Resisting Oblivion and Memory: The Destruction of Gukurahundi Memorial Plaques in Zimbabwe

In most post-conflict societies, memory becomes part of the process of healing, humanising and reflection for victims of abuse. To ensure these are achieved, some present-day governments have assisted victims of violence through material, infrastructural and legal enablements so as to house memory and make it a site of learning, reflection and convergence, and facilitate healing and closure. This chapter looks at how the victims of the Zimbabwean 1980s genocide, commonly referred to as Gukurahundi, have confronted the government of the day, the main perpetrator of the genocide, through the non-violent and yet potent actions of memory and memorialising. To that end, the chapter asks questions about the meanings and legality of memory in the Global South, how Zimbabwe compares with its peers who have memorialised past atrocities, and finally what memorial plaque destruction means in a context such as Zimbabwe.