Retired Bishop honoured for exposing Gukurahundi

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Ezekiel Chiwara 03.DEC.07

A RETIRED Roman Catholic bishop who was one of the first people to expose the massacre of 20 000 civilians in Matabeleland and the Midlands, Henry Karlen was on Friday given the prestigious Civic Honour by the Bulawayo City Council for helping victims of the government's military campaign.

He was bestowed with the honour at a function where Bulawayo mayor, Japhet Ndabeni Ncube also gave civic honours to the late Carl Paul Pretorius, a renowned soccer referee and Amratbai Desai who gave financial support to parties led by the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo during the liberation struggle.

Karlen, who was the first Archbishop of the Bulawayo diocese in 1994 alongside his successor, Bishop Pius Ncube are credited for bringing the killings to the attention of the international community.

The bishops confronted the then Prime Minister, Robert Mugabe with evidence that the Fifth Brigade, a specially trained forces of the fifth brigade deployed in the provinces to fight ‘dissidents’ were carrying out a campaign of torture, rape, starvation and murder against the civilian population.

This was after they carried out an assessment of the situation in Matabeleland North and South provinces between 1983 and 1984.

“Archbishop Karlen was a Bishop in Bulawayo at a time of the disturbances in Matabeleland in the early 80s. He went out of his way and at great personal risk to his own life to assess the situation in Matabeleland North in 1983 and in Matabeleland South in 1984 and to offer help to the beleaguered people in the two provinces,” read the citation for the honours.

Bishop Ncube was forced to resign a few months ago after a government sponsored operation allegedly caught him having an affair with a married parishioner, Rosemary Sibanda. Sibanda’s husband, Onesmus is now suing Bishop Ncube for Z$15 billion for alleged adultery.

Karlen was born in Switzerland in 1922 and taught in various Roman Catholic Church seminaries in Europe and South Africa before relocating to Zimbabwe in 1974. He retired as the Archbishop of Bulawayo in 1998 and is now involved in a number of charitable activities in the city.

Mugabe described the Gukurahundi killings as “a moment of madness” but 20 years after they ended, victims are yet to receive any compensation.