By A Correspondent- People of Matabeleland have celebrated the death of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commander Lieutenant-General Edzai Chimonyo because of his alleged role in the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres.

Chimonyo, who, according to a ZNA statement issued yesterday, succumbed to cancer, is alleged to have played a leading role in the atrocities.

The activists said it was heartbreaking that perceived perpetrators of the genocide are dying without facing justice, adding this impaired the national healing efforts.

Chimonyo, at the time of Gukurahundi, deputised the late former Air Force of Zimbabwe commander Perrance Shiri as commander of the notorious 5 Brigade which spearheaded the Gukurahundi massacres in which thousands of people died in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, according to a Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace report.

He was later to take over from current Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga as commander of the Bulawayo-based 1 Bridage, stationed at the heart of the atrocities.

-Independent