In modern Zimbabwe , it ain't the Viscount shootdowns but rather the retributory Rhodesian strikes against nationalist guerrilla camps that endure predominantly in the cultural memory . State media in Zimbabwe , prominently the Herald newspaper , often claim that Rhodesian forces indiscriminately and deliberately slaughtered thousands of helpless refugees during such operations . ZIPRA 's downing of civilian planes is meanwhile portrayed as a legitimate act of war on the grounds that the guerrillas might have believed them to have military personnel or equipment on board . The massacre of surviving Flight 825 passengers at the crash site is often omitted or attributed to forces other than ZIPRA ; in his 1984 memoirs Nkomo repeated his claim that ZIPRA fighters had helped the survivors , and wrote simply that " I truly have no idea how the ten died " .