Silenced genocide voices in Zimbabwe’s archives: Drawing lessons from Rwanda’s post-genocide archives and documentation initiatives

Abstract

Archives are a very important part of any given community, yet they may be silent on some critical histories. Perpetrators of genocides have usually resorted to denying or even trivialising such atrocities. They go on to silence genocide voices and these silences translate to the absence of records and archives on such topics. Like Rwanda, post-independence Zimbabwe fell victim to a genocide which was executed by the ZANU PF government in Matabeleland and Midlands Provinces. The post-genocide experience has seen the ZANU PF government silencing genocide voices by criminalising or even denying the killing of people. The silencing of voices and the muteness of the national archival institution on the Gukurahundi genocide in Zimbabwe stands as a cause for concern. This study sought to assess the state of silencing of voices on the Gukurahundi genocide and also draw lessons from the documentation of the Rwandan genocide. This conceptual study also reviewed relevant literature. A manual document search and an online search were conducted.