Berry Bickle "Summary of Events" (Zimbabwe)

Article 8: Right to Remedy by Competent Tribunal

520 x 425mm silkscreen 607 x 428mm paper size

Artist statement: Berry Bickle

In a hand written statement, represented as a ‘summary of events’, is found a depth of individual suffering. The victims of the Matebeleland atrocities have been acknowledged nor compensated, some 15 years after the events, chronicled in Breaking the Silence Building true peace.Zimbabwe will never heal the wounds of these atrocities until a system of Justice, enshrined within a constitution can protect a civilian population against the marauding effects of political power turned against it’s own people. Source material: Breaking the Silence – building true peace. A report on the disturbances in Matebeleland and the Midlands 1980 to 1988. The Catholic commission for justice and Peace in Zimbabwe.

The Legal Foundation p 233 – p 230. “The Catholic commission for Peace and Justice (CCPJ) is collecting affidavits regarding people who disappeared or died in Matebeleland atrocities of the 1980s to facilitate the issuing of death certificates since the government ahs ruled out compensation. There has been a deafening silence from government on the recommendation of the 1997 report, Breaking the Silence –Building true peace, drawn up by the CCJP and the Legal Resources Foundation, that full disclosure be made. We have not received any feedback from government on the report.Government has maintained silence. The president, whom we need to respond has not responded.

The focus of the damning report was on civilians in the Nyamandlovu and the Matobo Areas whose deaths were attributed to the Fifth Brigade, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and Zanu PF youths. Conervative estimates showed that at least 3 750 people were killed, 7 000 tortured, 10 000 detained and about 680 homes destroyed.” Zimbabwe Independent, 18 June 1999.