O Level Revision : History - The  Struggle for Independence in Zimbabwe

The  Struggle for Independence in Zimbabwe: 1900-1980

There were many forms of struggle after the First Chimurenga of 1896-7:

• 1900-1923: early peasant struggle.

• 1924-1945: struggle through associations.

• 1946-1965:  struggle  through  formation  of  trade unions and political parties.

• 1966-1980: the armed struggle.

Early peasant struggles: 1900-1923

From 1908-1914 Europeans grabbed land from Africans and introduced ‘kaffir farming’ which meant forcing Africans to give them food, animals, land and labour. European  culture  was  to  replace African  culture  in dress, music, religion, education, food, law, etc.

African  response

• Passive  resistance:  running  away,  absconding, disappearance and collaboration.

• Some Africans  accepted  the  new  culture  e.g. becoming Christians but others resisted and kept their African Traditional Religion (worshipping through ancestors).

• Africans noted  that  white  preachers  preached equality but did not condemn racism, the tax regulations, pass laws and segregation.
• Africans formed churches that accepted African traditions like polygamy and tombstone unveiling (kurova guva/umbuyiso).
• The Watch Tower Movement preached against the oppression of African workers and condemned the pass laws.
• Church Movements were strong and popular at the mines.

• African church leaders were deported.
• Examples of early African churches: the VaPostori Movement and Church of Zion. These were also popular.
• African churches praised Africans and gave them hope of gaining independence from colonialism.

• Male Africans evaded tax collectors and from being captured and sent for ‘chibharo’.

• They hid in caves, forests or went to live with relatives elsewhere or went to work in gold mines in South Africa at Witwatersrand.
• Resistance was still at individual level and was unsuccessful.

• At timesAfricans raided the Native Commissioner’s Offices and stole guns.

• They organised strikes at the mines and farms.
• They also refused to be resettled.
• All forms of resistance were crushed.

Struggle through associations, unions and  societies: 1924-1945

• Resistance against colonialism was better organised after the First World War because Africans had fought in that war side by side with the whites.
• The centre of resistance shifted from rural areas to mines.

• Resistance  was   now   regional:  Africans   from Malawi, South Africa and Rhodesia were united against colonialism.
• African elite opposed the British Government for giving Rhodesia a Responsible Government status and the decision by the whites to make Rhodesia a separate state from South Africa.

The  Rhodesia Bantu Voters’ Association (RBVA)

• It was formed by African elite  in 1923.
• It achieved very little.
• Its leaders, Abraham Twala and Martha Ngano, were deported.

• It showed that Africans could organise themselves politically, work together with other oppressed people, women could also participate in politics and Africans could work together with progressive whites.

Political parties

• The first political party was the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC). At this time African countries named their political parties African National Congress.
• It was formed in 1934 by Aaron Jacha.
• SRANC  changed  its  name  to  African  National Congress (ANC) in 1938.

• Thompson  Samkange  and  Joshua  Nkomo  then joined it.

• Members   were   mostly   African   missionaries, teachers, business people and clerks.

• The ANC fought for Africans to:

-     vote (franchise).

-     own farms and houses in towns.

-     get rid of Pass Laws, Master and Servant Act and other oppressive labour laws.

• The Africans organised themselves and:

-     avoided dangerous mines and cruel employers;

-     assisted each other in times of need;

-     fought for better working and living conditions.

• From 1905-1953,  the  Rhodesia  Native  Labour Bureau        recruited    workers    from    Nyasaland, Mozambique, Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia.
• Africans sought  to  work  in  South African  gold and diamond mines where the wages and working conditions were better.
• Africans fought against forced labour because of poor wages and ill treatment.

• Africans warned each other of bad employers by giving them nick names, e.g.:

-     Celtic Mine was called ‘Sigebenga’ meaning murderer or cruel person.

-     Masterpiece Mine was called ‘Chayamatako’ meaning beating the buttocks.

-     In 1927 miners avoided Bonzo Mine because many people had died there and people believed that it was bewitched.

Life at the  mines

• People formed dancing, ethnic, cultural and mutual aid societies to help each other during times of death or financial hardship,  e.g.  the  1915  Mandebele Patriotic Society, the 1917 Nyanga Boys’ Club, and the 1918 Herald Burial Society.
• Mines were centres of resistance because:

-     many people lived together;

-     organising themselves was easy;

-     world War II taught people that they were their own liberators.

Clements Kadalie and  the  Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU)

There was oppression in Malawi.

• Clements Kadalie, a Malawian, fled to South Africa via Southern Rhodesia.

• He had good organising skills.
• He formed the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union in 1919.

• The ICU aimed to unite all Africans working in factories, shops and transport.

• The  ICU  fought  for  better  wages  and  working conditions.

• In 1927 Kadalie sent Robert Sambo to start an ICU branch in Bulawayo.
• The ICU was popular in South Africa and Rhodesia.
• African trade unionism was illegal in Rhodesia.
• Sambo was deported back to South Africa.

The  Rhodesia Industrial Workers’ Union (RICU)

• It was a branch of ICU formed in Southern Rhodesia in 1929 by John Mphamba, Masotsha Ndlovu, Job Dumbutshena and Charles Mzingeli.
• These leaders urged people to fight for better wages and working conditions.
• Government banned them from visiting rural areas, those who were civil servants lost their jobs and some were arrested and imprisoned.
• By 1945 RICU had members all over the country.

The  struggle for ‘one man, one  vote’: 1946-1965

• By 1946 Africans were demanding ‘one man, one vote’.
• People wanted a government voted into power by the majority.
• These    radical    ideas    resulted    from   African participation in World War 2.
• At war, Africans  had  seen  white  soldiers  being afraid, wounded, killed, hungry and thirsty resulting in removing the fear that Africans had for the whites and the myth of white supremacy (“after all they are people like us”).
• At war, Africans and whites fought as equals.
• After the war, Africans were reduced to second class citizens.

• World War  two  weakened  European  countries, the USA used the Marshal Plan to support them financially so as to stop them from becoming USSR satellites.
• The Marshal  Plan  forced  them  to  change  their colonial system from direct to ‘financial control rule.’
• Direct rule was expensive.
• ‘Financial  control’  rule   meant   allowing   poor countries to rule themselves but making them heavily indebted to the former colonial masters so that they worked to repay the debt.
• Harold Macmillan,  British  Prime  Minister  then, talked happily of ‘winds of change’ blowing across Africa.
• Many Africans had studied in Europe and America.
• Some whites inAfrica, e.g. the missionaries, wanted a class of Africans educated in western universities to come back and spread Christianity and western ideas.
• Unfortunately, these Africans were influenced by movements like   Pan-Africanism,   Ethiopianism and socialism. These movements fought for equal rights.
• Examples  of  western  educated  Africans  were Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere.

• These Africans joined with Mahatma Gandhi of India to fight for independence.

• The oppressed people were encouraged to fight for independence by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the spread of socialist ideas everywhere.
• The Russian Revolution spread ideas of workers’ solidarity, trade union movements, freedom and independence.
• Ideas spread quickly because:

-     Africans had accepted western education and culture.

-     There were better means of communication like buses, trains, the radio and newspapers.

• After World War 2 trade union leaders organised:

-     strikes and demonstrations in towns;

-     resistance against cattle destocking;

-     resistance   against   forced   resettlement   of people;

-     resistance against payment of poll tax, pass laws and low wages;

-     resistance against any form of discrimination;

-     strikes  for  better  wages  and  trade  union recognition such as the one in 1945 by workers of the Rhodesia Railways.

• Reverend Thompson Samkange revived the African National Congress  in  1945.  The ANC  was  not effective. So trade unionism remained the mover of nationalist politics.
• The    settler    governments    were    ruthless    to demonstrators, e.g.:

-     shot and sprayed them with tear gas.

-      set vicious dogs on them.

-     dismissed strikers from their jobs.

-     detained  strike  leaders  and  put  them  into restriction camps.

Benjamini Burombo and  the  British  African National Voice Association (BANVA)

• Benjamin Burombo founded BANVA.
• He was its Organising Secretary.
• BANVA organised Rhodesia’s first general strike on 15th April, 1948 in Bulawayo.

• A huge crowd was addressed by Burombo, leaders of the Federation of Bulawayo African Workers’ Union and ANC, about their grievances.
• BANVA was banned in 1952 as it was regarded a subversive organisation.

• Josiah Tongogara (later ZANLA commander) and others were inspired by Burombo’s militancy.

• According to George Nyandoro, Burombo died on the operation table.

• For saying that, Nyandoro was arrested, fined 25 pounds and given a two-month suspended sentence.

Formation of the  City Youth League (CYL)

• It   was   formed   by   George   Nyandoro,   James Chikerema, Edison Sithole and Dunduza Chisiza.

• It  was  later  called  the  African  National  Youth League (ANYL).

• Radicalism in nationalist politics kept on increasing.
• Chisiza was deported to his country, Nyasaland (Malawi) in 1956.
• ANYL organised a successful boycott by Africans in Salisbury (Harare).
• There  was   cooperation   in   nationalist   politics among the countries of the Federation e.g. Chisiza of Nyasaland.
• The Youth  League  and  the  ANC  (Bulawayo branch)  joined  to  form  the  national ANC  with Joshua Nkomo (President), James Chikerema (Vice-President) and George Nyandoro (Secretary- General) in September 1957. Other members included Michael Mawema, Stanley Samkange and Joseph Msika.
• There was confusion because many followers were more radical than their leaders.

• Garfield Todd, a liberal white missionary, born in New Zealand, became Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia.
• Todd called  for  partnership  in  politics  which frightened the white settlers and was unacceptable to the nationalists.
• Todd was removed from office in 1958 and the confusion was dispelled.

• There were many African protests, demonstrations and strikes.
• Rallies were organised.
• A State of Emergency was declared in 1959.
• In February 1958 the ANC was banned by Edgar Whitehead. 500 followers including Chikerema were arrested and 300 detained.
• In January 1960 the National Democratic Party (NDP) was formed with Joshua Nkomo as its leader. It also had Robert Mugabe, Herbert Chitepo and Leopold Takawira. The NDP was banned on 9 December 1961.

Some  false hope  in Rhodesia

• In   Nyasaland,   Hastings   Kamuzu   Banda   was released from detention.

• The settlers and Africans in Nyasaland agreed to a new majority rule constitution.

• General Charles de Gaulle of France had reached an agreement    with   Africans    to    decolonise Francophone Africa (French colonies in Africa).
• Harold Macmillan spoken of the ‘winds of change’ blowing across Africa.

• By 1960 there were eight independent countries in Africa and by 1961 there were 26.
• This gave  false  hope  to  Africans  in  Southern Rhodesia that a constitutional settlement was possible with Rhodesian settlers. Instead:

-     The settlers tightened and increased the racial laws.

-     In July 1960, the police shot and killed eleven Africans during demonstrations in Bulawayo and Salisbury.

• Africans opposed the Federation.
• Early  in  1961  constitutional  talks  were  held  in Salisbury.

• The NDP insisted on parity (an equal number) of Africans and Europeans in the Legislative Assembly.
• The NDP leaders agreed to 15 African against 50

European seats in a complex electoral system with separate rolls for black and white voters.

• Duncan  Sands,  the  British  Colonial  Secretary, described the agreement as a miracle.

• The  NDP   later   denounced   and   rejected   the agreement and boycotted the referendum on the proposals.
• Sir Edgar  Whitehead,  the  Prime  Minister  of Southern Rhodesia, banned NDP for refusing to accept the new constitution.
• The white settlers opposed the 1961 Constitution for agreeing to share power.

The formation of The Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU)

• Was formed in 1961 with Joshua Nkomo as its leader, and Tichafa Parirenyatwa as the vice president.
• Was banned ten months later, in September 1962.

The  Rhodesia Front  Party

• Was  formed  by  the  more  conservative  settler farmers in 1962.

• It opposed power sharing with Africans.
• The whites wanted independence on their terms and under their control.

• They   did   not   want   reforms   like   removing segregation in swimming pools and schools.

• Its leader was Ian Douglas Smith.

The  armed struggle: 1966-1980

• The Rhodesia Front was anti-African majority rule.
• Only force of arms could bring majority rule to Southern Rhodesia.
• ZAPU was banned in September 1962.
• ZAPU had started smuggling arms and ammunition into the country by 1962 and sending young men for military training in Ghana and Tanzania.
• Africans engaged in acts of arson and sabotage.
• ZAPU  leaders  including  Robert  Mugabe  were detained.

• Nationalist politics experienced the formation of parties, their banning, and confusion of members and detention of leaders.
• ZAPU made a decision that no more new parties would be formed. If banned it would operate underground.

The  formation of The  Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU)

• The decision to use force divided the people.
• Some still wanted to negotiate with the whites.
• This division led to the formation of ZANU in August 1963 with Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole as President and Robert Mugabe as Secretary General.
• ZANU   and   ZAPU   followers   clashed   in   the townships.

• ZAPU, especially Nkomo, wanted negotiations.
• Nkomo  formed  the  People’s  Caretaker  Council (PCC).

Ian  Smith becomes leader of the  Rhodesia Front

• In April 1964 Ian Smith became the Rhodesian Front leader and banned ZANU and PCC in August.

• Nkomo, Sithole,  Mugabe  and  other  nationalists started to organise an armed struggle from outside the country.
• Ian Smith wanted independence for the whites and to keep discriminatory and segregatory laws in place.
• In a referendum of November 1964, 58 091 whites voted for and 6 096 whites voted against Smith’s proposal.
• In a general election of May 1964, the RF won all the 50 white seats.

The  Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI)

• Harold Wilson became British Prime Minister in October 1963.

• Africans thought that he would stop Smith, instead he encouraged Smith.

• So Smith declared UDI on 11 November 1965.
• Southern Rhodesia became Rhodesia.
• The armed struggle began in Rhodesia and about 30 000 people lost their lives in a 14-year bitter war.

Early military strategies

• On 4 July 1964, the ‘Crocodile Commando’ led by William Ndangana killed Petrus Oberholtzer, a local RF chairman, near Melsetter (Chimanimani) making Oberholtzer the first white man to die in war since the 1890s.
• However, there was no clear ideology for the war.

Recruitment methods for guerilla training

• After 1975, volunteers crossed into Zambia and Mozambique for military training.

• People were kidnapped to undergo military training.
• Addresses at all night meetings (pungwe) influenced the recruitment of people.

• Nationalists   visited   boarding   schools,   mostly mission schools.

• Use of The Voice of Zimbabwe radio station.
• Advertisements in other countries’ media.
• Published  journals,  e.g.  The  Zimbabwe  Review (ZAPU) and Zimbabwe News (ZANU).

• The military wing of ZANU was ZimbabweAfrican National Liberation Army (ZANLA), while that of ZAPU was Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA).

The  Chinhoyi  Battle

• Was in April 1966.
• Seven ZANLA guerillas fought and were killed by Rhodesian forces near Sinoia (Chinhoyi).
• The seven nationalists who died in the Chinhoyi Battle were  Simon    Chingosha    Nyandoro, Christopher Chatambudza, Godwin Manyerenyere, David Guzuzu, Godfrey Dube, Chubby Savanhu and Arthur Maramba.
• It marked the beginning of the armed struggle.
• The early strategy was conventional warfare. This was disastrous because the nationalists were out- gunned, out-numbered, their strategies were poor and they had inferior weapons.
• The seven guerillas only had AK 47s while the Rhodesian forces had jet bombers, helicopter gunships and machine guns.

The  Wankie  battles

• In August and September 1967, a joint ZAPU and ANC of South Africa operation fought a series of battles against Rhodesian forces in the Wankie (Hwange) Game Reserve.
• Though the battles were a failure, they marked the beginning of the armed struggle in Matabeleland.

• The ZAPU and ANC guerillas only had AK 47s and LMGs while the Rhodesian forces had jet bombers, helicopter gunships and machine guns.

A shift  from conventional warfare to guerilla warfare

• At a Khartoum Conference of liberation movements in 1969, the Soviet Union did not recognize ZANU, it supported ZAPU.
• A few ZANLA forces came through Botswana.
• The  Front  for  the  Liberation  of  Mozambique (FRELIMO) supported ZAPU.

• FRELIMO fought the Portuguese in Mozambique and became the Government in June 1975.
• FRELIMO wanted the war to be fought in North- Eastern Rhodesia to keep the Rhodesian forces in Rhodesia.
• So  FRELIMO  offered  ZAPU  infiltration routes through Tete in the late 1970s.

• ZAPU did not take up the offer because:

• Guerilla warfare depends on the support of the people.

• The people had to be educated and mobilised to support the war.

• The people provided food, shelter, logistics and intelligence-information.

• Education and mobilisation were done at ‘pungwes’ (overnight meetings) where people’s grievances were discussed and revolutionary songs were sung.
• At    pungwes,    ‘mujibas’(young    males)    and ‘chimbwidos   (young   females)   were   recruited. These supplied information to the guerillas.

The  Mozambican connection

• There was a coup d’état in April 1974 in Portugal.
• The  army  overthrew  the  Government  of  Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano.

• This  led  to  the  granting  of  independence  to Mozambique and Angola.

• Rhodesia and Mozambique have an 800 km-long border.

• ZANLA forces  now  used  Mozambique  as  a springboard to fight Rhodesia.
• Fighting from Zambia was difficult because:

-     The crocodile-infested Zambezi River was a barrier.

-     The Zambezi Valley was inhospitable and had no vegetation cover.

-     The  Zambezi  Valley  was  depopulated;  the Rhodesian forces could easily spot the guerillas.

• ZANU  had   been   asking   FRELIMO   to   open infiltration routes through Tete to Rhodesia since 1968.

• Samora Machel, leader of FRELIMO, agreed to let

ZANLA forces pass through Mozambique in May

1970.

ZANU’s War Council  (Dare reChimurenga/ Council  of the  Liberation)

• Its role was to direct the war.
• Its chairman was Herbert Chitepo. He was also ZANU’s national chairman.

• Other members  of  the  council  included:  Edgar Tekere, Kumbirai Kangai, Rugare Gumbo, Rex Nhongo (Solomon Mujuru, Teurai Ropa Nhongo (Joyce  Mujuru),  Josiah Tongogara,  Enos  Nkala, Emmerson Munangagwa, Henry Hamadziripi and Tichaona Mudzingwa.
• Chitepo was assassinated in a car bomb in 1975.
• Four ZANLA cadres joined FRELIMO forces in Tete in July 1970 in order to:

-     learn from them;

-     transport   armaments   to   the   border   with Rhodesia;

-     cross into Rhodesia and mobilise the people.

National grievances and  popular support

• Causes   of  African   dissatisfaction   with   settler government were:

-     seizure of their land;

-     lack of equal opportunities in education and health care;

-     discriminatory laws;

-     oppressive colonial laws;

-     destocking.

• These   national   grievances   were   discussed   at pungwes at night.

• Mujibas and chimbwidos informed guerillas about settler army movements.

• Villagers provided food and shelter; and helped guerillas to cache and transport armaments.

• Guerilla  recruitees   were   trained   in   Zambia, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia, Libya, China, Yugoslavia, Cuba, North Korea and USSR.
• The decisive phase of the armed struggle started on 21 December 1972 when guerillas attacked Altena Farm in the Zambezi Valley in North-eastern Rhodesia.

• The attack shocked the settlers and Smith who had claimed that Rhodesian Africans were ‘the happiest in the world’.

The  role of spirit mediums and  missionaries during the  war

• The  Second   Chimurenga   still   re-echoed   the message of Nehanda – the need to return the land to the children of Africa.
• Spirit mediums joined the guerillas.
• They had tremendous influence on people.
• Because the spirit mediums joined the war, many people followed suit.

• An example of a spirit medium who joined the war was Nyamhita who was possessed by the spirit of Mbuya Nehanda.
• There  were  also  some  missionaries  and  settler farmers who supported the guerillas.

• They provided  guerillas  with  food,  intelligence (information), medicines, and transporting guns and armaments.
• Many guerillas were educated at mission schools and were known to the missionaries.

• These missionaries did not take the guerillas as terrorists.

ZAPU and  the  armed struggle

• Started the armed struggle with the Hwange Battle.
• ZAPU fought the war in Matabeleland, Mberengwa, Hurungwe and Guruve.
• Jason Moyo (ZAPU) was exiled in Zambia.
• He believed in the armed struggle and the unity of fighters.
• In 1977 ZAPU formed an alliance with the ANC of South Africa to counter the one between Rhodesia and Apartheid South Africa.
• ZAPU had some challenges e.g.:

-     the formation of FROLIZI;

-     lack  of  consistent  support  by  the  host,  the

Zambian Government;

-     operated from Zambia and had to cross the dangerous Zambezi River.

ZANU and  ZAPU military strategies

• ZANU followed the Chinese strategy of guerillas mixing with the people (the fish and water strategy) and educating them.
• ZAPU followed the USSR conventional warfare strategy which involved the creation of a mass urban political party based on secret cells from which recruitment was organised, sabotage carried out and preparations made for the arrival of ZIPRA invasion forces.
• In 1972  ZAPU  and  ZANU  formed  the  Joint Military Command led by Jason Ziyapapa Moyo and Herbert Chitepo.

Front  for the  Liberation of Zimbabwe (FROLIZI)

• The  Front   for   the   Liberation   of   Zimbabwe (FROLIZI) was formed in 1971 with James Chikerema as its President.
• FROLIZI leaders  said  FROLIZI  was  non-tribal and was formed to unite ZANU and ZAPU. Its members came from the two parties.
• It was meant to form one revolutionary combat force, and wage a people’s war of liberation until victory.
• A few FROLIZI  guerillas  entered  and  attacked Rhodesia in order to win support from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) that had refused to recognise and support it.
• FROLIZI ended when its leaders joined the Smith government in 1978.

• After the collapse of talks in Lusaka in December

1974, Chikerema on behalf of FROLIZI signed an agreement with Nkomo of ZAPU and Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) to unite with the African National Council (ANC) of Rev. Abel Muzorewa.

The  Pearce Commission (1971)

(a)  Background

• The British government wanted to end UDI.
• An agreement  was  reached  between  Sir  Alec Douglas-Home and Smith for certain amendments to be made to the constitution to allow for the possibility of African representation increasing to parity and from there to majority rule through a combination of elected and chiefly representatives.
• In 1970 Smith proposed a new constitution and parliament of 50 whites, 8 wealthy blacks and 8 blacks chosen by chiefs.
• Smith claimed that the blacks were happy with this arrangement.

• The British Government agreed with Ian Douglas Smith.

• Under these proposals it would take 40 to 50 years to reach parity between the blacks and the whites in parliament.

(b)  Results

• In 1971  the  British  government  sent  a  royal commission to test public opinion. The commission was chaired by Lord Pearce.
• The  Pearce  Commission  reported  that  Africans rejected the proposals for a new constitution.

• There  was       violent   opposition   and   mass demonstration against Smith’s idea of independence.
• The police arrested and detained demonstrators.
• The armed struggle continued.
• The UDI did not end.
• This rejection was followed by a re-imposing of an embargo on Rhodesian chrome by USA, and sanctions against Rhodesia by the United Nations.
• Apartheid  South Africa  continued  to  trade  with Rhodesia.

The  Formation of the  United  African  National Congress (UANC)

• The UANC was formed in 1971 to oppose the Pearce commission proposals.

• The liberation movements — ZANU of Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and the ZAPU of Joshua Nkomo — both placed themselves under the UANC umbrella even though they had some doubts when Muzorewa founded a national party.
• After   ZANU   (led   by   Robert   Mugabe   after disagreements with Sithole) and ZAPU undertook guerrilla warfare, the UANC was the only legal Black party, since it rejected violence.

• These leaders were in detention and in exile.
• Muzorewa denounced the guerillas and negotiated with Smith.

• He signed an agreement without authority from ZANU and ZAPU leaders.

• This  agreement  of  1973  accepted  the  Pearce Commission proposals rejected in 1971.

• In  1974    the    Portuguese    Government    was overthrown and Mozambique became independent in 1975.
• Mozambique’s  independence  opened  a  military base for ZANLA forces.

Smith’s response to Mozambique’s independence

• Smith’s military problems increased.
• He stepped up military conscription of young white men.
• In 1974  Smith  held  secret  meetings  with  John Vorster, Prime Minister of South Africa, and Kenneth Kaunda, President of Zambia.
• Nationalist  leaders   (Abel   Muzorewa,   Joshua Nkomo, Ndabaningi Sithole and James Chikerema) were released from prison:

-     They were flown to Lusaka in Zambia.

-       They were forced to sign a Declaration of Unity or lose support from the Front Line States.

The  Mgagao Declaration

• Following the assassination of Chitepo in a car bomb in March 1975, Ndabaningi Sithole assumed leadership of the party, but faced immediate opposition from the more militant wing of ZANU, as Sithole was a proponent of détente.
• This crisis grew with the Mgagao declaration:

-     ZANLA leaders and guerillas declared their opposition to Sithole.

-     Led  to  the  effective  split  of  ZANU  into  a group led by Sithole, who renounced violent struggle, and the group led by Robert Mugabe and Simon Muzenda, with the support of ZANLA, who continued the armed struggle. Both groups continued to use the name ZANU.

-     Rejected talks with Smith.

-     Reaffirmed that the armed struggle was the only way to liberate Zimbabwe.

• Guerillas requested to resume the war saying, ‘If we cannot live as free men, we rather choose to die as FREE MEN.’

Escalation of the  armed struggle

• Many young Zimbabweans left the country to join the guerillas.
• To stop them, curfew was imposed and minefields

were created at the border.

• Presidents Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Samora Machel of Mozambique then realised that only the war could force Smith to hand over power.
• A new army called the Zimbabwe People’s Army (ZIPA) was created.

• It  was  headed  by  an  18-member  committee  (9 members from ZANLA and 9 from ZIPRA).

• In March  1976  Machel  closed  his  border  with Rhodesia in compliance with UN sanctions against Rhodesia.
• The war then resumed. Sithole and Muzorewa were surprised because they did not know about the creation of ZIPA.
• Muzorewa said ZIPA would cause divisions among the guerillas.

• Nkomo stopped talks with Smith because Smith had said he did not believe in ‘black majority rule…not in a thousand years’.
• In 1976 ZAPU and ZANU formed the Patriotic Front (PF) to coordinate the war effort.

Rhodesia declares war on civilians

• Reasons for Smith to believe that there could be no black majority rule and waging war against the civilian population:

-     There were power struggles in both ZANU and ZAPU.

-     Zambia,  Tanzania,  Mozambique  and  other OAU leaders had failed to unite guerilla forces through ZIPA.

-     In 1975 the war had stopped after Chitepo’s death.

-     At  the  Victoria  Falls  train-bridge  meeting, President Kaunda and Prime Minister Vorster begged Smith to accept the idea of majority rule. This made Smith feel important and so refused to accept black majority rule.

-     Smith continued to work with those nationalists he had released from prison.

• Many young boys and girls left school to join the war and some as refugees in Angola, Mozambique and Zambia.
• From 1976 to 1979 many trained guerillas entered the country from Zambia, Botswana, and Tete, Manica and Gaza provinces of Mozambique.
• The guerillas held pungwes to educate the masses.
• They fought the enemies and destroyed enemy war planes, vehicles, and torched the Harare fuel tanks in 1978.
• The Rhodesians began to attack civilians accusing them of supporting the guerillas.

Measures taken by the  Rhodesians

• Deliberately misinforming the people:

-     Described guerillas as cruel people who cut off people’s lips, legs, arms and private parts; terrorists; rapists and murderers who wanted to spread communism.

-     Described  communism  as  a  system  where people shared everything including cattle, wives, money, clothes and land.

-     Told the people that the guerillas were being killed like flies.

-     Rhodesian   soldiers   dressed   like   guerillas, killed civilians and showed them to the people.

-     The Smith regime created many armies, e.g. the Grey Scouts, Selous Scouts, the Guard Forces who manned the protected villages. Later there were also Muzorewa’s Security Forces Auxiliaries called Ziso reVanhu (Eye of the People) and the Spear of the People (Pfumo reVanhu).

• Hot Pursuit:

-     Rhodesian   forces   went   into   neighbouring countries and massacred refugees and those awaiting training in camps, e.g. at Mumbwa in Francistown in Botswana; in Angola; Freedom Camp in Zambia; and at Chimoio and Nyadzonya in Mozambique.

-     There are mass graves in these countries where the people were buried.

• Protected villages:

-     By  1977  there  were  about  203  ‘protected villages’ in the country.

-     People were forced into these concentraction camps.

-     People left these villages to work in their fields at sunrise and were locked up at sunset.

-     A dusk to dawn curfew was declared. Anyone found out of the village was shot dead.

• Propaganda:

-     The radio, newspapers, magazines and fliers were used to spread falsehoods about the guerillas.

-     The African Times was distributed free to the people in the rural areas.

-     A radio  programme,  Padare,  was  broadcast daily against the guerillas.

• Poisoning clothes that were to be worn by guerillas.

Role of women  in the  struggle

• Fighting alongside men soldiers or guerillas.
• Some trained women guerillas worked as nurses, teachers and engineers.

• Examples of women guerillas were Teurai Ropa Nhongo (Joyce Mujuru), Vivian Mwashita, Oppah Muchinguri, Margaret Dongo and Fay Chung.
• Cooking:

-     Women prepared food, took it to guerillas and fed them.

-     Food was taken in scotch carts hidden under manure, tied under the dress to make the women look pregnant; and hidden in book cases of very young boys and girls.

-     The food was prepared at night in caves or

such places where the fire could not be seen.

• Transporting war materials:

-     Women and chimbwidos carried heavy war materials on their heads for long distances during the night.

• Disseminating propaganda:

-     Guerillas   communicated   with   the   people through chimbwidos.

-     Chimbwidos  spied  for  the  guerillas  on  the movements of the enemy soldiers.

-     Girls sang revolutionary songs aired on The Voice of Zimbabwe that broadcasted from Radio Mozambique and Radio Tanzania.

United  States intervention

• The western world realised that Smith would not win the war.

• They came as peacemakers but their aim was to protect their interests and prevent a guerilla victory and the introduction of socialism in Zimbabwe.
• The USA  sent  its  Secretary  of  State,  Henry Kissinger who met Ian Smith in August 1976 in Pretoria.

• Using USA intelligence information, he told Smith that he would not win the war.

• With South African support, Kissinger persuaded Smith to accept the principle of majority rule but Smith refused.
• Kissinger made several‘diplomatic shuttles’ (trips) to Rhodesia.

Results of the  diplomatic shuttles

• A ten-week conference, The Geneva Conference, was held in Switzerland.

• It was chaired by Britain.
• Before the Geneva Conference in 1976, ZANU and ZAPU formed the Patriotic Front (PF) so that they could speak with one voice at the conference.
• Mugabe and Nkomo were co-chairpersons of the PF.

• The PF was an umbrella organ that put ZANU and ZAPU together but the two parties remained independent of each other.
• The British-American settlement proposals were rejected by the people.

• Smith sidelined the PF and held discussions with Sithole (ZANU), Muzorewa (UANC) and Chief Jeremiah Chirau of Zimbabwe United People’s Organisation (ZUPO).

The birth of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (March 3, 1978)

• Smith signed an agreement with Sithole, Muzorewa and Chief Chirau in 1978 forming a transitional government.
• This was called the ‘internal settlement’ meant to pave way for majority rule.

• In 1979, a referendum for the whites endorsed a new Zimbabwe-Rhodesia constitution.

• Muzorewa won the elections and became the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.

• Sithole did not accept the election results.
• The PF and its supporters boycotted the elections.
• The internal settlement was meaningless because it did not represent the African majority.

• The guerillas boycotted it and so the war continued.
• Sithole, Muzorewa and Chirau were disowned by the guerillas.

• Muzorewa had no control over major ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Home Affairs and Justice. So Smith remained in power.
• Muzorewa,  as  the  Prime  Minister,  offered  an amnesty to the guerillas.

• Guerillas rejected the offer and the war continued.

• A summit of Commonwealth Heads of State was held in Lusaka in 1979.

• Margaret Thatcher (The Iron Lady), the then British Prime Minister threatened to recognise the ‘internal settlement’ but she did not because it could have internationalised the war.
• No country recognised the ‘internal settlement’.
• Commonwealth  leaders    persuaded    Margaret Thatcher to call for a constitutional conference on Zimbabwe and she agreed.

The  Lancaster House  Conference

• A constitutional conference was held at Lancaster House in London from October, 1979.

• Three delegates attended the conference: British delegation led by Lord Carrington; Zimbabwe- Rhodesia delegation comprised of Muzorewa’s UANC and Smith’s RF; PF delegation (ZANU and ZAPU) led by Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, respectively.
• Smith walked out of the conference because he was losing to PF.

• An agreement was reached in December, 1979.
• A   system   of   willing-buyer-willing-seller   was agreed on to solve the land issue.

• A ceasefire followed in 1979.
• General   elections   followed   in   February,   and independence in April, 1980.

What was  agreed at the  Lancaster House Conference?

• A parliament of 100 seats.
• 20 of the 100 seats to be reserved for whites.
• No changes were to be made to the constitution within a period of 10 years and no land would be taken to resettle landless people.
• All this was done in order to end the war.

Assemble points

• After  ceasefire, guerillas  were  put  in  assembly points.

• Commonwealth military observers monitored the guerillas.

• Rhodesian soldiers remained in their barracks.
• But some white soldiers and Muzorewa’s auxiliaries remained out terrorising people and committing atrocities.

The  1980 general elections

• ZANU and ZAPU contested the elections separately as ZANU (PF) and (PF) ZAPU.

• ZANU (PF) won 57 seats, (PF)ZAPU won twenty seats, Muzorewa’s UANC won three seats of the eighty seats reserved for the majority.
• Smith’s  RF  won  all  twenty  seats  reserved  for whites.

• The parties of Sithole, Chikerema and Chirau got nothing each.

Independence

• At midnight on 17th April, 1980, the British Flag, The Union Jack, was lowered forever in Zimbabwe.
• The  Zimbabwean  Flag  was  raised  forever  in Zimbabwe.

• Zimbabwe became an independent sovereign state on 18th April 1980.

• Robert Mugabe became the first Prime Minister and Reverend Canaan Banana became the first President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.