curfew in Matabeleland North, banned the movement of civilians within the operational area, and closed the majority of local businesses.[9] Its constituent battalions rounded up all the residents of a specific district and marched them to central locations, where they were collectively interrogated on dissident activity.[9] The 5th Brigade also conducted house to house searches in Bulawayo for deserters and arms caches.[9] In an attempt to isolate the civilian population from the dissidents, the brigade relocated a number of rural dwellers to police outposts, mining compounds, and old Rhodesian military bases repurposed into makeshift detention camps.[11] Conditions in the camps quickly deteriorated due to overcrowded and inadequate facilities.[11]
Allegations of politicisation
The 5th Brigade has been frequently criticised for its apparent political nature. Responding to an inquiry about North Korea's role in the unit's formation, then-Prime Minister Mugabe simply stated that "they were trained by the North Koreans because we wanted one arm of the army to have a political orientation which stems from our philosophy as
References
- ^ OCLC 227599708.
- ^ ISBN 978-1557500663.
- ^ ISBN 978-3319605487.
- ISBN 978-1138860278.
- ^ http://www.zimbabwedefence.com/News_51_Gets_Comm.html Archived 2008-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 2009
- ^ ISBN 978-1588263155.
- ^ ISBN 978-0521818230.
- ^ S2CID 157656488. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-58648-558-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0844816104.
- ^ ISBN 978-1919854021.
- ISBN 978-0520064904.
External links
- History of Matabeleland including the actions of the Fifth Brigade there
- Some of the material here is drawn from a report compiled by the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJP) entitled "Breaking the Silence, Building True Peace. A report on the disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980 – 1989".
- Zimbabwe: What Britain and the West did – and didn't – do during the Matabeleland massacres of 1983-4
- Institute for Security Studies, Demobilisation and Reintegration[dead link]
- Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, The post-colonial state and Matebeleland: Regional perceptions of civil-military relations, 1980–2002 Archived 2020-09-15 at the Wayback Machine