Some in Southeast Africa may know Nkayi as a village in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. Much of the land surrounding Nkayi was owned by white farmers and then redistributed by Mugabe in 2000. Like elsewhere commercial farming fell and harvests were meager. Mugabe reign of terror has hit Nkayi directly and western audiences saw this directly with mass graves as seen on Youtube.

In 2007, eight Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) protesters were jailed for a protest again unfair grain distribution in the region. The Nkayi court took the bold step of releasing the prisoners without reprimand. Nkayi has often been a hotbed of protest, with the MDC even controlling the rural district council. According to the US State Department in February 2002, war veterans and a suspected CIO officer were abducted and tortured for over a month. All three were MDC activists from Nkayi: Tembendi Ndebele, Venny Dube, and Newman Bhebhe. Ndebele died from the torture just after being released.