FORMER Zipra cadres yesterday said they were still bitter with the late Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri because he commandeered the North Korea-trained 5th Brigade military unit that committed atrocities in the Matabeleland and Midlands regions in the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n
Shiri, who is the former Air Force of Zimbabwe boss, died on Wednesday morning and was buried at the National Heroes\u2019 Acre in Harare yesterday.<\/p>\n
He commanded the 5th Brigade deployed by the late former President Robert Mugabe \u201cto deal with a dissident insurgency\u201d in the Matebeleland and Midlands provinces, which killed over 20 000 people, according to the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Zipra ex-combatants based in foreign countries due to the hooliganism and unethical behaviour conducted by an army commanded by Shiri, we are not saddened by his death; neither do we consider him as a cadre,\u201d Zipra Veterans Association secretary Petros Sibanda said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost families, comrades and colleagues over the operations of 5th Brigade headed by Bigboy Chikerema (aka Perrance Shiri). Today, we are shell-shocked to learn from the President of Zimbabwe (Emmerson Mnangagwa) that Perrance Shiri was a great commander.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is utter nonsense. How on earth do you declare a commander of warlords a hero. Someone who masterminded the death of more than 20 000 people unarmed civilians?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Zipra cadres said they would put it to Mnangagwa that they abandoned their families, hard-earned independence because of the 5th Brigade Gukurahundi massacres masterminded by him working with Shiri.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe doubt very much that he was an indeed trained soldier because a trained soldier is driven by high levels of human dignity, respect, over and above, he is selfless and protects the citizens of the country with high agility,\u201d Zipra said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FORMER Zipra cadres yesterday said they were still bitter with the late Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri because he commandeered the North Korea-trained 5th Brigade military unit that committed atrocities in the Matabeleland and Midlands regions in the mid-1980s. Shiri, who is the former Air Force of Zimbabwe boss, died on Wednesday morning and was buried […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":12018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1359,636],"class_list":{"0":"post-25943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-minister-shiri","10":"tag-zipra"},"yoast_head":"\n