Kezi, Zimbabwe

Kezi is a village in Matabeleland South province in Zimbabwe. The language spoken in Kezi is predominantly Northern Ndebele, which is the second most spoken language in Zimbabwe. It is home to the old mine shafts at Bhalagwe Mountain or Kopje where Mugabe's fifth brigade killed and buried thousands of Ndebele speaking people during the Genocide known as Gukurahundi, which means the rain which washes away chaff in Shona language. It is one of the widely documented but unacknowledged genocides. The landscape is dotted by kopjes and river glades which feed the main rivers like shashane, semukwe, ovi and many more. The economic hub is Maphisa which is 10k from the magisterial town of Kezi. Most of its able bodied people live in South Africa having fled the genocide economic exclusion in tribal leaning Zimbabwe.