A SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF ZIMBABWE

According to Verrier,

In coming to the heart, the history of Zimbabwe is that of the world

class architectural work, land seizure and settlement, alienation,
anger and bravery. Before 1890 no in Zimbabwe called them
Shona, which is a linguistic term and only came to be applied to
those who spoke the language during the twentieth century.

Similarly the Ndebele were not a tribe. There was a Ndebele state
with subject people speaking many different languages. People’s
identities in the pre-colonial period derived from their Membership
of chiefdoms and Kingdoms. The most these were the Kingdom of
Mwene Mutapa, which the Portuguese encountered in the Zambezi
Valley and its uplands, and the Kingdom of Rozvi Mambos in the
South-West.

There were many powerful chiefdoms, such as Chief Mutasa’s

Chiefdom of Manyika in the east. In the nineteenth century
Mzilikazi led his warriors into the West of Zimbabwe and created
the Ndebele Kingdom, which was inherited by his son Lobengula.
These states and statelets have inspired many Zimbabwean writers
looking back to a past of independent African citizenship. There
were powerful religious figures in pre-colonial Zimbabwe. In the
Matopos mountains of the South-West there (as there still are)
cave-shrines of the High God, Mwali where pilgrims went to ask
for rain, were given seeds plant, and the voice of God from the
rocks.

In many other country there were (as there still are) spirit
mediums- both men and women who were possessed by rain –
making spirits or by the spirits of past Kings and Chiefs. Such
figures appear in many Zimbabwean novels. Two in particular
have achieved great fame in modern Zimbabwe and have given
their names to streets and buildings. These are male mediums,
Kaguvi and the female medium, Nehanda, who were both hanged
by the British after the 1896 uprising against the white settlers. The
Nehanda spirits was a rainmaker and a princess, of the Mutata
Kingdom. Her 1896 mediums is Zimbabwe’s great heroine and
reference to her appear in many novels.

The importance for Zimbabweans of the Mutapa State and the

Ndebele Kingdom, of Great Zimbabwe and the Nehanda mediums,
is all the move in tense because the white conquerors and rulers of
the county denied, traduced or mocked this past. White
governments denied that Africans had built Great Zimbabwe,
called Mzilikazi a despot and Nehanda a witch. White missionaries
and traders had reached Zimbabwe in the mid nineteenth century
and were later based at Bulawayo. Pressure upon the Ndebele King
increased as reports spread that Matebeleland was rich in gold. The
Portuguese from Mozambique, the Afrikaaners from the Transvaal,
the Germans, the British and Cape Colony were all interested in
controlling the gold-fields.

In the end the imperialist-capitalist Cecil Rhodes, managed

through bribery and trickery to extort a “concession” from
Lobengula. On the basis of this concession he then obtained a
Royal Charter for his British South Africa Company. The question
was how to make the Company effective inside Zimbabwe. Rhodes
contemplated a commando raid which would seize Bulawayo and
kill Lobengula. In the end he decided to outflank the Ndebele
State. In 1980 he sent in a Pioneer Column from the Cape to wind
its way east of the Ndebele and to settle in the North-East. In this
way Mashonaland was occupied and Fort Salisbury established.

Gold was not discovered in payable quantities and the Company

shares fell. In 1893, therefore, Rhodes decided that Matabeleland
must be invaded. A pretext was devised: British troops advanced
north from Botswana and Leander Jameson led the Victoria
Column of pioneers in an advance from east.

Jameson’s men, deploying their devastating machine guns, moved

down the Ndebele impis and seized Bulawayo. Lobengula fled
north and disappeared into the bush. The company encouraged its
pioneers to fan out into the countryside to search for gold. It raided
Ndebele cattle and took them into the “Loot Kraal” in Bulawayo.
Disregarding Ndebele indignation, Jameson took most of the
Company Police with him on the ill-fated Jameson Raid into the
Transvaal in 1895. Seizing their opportunity, many of the Ndebele
rose up against the whites in March 1896, killing almost all of the
settlers in the outlying areas. In June 1896 many Shona Chiefdoms
also rose in revolt.

The 1896 risings are known as the “First Chimurenga” The Second
Chimurenga being the guerilla War of the 1960s – 70s. The risings
were suppressed with great brutality. The Ndebele kingship was
abolished: other Chiefs became salaried functionaries; spirit
mediums and Mwali priests were arrested and spied upon.

Svikiros like Nehanda and Kaguvi were apprehended and handed

to Her Majesty’s Court in March 1898 alongside Zindoga, Hwata
and Gutsa for the alleged murder of one Henry Hawkins Pollard a
white commissioner who resided near Mazoe and terrorized blacks
in that district. The case was entered as “The (British) Queen
against Nehanda. The execution process was authorized by the
British High Commissioner for South Africa, one a. Milner and
endorsed by the British Imperial Secretary on 28 March 1898.
Further executions were again to take place in the subsequent
months of 1898 with 21 condemned Ndebele fighters being
executed in may 1898 alone. These included among others,
General Magwegwe, Mkwati, Mafuyana etc. In Mashonaland, the
ame bloody orgy continued, with leaders of resistance as
Mashonganyika, Muzambi, maremba, Ndowa, Zvindembo,
Gunduza, Mvenuri, Mashindu, Manyongori, Chiriseri and Chief
Gutu getting executed in the same violent way.

In the case of Chief Chingaira, the civilized British savagely and

bizarrely decapitated him and carried his head to Britain as a
trophy for their museum. To this day that head has not been
recovered for a decent burial. To those who sought cover in caves,
they were dynamited and their crops were torched to break their
resistance against violent imperial encroachment. The years that
followed the First Chimurenga, witnessed hunger and starvation
artificially caused by the invaders but even that did not break the
spirit of resistance and sooner or later Africans would regroup and
fight again.

The Consolidation of White Settler Rule and the

Marginalization of Blacks

After the blacks had been brutally suppressed in 1898, there was a
great need to constantly monitor their activities such that what had
happened in the First Chimurenga could not ever happen again
especially if one takes into account the large numbers of white
casualities which were around 200 deaths and several injured. To
complement the efforts of the white state machinery, various Acts
were put in place to deal with issues of governance. Firstly, the
1898 Native Reserve Order in Council Act was enacted with the
sole purpose of removing all traditional Chiefs who were anti-
colonial rule from their posts. They were to be replaced by white
colonial administrators. The Act also created what was later to be
called the African Reserves. In 1903 there came the Hut Tax Act to
beef up the European coffers. Thus, the nearer the African
Homestead as to a white settlement; the more it attracted in tax. In
1912, came the Dog Tax and Land bank Acts. The latter was meant
to cushion the white farmers from the vagaries associated with
farming. White farmers were to be given loans, free seed, free
fertilizer and above all were offered free tillage services for five
(5) years after which, they could start paying back loans. In 1917,
was created the European Produce Act which made it mandatory
for whites only to produce to fetch more money at the expense of
their black counterparts.

In 1925, there was established the Morris Carter Commission

whose sole responsibility was to divide the whole country into agro
regions based on the rainfall pattern. The results of this
Commission necessitated the enactment of the 1930 Land
Apportionment or Expropriation Act. The Act made it mandatory
that, all blacks were to be forcibly removed from regions 1,2 and 3.
At that time (1930) whites numbered only about 50 000 whilst
blacks were over a million. Despite this, whites were to share
between themselves, 49 000 000 (49 million) acres of fertile soil
while blacks were to share 28 million acres of land in regions 4
and 5. In 1931, was enacted the Maize Control Act which made it
an offence for a black farmer to produce more than 2 tonnes of
whatever produce.

The 1934 Industrial Conciliation Act was enacted to bar blacks

engaging in skill labour although it was later relaxed to allow
blacks to venture into teaching, nursing and agricultural extension
services. The same year also saw the enactment of the Racial
Discrimination Act which made it an offence for blacks and white
to share social amenities like toilets, hospitals, schools, bars and
hotels just to mention a few. Suffice to add here that blacks were
not allowed to stay in lowdensity suburbs and were forbidden to
vote. Thus, it was impossible to become a black Mayor,
Councillor, Minster or President. Even at work places, the highest
office that could be occupied by a black person was that of a bassa
boy or foreman in the industry. In the Army, the highest rank for a
black person was that of a corporal whilst in the Police Force, it
was the rank of a Sergeant.
In 1951, was enacted the Land Husbandry Act which made it an
offence for a black family to own more than five (5) herd of cattle
and 8 acres of land. In 1965, was enacted the Tribal Trust Land
Act whilst the Land Tenure Act was put in place in 1969. The 1969
Act divided the country unequally on racial lines as it gave 45
million acres of the best land to less that a quarter of a million
whites, while five and a half million blacks were given an equal
area of land in the least fertile regions with the lowest rainfall. It
also restricted movement into areas reserved for one race by
members of another race except by special permit. This unfair
division of land was a major theme in African Nationalism.

The Rise of Nationalism and the Prosecution of The Second

Chimurenga

Meanwhile, after the collapse of traditional resistance in 1898, and

the seizure of political power by the representatives of the white
settlers in 1923, Company rule had become an anachronism. In the
1923 referendum the white settlers were offered a choice between
joining the Union of South Africa and responsible self-
government. They chose the latter and between then and 1979,
Rhodesia was governed by a Settler Cabinet responsible to a
Settler Parliament. African intellectuals felt betrayed by the
policies of segregation enforced in the 1930s and beyond.

Gradually African protest movements emerged. The most

significant movement in the period between the two World Wars
was the growth of powerful trade unions, especially the African
Railways Workers Union and the Reformed Commercial and
Industrial Workers’ Union, which mobilized the growing urban
proletariat on non-tribal and non-regional lines. Accelerated white
settler immigration, and deteriorating Socio-economic conditions
in the post-war period brought issues to a head. Bulawayo, then the
major industrial city, became the centre of African trade unionism
and politics. In 1945, the African Railway Workers’ Union struck
first by organizing a general strike which brough this vital
communication network to a stand still from Mutare (Umtali) in
Rhodesia to the Zambian Copperbelt.

In 1948 broader demands were made in a country-wide general

strike that brought all Commercial and industrial activities in the
major cities to a stand still for a week. The campaign for the
establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland by the
white settlers in 195 lulled the workers a little with a promise of
reforms, but they soon reorganized and launched the City National
Youth League in 1955. As the name indicates, the League
represented the young proletariats in the growing cities. In the late
1950s, the Old Moderate Congress was replaced by a much more
radical successor. On September 12, 1957, the African national
Congress was reborn, and it quickly mobilized the rural peasantry
whose livelihood was made precarious by the combined effects of
the land Apportionment and native land Husbandry Acts. The late
Joshua Nkomo was a leading figure in these trade unions and
political developments. Some white Rhodesian demanded outright
repression. Others hoped for accommodation. Garfield Todd as
Prime Minister between 1953 and 1957 opted for greatly
accelerated African education and promises of partnership. When
Todd was overthrown by his Cabinet colleagues for going too fast,
all changes of compromise vanished.

The Southern Rhodesia African national Congress SRANC was

banned in 1959 by David Whitehead and hundreds of Africans
thrown into jail. A host of repressive laws were introduced against
the nationalist movement to add to those already in existence.
Among them were the native Affairs Act, Unlawful Organizations
Act, Preventive Detention Act all in 1959. These were soon
followed by the Emergency Powers Act and the Law and Order
Maintenance Act of 1960.
The sustained repression of the African people by the settlers
convinced the nationalist leadership that little could be gained by
pressurizing the Whitehead Government. Instead, they adopted the
strategy of forcing Britain to implement the process of
decolonization, which it had initiated in other parts of Africa. This
strategy failed to work. The national Democratic Party (NDP) was
launched 1n January 1960 to replace the banned SRANC. Joshua
Nkomo was elected President and among his lieutenants were
Ndabaningi Sithole, Herbert Chitepo, Robert Mugabe, Bernard
Chidzero, George Silundika, Jaison Moyo, Leopold Takawira,
Josiah Chinamano and Dumbutshena among others.

The NDP was banned in 1961 and was replaced by the Zimbabwe
African Peoples Union (ZAPU) in December 1961. ZAPU was
banned in September 1962 and there was increased frustration
within the nationalist movement. This led to the formation of the
Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in August 1963 under
the leadership of Ndabaningi Sithole. This was also banned in
1964. The whites failed to realize that nationalism, after all,
involves imagining a past and a future in order to change the
present. Inevitably the nationalist literary imagination focused
especially on the glories of the African past and on the oppressions
of colonialism. By 1964 most of the nationalist leaders were either
in prison, detention or exile. However, numerous incidents of
sabotage followed in the early months of 1964. A group of 100
blacks under General Chedu calling themselves the Zimbabwe
Liberation Army organized sabotage in some rural areas of the
country. To gain credibility, ZANU launched the first guerilla unit,
the Crocodile Group in 1964 as it attacked a police camp and killed
a white farmer in Melsetter (Chimanimani). Meanwhile, the
emergence of a more militant African nationalism created a
backlash in the white community leading to the election in
December 1962 of the Rhodesia Front (RF) Party, of which Ian
Smith became leader in 1964 after taking over form Winston Field.
The reactionary Rhodesia Front issued a Unilateral Declaration of
Independence – n1965 (UDI), throwing off remaining restraints
from Britain, intensifying segregation and undoing what advances
had been achieved by partnership. There was no course open to
African nationalists but to prepare for guerilla war. It was a long
drawn out process. The nationalists resolved that they were to be
their own liberators through direct confrontation as a state of
emergency (1965) was declared giving license to the Rhodesian
Security Forces to kill any African they suspected to be opposed to
them, take prisoners and seize the little property of the peasants,
including goats and sheep without any compensation or recourse to
the law.

Meanwhile, the internal political situation in Rhodesia by 1963,

had forced the nationalists to seek foreign bases for the military
training of young black cadres as ZANU and ZAPU armed wings
were to be known as the Zimbabwe African National Liberation
Army (ZANLA) and Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
(ZIPRA) respectively. Early Military Trainings for these cadres
were offered in friendly countries like Egypt, Cuba, China, Ghana,
Tanzania and Zambia just to mention but a few in preparation for
the armed struggle proper. The armed struggle began in 1966 when
the Rhodesian Security Forces clashed with a small group of
guerillas in Sinoia (now Chinhoyi), with the result that all 7
members of ZANLA were killed.

In August 1967, ZIPRA formed an alliance with South African

National Congress (SAANC) armed wing Umkhonto We Sizwe,
deployed for four groups of 20 guerillas into Rhodesia. The result
was fiasco as a series of bitter running battles took place from 13
August in the Wankie District resulting in the loss of many
guerillas. Some of the guerillas managed to escape back into
Zambia while others fled into Botswana. Immediately, there were
air space violations of Zambia by the Rhodesian Forces (RF).
Leaflets were dropped in the Zambezi Valley calling on the
guerillas to surrender or die. Despite this, ZIPRA and Umkhonto
We Sizwe deployed another larger contingent of about 150
guerillas but again were repulsed.

These events prompted the South African Government to send

troops to Rhodesia to assist the Rhodesia Forces track down the
insurgents. There was introduced the Law and Order Maintenance
Amendment Bill by the Rhodesian Government on 7 September
1967 which passed without dissent on the 19th of the same month.
This Anti-Insurgency Bill made the death Sentence mandatory for
persons found with arms of war unless he could prove beyond
reasonable doubt that he had no intention of endangering the
maintenance of law and Order in Rhodesia or a neighbouring
country. In retrospect, these incursions were virtually suicidal
hence remedial measures were to be found.

A vital role was played by the Front for the Liberation of

Mocambique who were fighting the Portuguese. In late 1969 and
early 1970, the Zimbabwe nationalists met the Frelimo leaders and
agreed to cooperate in carrying out military operations. Frelimo
which had developed considerable experience in guerilla warfare
was able to train Zimbabwean Guerillas in the art of political mass
mobilzation. This move forced the Rhodesian Forces to conduct
combined military operations with their Portuguese counterparts in
Mocambique from 1968 onwards. Despite this, the mass
mobilization was practiced by the insurgents with great success
starting December 1972 when guerilla attacked Alterna farm in
Centenary. The situation appeared brighter due to the collapse of
the Portuguese Authority in Mocambique, Angola and Guinea
Bissau in April 1974 after the successful Military Coup in Portugal
headed by General Siponola against Salazar then Prime Minister of
Portugal.

However, this was not to be as John Voster then South Africa’s

Premier, came up with the Détente Policy whose main them was to
stifle the guerilla war effort in Rhodesia. This was exacerbated by
Chitepo’s death on 18 March 1975 in Zambia in a landmine
incident. It has to be remembered that when most Nationalists were
arrested after the banning of their Parties, an external political
wing known as Dare Re Chimurenga was established to spearhead
the prosecution of the armed struggle. The late Herbert Chitepo
was appointed Chairman of this establishment in 1968. Soon after
the 1972/3 Guerilla offensives, the Rhodesian Government in
retaliation, forcibly drove the blacks into Protected Villages/Keeps
to deny them from feeding the guerillas albeit with little success.
Meanwhile, both ZAPU and ZANU had been rocked by internal
squabbles in the early 70s and 1974 respectively. Under the
influence of the OAU Liberation Committee, the two political
parties (ZAPU and ZANU) were forced to unite. The situation was
rectified in December 1975 when the two parties formed a
combined armed wing to be called the Zimbabwe Peoples’ Army
(ZIPA) with the blessing of both Nyerere and Machel. Thus
guerilla warfare gathered momentum in early 1976 as ZANLA
guerillas intensified its operations in Tete, Manica and Gaza
Provinces whilst ZIPRA intensified its operations in the Northern
and Southern Fronts. ZANLA’s Tete, Manica and Gaza Provinces
were divided into sectors whilst ZIPRA’s Fronts were divided into
Regions. Meanwhile the Rhodesians killed thousands of guerrillas
and refugees in bombing raids on camps inside Mocambique and
Zambia e.g Nyadzonia, Chimoio, and Tete in Mocambique,
Freedom Camp, Mulungishi and Chifombo in Zambia. But
gradually the guerillas began to exert pressure on the Rhodesia
State. The turning point came when ZANLA guerillas began to
operate from Mocambique in themed 1970s. By 1977, Robert
Mugabe had achieved control of both ZANU and ZANLA.
Thousands of young guerillas were infiltrating the country from
Mocambique. Meanwhile in Zambia, Joshua Nkomo was
unchallenged leader of ZAPU and of its army ZIPRA. With Soviet
backing, apart from guerilla warfare, he had manned a
conventional air tank and artillery assault on Rhodesian towns.
The Smith regime was under pressure from its ally, South Africa.
Ian Smith tried to undercut the guerillas by coming to terms with
moderate African leaders in an Internal Settlement. In April 1979,
Bishop Abel Muzorewa was elected as the Leader of Zimbabwe
Rhodesia. But his regime was recognized by noone. He and Smith
were drawn into negotiations with Nkomo and Mugabe at
Lancaster House at the end of 1979.

None of the parties involved got what they wanted from Lancaster
House but all believed that they could win the independence
elections; Muzorewa thought so because of his large scale financial
support and his electoral victory in 1979, Nkomo thought so
because when nationalist parties were banned in 1964 his ZAPU
had enjoyed more countrywide backing; Mugabe also thought so
because he had so many young guerillas in place. Mugabe’s
prediction was the most accurate. In the 1980 elections, his party
won two thirds of the votes; Nkomo won a third and Muzorewa
was routed.

Recalcitrant whites emigrated to South Africa, Australia, New

Zealand or to Britain providing an audience for genre of war
reminiscences and war novels which emphasized the victories of
the Rhodesian fighting men and their betrayal by the politicians
and the British. This was countered within Zimbabwe by a
literature of the war which was a first triumphalist but which
gradually faced up to the horrors. It soon became clear that internal
violence was not over and that there were to be horrors of
independence too. A bare two years after independence there was a
civil war in the Midlands and Matebeleland provinces. Ex-Zipra
dissidents fled into the bush. The Zimbabwean army and the newly
formed Fifth Brigade were deployed to deal with the situation for
the coming five years.
The violence in Western Zimbabwe came to end with the Unity
Accord of 22 December 1987. Meanwhile between 1980 and 1990,
the ZANU PF Government embarked on a campaign to redress the
colonial imbalances that had been in existence since 1980. A lot of
social, political and economic developments took place especially
during the First ten years of independence. The government
deployed troops to assist Frelimo against the South African
sponsored RENAMO from 1982 to 1002. The whole SADC region
was subjected to the whims of the Apartheid South Africa’s
destabilization process as the proxy forces like UNITA,
RENAMO, SUPER ZAPU wrecked this, the Apartheid South
Africa conducted raids in neighbouring countries in pursuit of
liberation movements like Umkhonto We Sizwe and PAC of South
Africa.

In 1991, after the collapse of the former USSR, the Zimbabwean

Government was subjected to ESAP in the same manner other
countries had been affected. This brought a lot of suffering to the
majority poor Zimbabweans leading to food riots in January 1998.
In August 1998, the Zimbabwe Defence forces were deployed to
DRC. In February 2000, a Constitutional Referendum was
conducted and the No vote succeeded especially against the No
Compensation for land Clause and on the Undiluted Powers of the
President. Meanwhile on the political front, a Trade Union inspired
opposition party (the Movement for Democratic Change) was
formed in September 1999 and the following year, it participated
in the June 2000 Parliamentary Elections. The ruling party ZANU
PF lost 57 seats to the MDC and it won the remaining seats.

Meanwhile, in reaction to the No Vote of 2000, the War Veterans

and the landless peasants occupied most white owned farms to
launch what was later to become The Third Chimurenga. This era
has seen almost 300 000 blacks being given land to economically
empower themselves.
This was is being fought or waged on all facets of the social strata
that is economically, legally, politically and psychologically. The
most affected however have been the generality of the people due
to economic sanctions which the Zimbabwe Government has been
slapped with by the British, Americans and the European Union as
they try to fix the ZANU PF government for taking land from their
kith and kin. The Business Community in the country has also
ganged up with the Western World in this economic or politics of
the stomach. To alleviate this situation, the ZANU PF Government
has come up with agricultural led economic blueprint which has
been dubbed the Ten Point Plan to be orchestrated within the
realms of the National Economic Revival Plan (NERP)

Reading List

1. Kriger Norman Zimbabwe’s Guerilla War, Peasant

Voices
African Studies Series 70
Cambridge,1992

2. McLaughlin Janice On the Frontline Catholic

Missions in Zimbabwe’s
Liberation War.
Harare Baobab Books, 1996.
3. Morris Michael Terrorism
Cape Town, Howard Timmins, 1971.

4. Astrow Andre Zimbabwe; A Revolution that

Lost its Way
Zed Press, London, 1983

5. Lane Martha The Blood that made the body go

The Role of Song.

Poetry and drama in Zimbabwe’s War of Liberation

1966-1980
Illinois (PhD Thesis) December 1993.
Zimbabwe History and Heritage

Pre-Colonial States - an Overview

Zimbabwe’s pre-colonial history is largely characterized by the

rise and existence of four major states, three of them Shona and
another one of Nguni origin. These were Great Zimbabwe,
Mutapa, Rozvi and the Ndebele State. A brief survey of the history
of these states reveals a lot of similarities in terms of their
economics, religion, political and even military systems.

Great Zimbabwe was the earliest state to emerge during the Iron
Age around 1200 AD. All the states had developed centralized
political structures which were centred on the absolute authority of
the ruler/king. This ruler was given the title Munhumutapa in the
Mutapa State, Changamire in the Rozvi, mambo in the Great
Zimbabwe and Nkosi in the Ndebele.

Whatever the title, the rulers in all the pre-colonial Zimbabwe

states seemed to have similar functions. They acted as the chief
justices, High priests and commander in chief of their armed
forces. In all these states the king had the final decision on any
matter but this was not necessarily dictatorship. These rulers infact,
oftenly consulted special bodies of advisors called the dare in
Shona states and the Umphakathi in the Ndebele states. These
advisory councils were mainly constituted of sub-chiefs and senior
members of the aristocracy.

The Ndebele because of this Nguni background has a slight

different political structure from that of the Shona States. The
Ndebele was a military state: Mzilikazi controlled the national as
an army through military officers called induna (plural Izinduna)
who also doubled as political leaders.

The economics of the three Shona states were basically similar:

agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. They kept herds of
cattle and grew traditional crops such as millet and sorghum which
were drought resistant. Maize was a South American crop brought
to Africa later by Portuguese ships. Although (maize) doubled the
size of harvests, it also led to worse famine as it could not
withstand long dry spells which characterized Zimbabwe’s
climatic conditions.

Gold mining and dealing was central feature of the economies of

all pre-colonial Zimbabwean states. Gold was mined from various
places through the country, some of which are still major gold
producing sites today. The level of technology however only
enabled them to access only shallow deposits and those near to the
surface. Such kind of escavations was effectively what is now
called gold panning today. Mining in general was seasonally done
mainly during the dry seasons partly because the mine holes were
filled with water during the rain season and mainly because
agriculture remained the economic backbone of the states. Gold
mining enabled the early Zimbabweans to make contacts with the
outside world. Arabs and Muslims were the first outsiders to make
trading contacts with the early Zimbabwean communities when
they operated from the Indian ocean coast and made some travels
into the interior from around 100AD. The Portugeuse became the
first Europeans to make contacts with the Shona communities
when they arrived at the coast in the 14 th Century and began to
compete with the Arab Muslims to trade with the Shona. In this
external trade, the Shona got items such as beads, cloth, tobacco,
spirits, mirrors, guns etc in exchange of gold and ivory. Though the
Zimbabwean communities were not aware, the terms of trade were
such that the Portuguese and the Arabs benefited more because the
values of their offers were not worth what they got in return e.g
Gold being exchanged for tobacco or spirits. Gold production and
dealing and internal trade in general was strictly controlled by the
state. In the Mutapa state for instance, the Munhumutap aimposed
a tax called the curva to all Portuguese traders doing business in
the Mutapa State. In the Rozvi, the Chngamire had to banish
foreign traders from the Kingdom and all trade had to be contacted
through middlemen called ‘Vashambadzi’ who were easy to
control.

Tribute payment was also an important feature of the pre-colonial

Zimbabwe State economies. All subjects and vassals (defeated
groups and rulers) were expected to pay tribute to Munhumutapa.
Changamire and or Inkosi as a sign of loyalty and acceptance of
his overlodship. Tribute was in the form of cattle, grain, gold,
ivory or anything which the subjects and vassals could produce in
their local communities. The Ndebele rulers often also demanded
apart from grain, young men and women as tribute. Young men
would be drafted into the army, the amabutho and women would
be married off to retired soldiers.

The Ndebele who are originally of Nguni origin grew into a nation
by absorbing and incorporating other ethnic groups into its
Khumalo ranks. A dissection of the ndebele society today reveals
that it is divided into three social castes. At the core of the society
is the Zansi Caste whose descendants migrated from the Nguniland
are the original members of the Khumalo clan. After the Zansi,
came the Enhla caste and is made up of those incorporated during
the migration from the Nguniland especially in Northern Transvaal
and Botswana. The third and other caste is the Hole, largely made
up of people of Shona origin who were absorbed and incorporated
when the Ndebele finally settled in the Southern Western part of
Zimbabwe in the 1840s.
Earlier on, inter marriages across the social castes were not
encouraged although not necessarily prohibited. The Ndebele
eventually grew into a compact and unified society they are today.
The pre-colonial Zimbabwean societies had a basically similar
religious system like their European counterparts they believed in
the existence of a superbeing who controlled the destiny of the
world. In the Shona societies the super being was referred to as
Mwari/Musikavanhu and the Ndebele referred to him as
Unkulunkulu/uMlimu. But unlike whites who later on introduced
Jesus Christ, Zimbabwean societies worshipped their God through
their ancestral spirits which communicated with them through
spirit mediums.

Several factors account for the fall and collapse of these early
states. Great Zimbabwe particularly and to some extent the Rozvi
succumbed to the diminishing of resources such as gold and
grazing land. The Mutapa State which rose in the north of the
Great Zimbabwe when the latter was in decline, took control of
gold exports along the Zambezi Valley. Civil wars, droughts and
famines also devastated the states.

However, the fall of states such as the Mutapa and the Ndebele can
largely be attributed to foreign pressures. The Mutapa state was
destabilized by the Portuguese who wanted to take control of the
states gold fields. They continuously fuelled instability by inciting
civil war and backing weaker candidates to the throne form who
they would demand numerous gold deposits as compensation. The
Portuguese would help into power weaker candidates who would
virtually become their puppets. Some Portuguese later on
undermined the authority of Munhumutapa by grabbing large
pieces of land and controlling them. Such areas were called prazos.
In 1571 the Portuguese sent an army of 1000 soldiers led by
General Francisco Barreto to attack the Mutapa State ostensibly to
avenge the death missionary Father Gonzalo da Silveira who had
earlier on been killed in the Mutapa State. The Ndebele State was
crushed by the military mighty of the British South African
Company in 1893 at the onset of colonialism.

Salient Feature of the States

Unity and nation building capacities were strong attributes for the
pre-colonial states of Zimbabwe. These states, using unique
political administrative systems unkown in Europe were able to
mould very strong and powerful nation states. The Ndebele case is
a remarkable example because a powerful nation was built by
uniting and incorporating people of various ethnic backgrounds
such as Sotho, Tswana, Shona etc. The Mutapa state was also able
to control and hold together a vast territory which covered three
quarters of what is now nothern Zimbabwe and stretched deep into
what is now western Mozambique. The system of administration
worked so well until the onset of Portuguese destabilization.

In a remarkable demonstration of unity and solidarity the Rozvi

under Changamire Dombo and the Mutapa under Munhumutapa
Mukombwe joined forced from 1694 to attack the Portuguese in
Manyika and ultimately drove them out of Zimbabwe. The Rozvi
particularly had a formidable military machine which enabled them
to subjugate even the Portuguese.

There is strong evidence that African societies were developing in

their own way and their own pace different from the European
model. They had their own technological and technical
advancement which were relevant to their needs e.g the great
architectural design at Zimbabwe monuments which served as the
capital of the iron age Great Zimbabwe State.
THE SCRAMBLE AND PARTITION OF AFRICA

1.0 Introduction

The term scramble simply means a disorderly rush for

something and to partition is to divide something. The
Scramble and partition for Africa started with the occupation
of Egypt in 1882 by Britain. Historians have come up with
various ways of trying to explain the reasons for the
Scramble and Partition of Africa. It should be noted that the
chief cause for the Scramble and Partition was economic,
coming as it did just after the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic
slave trade. Europeans needed to harness the wealth of Africa
for their economic development since most of them were
undergoing the process of industrialization. European
countries, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and
Portugal took part in the scramble and partition of Africa.

1.1 Humanitarian Reasons

Missionaries have used humanitarian considerations as the

reasons why they came to Africa. Missionaries saw Africans
as barbaric and savages who had to be saved from their
heathen practices. The question on e raises is who invited
these supposed messiahs. Missionaries cited African
practices of killing twins, albinos and polygamy as things
which had to be stopped. They believed that this was done by
people who were ungodly. Missionaries saw themselves as
bringing Civilization and Christianity. It should be observed
that this was just an excuse used by missionaries to pave way
for the Scramble and partition of Africa through the
pacification of Africans via religion.
1.2 Economic Reasons

During the 19th Century most of Europe was undergoing a

process of industrialization. Britain had already industrialized
by the early part of the 19th Century. As a result of
industrialization, there was fierce competition for markets
and raw materials. European countries needed secure spheres
of influence which could provide raw materials and markets
and areas where they could control territories in order to
prevent competition with other countries. According to
………………, one of the causes of the Scramble and
Partition of Africa was the desire by the European countries
to export surplus capital. Europe had a lot of surplus capital
which needed to be invested elsewhere.

1.3 Strategic Consideration

In some areas, Europeans went into areas for strategic

reasons. Countries like Egypt were occupied because it
provided the shortest sea rout to India via the Suez Canal.
The Sudan was occupied by Britain because it was an area
through which the Nile River flowed and the British
considered it to be of paramount importance since they
needed the waters of the Nile for cotton production. The
Cape was colonized because its port was used to offload
goods and to provide a fuelling point for ships traveling to
the east.

1.4 Prestigious Reasons

Countries like France and Italy took part in the Scramble and
Partition of Africa in order to enhance their image in Europe.
France had lost the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 –71 and
needed to compensate for the loss of Alsane-Lorraine. In the
 case of Italian and German nationalists, they wanted
territories so that their countries could be counted among the
Great Powers of the day. It can be argued that some countries
like France took part in the scramble and partition of Africa
as a way of diverting attention from the problems she was
facing at home (social imperialism)

1.5 The Berlin Conference

This conference was held in Berlin the capital city of

Germany. European powers were invited by Bismark the
Chancellor of Germany to come up with a way of avoiding
conflict during the Scramble and Partition of Africa and map
a way forward. It was agreed that countries had to obtain
treaties from African Chiefs and they had to show effective
occupation of the territories they took. They also agreed that
major rivers such as Congo and Nile were to be viewed as
international waters and there was to be freedom of
navigation. It should be noted that treaties were obtained by
European agents through dubious means. They used
treachery and dishonesty to obtain treaties. Where African
Chiefs/Kings were unwilling to sign treaties, the European
powers agreed to use gunboat diplomacy – force to effect
occupation.

1.6 Zimbabwe’s Case

In the case of Zimbabwe, four European countries were

interested in colonizing it, namely Britain, Portugal, Germans
and Holland. The desire to control Zimbabwe was brought
about by the discovery of gold in Rand and diamonds at
Kimberly in South Africa. All the four powers believed that
more and better quality gold was to be found in Zimbabwe
than in South Africa. Zimbabwe than in South Africa.
Zimbabwe also had a huge elephant herd and good soils and
climate for agriculture.

In a bid to woo Lobengula to the side of the Boers in

Transvaal, Paul Kruger sent Piet Grobler to sign a treaty with
Lobengula (the Ndebele King) This treaty was known as the
Grobler Treaty and it was a treaty meant to establish Boer
control over Matebeleland. This treaty of 1887 alarmed the
British who sent John Smith Moffat in early 1888 to
negotiate a treaty with Lobengula in order to nullify the
Grobler Treaty. The Moffat Treaty was a treaty of friendship
between the Ndebele and British High Commissioner in
South Africa. The British through their agent Cecil John
Rhodes sought to consolidate their control by signing a treaty
which would guarantee their total hold over Matebeleland .
They sent Rochifort Maguire, Francis Thompson and Charles
Rudd to negotiate a concession with Lobengula. This was
known as the Rudd Concession of 1888. Under the terms of
the treaty, Lobengula agreed to grant exclusive mineral rights
in his kingdom to the British agent Cecil Rhodes. He also
agreed to grant the whites the power they deemed necessary
to procure the minerals. This was misinterpreted to mean that
Lobengula was in agreement to the occupation of his
kingdom. The Rudd Concession promised Lobengula ₤100
per month, 10 000 rifles and 100 000 rounds of ammunition
and a Gunboat to be placed on the Zambezi (This was never
placed). This gunboat had it been placed as promised would
have benefited the British and not Lobengula because the
British hoped to use it to ward off the Portugues threat from
the east (Mozambique).

The Rudd Concession was used by Cecil John Rhodes to

acquire charter in 1889 which he used. Using the Charter
Rhodes was able to secure the services of a band of
mercenaries, soldiers and policemen known as the Pioneer
Column who played a leading role in the occupation of
Zimbabwe. The column was under the leadership of Colonel
Pennefeather and it traveled to Zimbabwe through Fort Tuli,
Fort Victoria, Fort Charter and finally Fort Salisbury. The
Pioneer Column hoisted the Union Jack at Fort Salisbury on
the 12th of September 1890 (This day became a public
holiday for the white settlers and it was known as Pioneer
Day)

It should be emphasized Lobengula was tricked into signing

the Rudd Concession. Some of the verbal agreements made
between Lobengula and Rhodes emissaries were not included
in the final written document. The emissaries negotiated in
bad faith and misconstrued facts when they were dealing with
Lobengula. One can argue that Lobengula did not sell the
country but was simply misled. His folly, perhaps was to
place too much trust in white missionaries like Reverend
Helm who was in fact part of the treachery and indeed an
agent of Cecil John Rhodes. Moreover, it is highly unlikely
that he could have prevented the occupation of Zimbabwe.
Despite his attempts at repudiating the Rudd Concession by
sending emissaries to England, the European settlers still
went ahead to colonise the country and his protests were
ignored. Bribes were also used to silence other European
rivals e.g. Maund who could have helped to have the
agreement nullified.
ZIMBABWE HISTORY AND HERITAGE

RESISTANCE TO COLONIAL ENCROACHMENT

PART 1 the Anglo-Ndebele War of 1893-4 (The Matebele War

of Dispossession)

Background

This was the initial formidable resistance against colonial

encroachment. It has also been described as the war of
dispossession because the Ndebele lost their main strategic
resources-land and cattle. After the granting of the Royal Charter
to the BSAC by the British government in 1889. Rhodes started to
act unilaterally before or even without consulting Lobengula Thus
exceeding the terms of the Ruud Concession on which the Charter
was based.

Causes of the 1893 War

The Anglo-Ndebele War was almost inevitable. It was just a

question of time before it broke out. This is clearly shown by Cecil
John Rhodes’ remark that “we either had to have that war or to
leave the country (Zimbabwe)” In other words if the BSAC and the
white settlers were to achieve their objectives, the Ndebele state
had to be destroyed. Moreover, the BSAC had been disappointed
by the little amount of gold in the eastern Zimbabwe
(Mashonaland) and it was now widely expected that Western
Zimbabwe (Matebeleland) might have more gold.

The defeat of the Ndebele army in Rhodes’s view would justify his
claim for sovereignty in line with the Berlin Conference
requirements of “effective control” That would also complete their
conquest of the whole country.
Leander Starr Jameson (BSAC Administrator and Commander of
the Settler forces) had never forgiven Lobengula fro trying to
repudiate the Rudd Concession. In Jameson’s opinion, war had to
begin and end before the 1893 season. Thus diplomatic efforts by
Lobengula and Lord Ripon (the Secretary of State for Colonies)
could only delay but not prevent war.

Another thorny issue was the question of the boundary (which was
not clearly defines and fixed) between Mashonaland where settlers
had established forts and Matebeleland where the Ndebele were
based. The two sides looked militarily balanced on paper for what
the Ndebele lacked in firepower was supplemented in greater
numerical numbers and vice versa for the settlers.

The other problem was that the ndebele considered the Shona to be
subjects and the BSAC on the other hand looked at Mashonaland
as reservoir of cheap labour. It is true however after that events
which took place in the Masvingo (Fort Victoria) area – the
Victoria incident – that brought matters to a head and sparked off
the 1893 war.

The Victoria Incident

In May 1893, some men under headman Gomara between the Tuli
and Fort Victoria cut and carried away about 5000 yards of
telegraph wire – possibly to make snares. Gomora was ordered to
either hand over the culprits (to settlers) or pay a fine in the form
of cattle. He paid in cattle which he claimed to be his own but later
proved to belong to Lobengula (possibly through the ‘ukusisa’
‘kuronzera’ or loaning system which the settlers failed to
appreciate) Lobengula demanded their immediate return Jameson
compiled but warned that there would be serious consequences if
the telegraph wire was interfered with again.

As this was going on reports reached Bulawayo that another Shona

Headman Bere some 15 miles West of Masvingo had taken cattle
belonging to Lobengula. The angry Lobengula decided that the
Shona in the Victoria district had to be taught a lesson . Thus a
raiding army of 300 men mainly ‘amajaha’ (the young bachelor
warriors) was dispatched under the joint command of Manyao and
Mgandani. The two Ndebele commanders were given strict
instructions to avoid clashes with white people in carrying out their
mission but they got carried away.

It was in the process of carying out the mission in the areas Bere,
Zimuto and in the neighbourehood of Fort Victoria that hundreds
of white owned cattle were driven away by the raiders. Within a
day or two white farms and mines in the Masvingo district had
been deserted by their labour force. The districts economic
activities were brought to a halt as many local Africans in the area
were either taking to the hills or streaming towards the little town
of Masvingo.

This was the sort of excuse that Jameson had been waiting for
since the settlers arrival in Masvingo. He swiftly moved to
manipulate the incidents in Fort Victoria to convince the High
Commissioner to formally agree to war. The Ndebele were made
to appear to have started the war. While the setter were simply
fighting to defend themselves. Lobengula’s efforts to avoid war,
therefore failed due to his overzealous indunas and treachery on
the part of Jameson and the white settlers.

The War and Its Results

The war began in October Company forces were numerically

heavily outnumbered by the Ndebele (ie 18 000 Ndebele Soldiers
compared to the 3 500 Company fighters who included Tswana
Auxiliaries provided by Khama and about 400 Shona and Cape
Auxiliaries mainly white employees). The Company forces were
however, better equipped and could move faster than the Ndebele
in addition they had 800 horses and their modern firearms
included 16 heavy machine guns eg. the maxim gun . Wagons
ensured continued supplies. The general command of the
Volunteer forces was given to the Magistrate of Salisbury Patrick
William Forbes (a street in Harare / Salisbury was later to be
named in his honour)

On the other hand the Ndebele regiments used their traditional

spears as they did not trust modern firearms Ndebele intelligence
units carefully monitored the movements of the settler forces.
Although the Ndebele put up a brave fight against the invaders the
company forces over powered them and they took over Bulawayo
on November 4 Lobengula had set his capital on fire and fled
northwards towards the Zambezi Valley. The settlers immediately
hoisted the Union Jack (the British Flag) over the burning city and
its ruins thus completing the conquest of Zimbabwe.

The grand plan however had been to storm Bulawayo, capture

Lobengula and demoralize the Ndebele army . The settlers felt
perhaps rightly so that as long as Lobengula was still at large the
Ndebele would not easily submit to the new authority. When
Lobengula failed to take up the offer from Jameson to surrender so
that he harmed a pursuit of the Ndebele king was started by a polic
force led by Major Forbes.

Fearing that his pursuers could capture him any time Lobengula
sent two of his men with a message and money admitting that he
had been conquered. The money and letter reached Forbes as both
items were withheld and the money stolen by two white troopers
who received them. Forbes then camped on the Shangani River
while Alan Wilson and 21 others were tasked to investigate the
direction taken by Lobengula.

Wilson caught up with Lobengula’s party on the side of the river,

but Forbes was unable to comply with Wilson’s request for
reinforcements. In any case the Shangani river had become
dangerously flooded. Wilson therefore decided to attack the
Ndebele and capture Lobengula but he was too seriously
overpowered. All his men except 3 scouts and himself were cut to
pieces by the Ndebele.

On December 5, Forbes and the rest of the expedition were

compelled to retreat. The expedition had been costly in men,
horses and cattle and it had failed to achieve its main objective- the
capture of Lobengula.

Results

@ The Ndebele lost their independence but they were not made
to surrender unconditionally and they entered into peace
negotiations with the BSAC.

@ While the settler volunteers were rewarded their service

during the war with large areas of land and with some of
Lobengula ‘s cattle. The rest of the royal herd were converted
into company property by right conquest.

@ Two very poor dry, infertile, unhealthy and generally hot

reserves – Gwai and Shangani were created to settle the
dispossessed Ndebele.

@ Rhodes Jameson and the BSAC began taking steps to

introduce the white administrative machinery effectively
placing the whole of Zimbabwe under colonial rule. This also
 saw the birth of the notorious and infamous Native
Department (Africans)

@ In 1895 Zimbabwe was named Rhodesia as tribute to Cecil

Rhodes for his efforts in the colonization of the country.

@ Colonial rule changed the day- to -day life of the Africans

which now included paying taxes to an illegal government
forced labour and other forms of political repression and
economic exploitation.
RESISTANCE TO COLONIAL CONQUEST AND SHORT
TERM EFFECTS OF COLONIAL RULE

PART 11: The First Chimurenga/Umvukela (Shona-Nddebele

Risings) of 1896-7

The First Chimurenga broke about at a time when the settlers were
of the opinion that they had pacified the Africans in Zimbabwe.
They considered the Shona as cowards who were more than
grateful to the whites for liberating them from the Ndebele had
realized the futility of resistance after the 1893 war. In any case,
the Ndebele no longer had a king and the memories of the 1893-4
war were still fresh in their minds.

The oppressive and abusive nature of settler rule quickly

encouraged the Shona and Ndebele to take up arms against the
invaders. African grievances were so similar that they had a
national rather that a mere district or regional appeal. On the
whole, the risings came about as a result of an interplay of factors.

Grievances Among the Shona

- Native (Africans) Department of 1894 – unpopular for its
role, which was to facilitate the collection of the Hut tax
and to step up the recruitment of cheap labour for the
mines, settler farms and public works was wrecking
havoc. Even before the risings some areas like those under
Makoni and Nyandoro had revolted against the native
Department.

- Confiscation of cattle, goats and grain for failure to pay

taxes.

- Arrest of Africans for the same offence and very long jail
terms with hard labour.

- Promotion of injustices by BSAC – appointed few,

competent magistrates who readily made judgments which
favoured white interests.

- Chiefs loss of their authority – (although they had not been

formally conquered) this undermined the Shona way of
life. Institutions that held each of the various Shona
Chiefdoms together namely traditional religion and chiefly
authority were now in great danger both from the activities
o the Christian missions.

- Disruption of their trade with Portuguese and the Ndebele

– the Shona, as well as the Ndebele were now forced to
buy goods from the colonial traders and from South Africa
which were more expensive than goods supplied by the
Portuguese from the east coast.

- Natural Disasters – drought, locusts, rinderpest – these

were attributed to the presence of whites on their land.
According to the Shona people, these were natural
 expression of God’s or Mwari’s anger. This was
confirmed by traditional religious leaders all throughout
the country, like Kaguvi, Nehanda, Mkwati and
Siginyamatshe who blamed white people for having
angered Mwari. The settler veterinary officials in their
efforts to eradicate the disease exacerbated the situation.
They ordered that all cattle showing signs of rinderpest be
killed and people were not allowed to eat the meat of the
dead cattle. This angered both the Shona and the Ndebele.

- Abuse of Shona women who were used as mistresses by

settlers to cook for them.

Grievances Among the Ndebele included:

- Loss of cattle after the 1893/4 war – before this war

Lobengula owned over
250 000 and about 40 000 were left in the hands of the
Ndebele (mainly senior Indunas) after the war. This
impoverished the Ndebele and the distribution of cattle
totally disregarded Ndebele customs.

- Loss of land – some of the Ndebele people were pushed to

the Gwaai and Shangani reserved created after the 1893/4
which were unfit for human settlement. This also made
them poor and vulnerable to exploit.

- “One cause of dissatisfaction and unrest”, explained Chief

Gambo, “is that after we have lived many years in a spot,
we are told that the white man has purchased it and we
have to go”

- Forced labour – many Ndebele people were forced to live

on white farms providing cheap, semi-slave labour for low
 or no wages or even for a mere permission to remain on
white property.

- Loss of independence – meant the disruption and even the

destruction of their way of life e.g the age of regiment
system. This was worsened by the general arrogance of
government officials and the use of ‘Native’ or African
police’ in Matebeleland who often abused power to settle
old scores.

- Natural Disasters – rinderpest, drought and locusts – like

in Mashonaland, these were attributed to the presence of
white settlers in Matebeleland by their religious
Siginyamatshe (religious leaders) declared that the settlers
were both responsible for the death of their Ndebele
father, Lobengula and for bewitching the clouds so that
there was no rain.

Ndebele Resistance

The Ndebele were the first to rise around March 1896. Settler
stores, mines and farms and their occupants were targets of the
uprisings. The timing of the uprisings was quite tactical because
Jameson had taken some of the military men to the Transvaal to
help an attempt (which was abortive) to overthrow the Boer
Government of Paul Kruger. Thus, the white settlers and the
government had been taken completely by surprise.
The Ndebele were aided by men like Mkwati, Siginyamatshe
and Tengera in co-ordinating their resistance. There were,
however, two broad divisions, the old and young groups which
had conflicting succession interest. The officials of the Mwari
Cult (whose shrine was near Thaba Zika Mambo) were also
instrumental in giving the resistance impetus and tenacity.
The war itself was however, costly to both the Ndebele and the
settlers. The senior group, therefore, decided to enter into peace
negotiations with Rhodes, resulting in Rhodes deciding to call
“indaba” or a peace conference with the Ndebele leaders.

The Ndebele leaders agreed to suspend all military operations

against the settler forces. All the Ndebele who had committed
atrocities were to be tried. Officials of the Mwari Cult were to
be punished for their part in the risings. Abour 13 000 spears
and 2 5000 guns were surrendered. Rhodes agreed that whites
forces would be withdrawn, their place being taken by a
permanent police force. He also agreed that no African police,
especially Shona, would be in Matebeleland without the
authority of the Ndebele chief. Senior Ndebele officials were to
be granted official recognition and would receive a regular
salary. Rhodes also promised grain to see the Ndebele through
the rest of the year as well as seed for the next planting season.

*(NB. Students are encouraged to debate and evaluate the

‘indaba’ and its terms)

Shona Rising

The Mhondoro Cult in Mashonaland had the importance similar

to the mwari Cult in matebeleland Political leaders (Chiefs) like
Chinamora, Chikwaka, Nyandoro, Zvimmba, Mangwende,
Mashayamombe, Chiweshe, Negomo, Makoni worked hand in
hand with spirit mediums in their areas.

Some of the spirit mediums who gallantly committed

themselves to fight against the settlers included the Kaguvi
Medium, Gumboreshumba in the Hartely (Chegutu area) who
worked in close co-operation with the famous heroine of Shona
Resistance in the Mazowe Valley area, Charwe the Nehanda
Medium. Co-operation also existed between a number of
religious and political leaders in Matebeleland and
Mashonaland.

Thus the religious leadership gave religious sanction (approval)

to the risings and their centers were also abused for intelligence
purposes. It took government officials long to realize that
shrines of cult, were being used to pass information between
various paramount chiefs. Night meetings, sometimes disguised
as rain-making ceremonies, were used to organise people.

What weakened the impact of the Shona and the African cause
was that some chiefdoms refused to join in the war of resistance
nursing the false hope that this would spare them the cruelties of
coloniasm e.g the whole of Victoria district and several
chiefdoms in Buhera and Chikomba area. This made it easy for
settlers to suppress the resisting groups and to being in
reinforcements from South Africa since the route to South
Africa was left free of resistance.

Shona Chiefs used mountain forts e.g Makoni and Mangwende

and avoided open clashes with the settlers who had superior
firepower, they resorted to guerilla tactics. This, and the fact
that there was no single authority in MaShonaland made it
difficult to bring the Shona risings to a formal end.

Towards the end of 1897, however, resistance was gradually

weakening as the settlers were either killed or captured.
Although both the Shona and Ndebele failed to defeat the
settlers, their gallant fight inspired later African Nationalists to
rise against colonialism and finally free Zimbabwe from the
york of colonial exploitation.
References

D.N Beach, The Shona and Zimbabwe 900-1850. An Outline of

Shona History, Mambo Press Gweru 1980
N. Parsons, A New History of Southern Africa, College Press,
1983

N. Parsons, Focus on History on History, College Press, Harare

1991

A. Chigwedere, , From Mutapa to Rhodes, College Press, 1981

S.I.G Mudenge, A Political History of Munhumutapa – From

the Fifteeth Century to the Nineteeth Century, Mambo Press
1979.
THE CONSOLIDATION OF WHITE SETTLER RULE AND
THE MARGINALISATION OF BLACKS 1897-1965

After the brutal suppression of the first Chimurenga/Umvukela

(Shona-Ndebele Risings) of 1896-97, the setters sought to
consolidate their hold to both political and economic power in the
country. The Africans had to be monitored constantly so that
another Chimurenga (liberation struggle) would never happen
again.

Colonial rule in Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia) was therefore

characterized by highly interventionist white settler governments
Successive settler governments perpetuated settler interest through
a host of draconian laws that were also deliberately crafted to
effectively marginalize (disadvantage) the blacks. A two pyramid
(two nations) system was adopted by the settlers. Its purpose was
to promote separate development between whites and Africans.
Thus political economic and social policies based on racial
discrimination reinforced that system.

All African traditional rulers who were anti- colonial rule were to
be removed from their positions and were replaced either by white
colonial administrators or by African puppets. This was achieved
through the 1898 Native Reserve Order in Council Act. Colonial
Rule in Zimbabwe also passed through various phases or periods
by the fate of Africans remained the same – that of progressive
pauperization. From 1898 to 1923, Zimbabwe was under the
British South Africa Company rule which was ended by a
referendum for whites in 1923 which voted for responsible
government in 1953 after 30 years of responsible self-government
Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe joined with Northern
Rhodesia/Zambia and Nyasaland/Malawi to form the Central
African Federation.

In 1964 Malawi was granted independence and was to be followed

shortly after by Zambia and the Federation broke up. The white
settler government of Southern Rhodesia also attempted to
negotiate its independence from Britain but on terms which were
quite unacceptable to the African people. The British government
was for historical and economic reasons unwilling to alienate the
white settler many of whom had influential contacts in London.
For this reason as well as resources in Zimbabwe the British failed
to take the decisive steps needed to grant independence on
Zimbabwe on the same basis as other British colonial territories in
Africa. Disagreements therefore grew between the British
government and the white settlers on one hand and between the
increasingly articulate and united African nationalist movement on
the other.

On 11 November 1965, the white settler government led by Ian

Douglas Smith (still at this stage a legal government in the eyes of
the British) unilaterally or illegally declared their independence
from Britain. The Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI)
was an illegal act for in terms Southern Rhodesia remained a
British colony.

* NB White Asians and colours (mixed race) were all

grouped together as “Europeans” by the settler regime for
administrative convenience.

a) Land Allocation and Ownership

Control of the land and its unequal distribution on racial times was
one of the most important sources of power and wealthy for the
white minority population on Zimbabwe. Soon after the first white
settlers arrived in the country they began to set aside reserves for
the Africans and forcibly evict black families from the land that
they themselves wanted. Following the recommendations of the
Morris carter Land Commission of 1925 the Land Apportionment
Act (1930) was passed segregation of land was thus legally
enforced.

The 1969 Land Tenure Act (which replaced the land

Apportionment Act) consolidated the position and lad ownership
rights of the settlers by abolishing the unreserved land which up to
that time had remained open to all races.

Even in the areas set aside for them by the regime, the Africans
were severely restricted by law in the use they made of that land.
The distribution of land was carried out to strategically positioning
the settlers by giving them control of the most economically
productive and developed areas. Until 1977 no African was
allowed to own property or live in a white area except on special
terms and whites were similarly prohibited from living black area.

About 6 million acres were designated as national Land consisting

of nation parks and game reserves while Africans were in the
reserves or the Tribal Trust lands (TTLs). To achieve this skewed
distribution thousands of Africans were forcibly removed from
their homes using draconian laws stated above. The Tangwena
people led by their chief Rekayi fought since 1964 through the late
1970s for the right to stay on their farms in the Nyanga mountains.

90% of the land allocated to the black majority was made up of the
TTLs and the remaining 10% of Africa Purchase Areas
(matenganyika). Africans were only allowed to buy and own land
individually in the African Purchase Areas whose purpose was to
encourage the development of a limited number of cash crops
farmers as a window dressing measure to appease the international
community in the TTLs land ownership remained communal with
no title deeds or any legally valid claim to it.

Under the land Tenure Amendment Act of 1977 African farmers

and businessmen who had the necessary resources could land in
white areas while whites were also permitted to buy Africa
Purchase Ares farms. This amendment was clearly meant to benefit
the whites since it was easier for them to harness the necessary
resources.

The settler governments deliberately neglected the TTLs and

provided very limited funds for economic development. The Land
was generally poor eroded and overcrowded. Food production was
stagnant or even declining. They turned Africans from being
competitive producers who had really out-competed settlers before
the Land Apportionment Act of 1930 to landless job seeking
paupers. The situation in the TTLs was not disastrous that the
settlers passed the land Husbandry Act of 1951 to try and reverse
land degradation in these areas by forcing Africans to de-stock and
own an average of 5 to 7 hectares per family. This further
marginalised blacks and exposed them to blatant exploitation by
the settlers.

Poverty in the TTLs huge and cumbersome taxes as well as

discrimination in marketing of products (e.g) through the maize
Control Acts of 1933 to 34 which gave better prices for European
produce) made the blacks reservoirs of cheap labour for the
settlers. Thus they no longer had to desperately rely on migrant
labourers from neighbouring countries like Malawi as had largely
been the case in the period before 1930. Local Africans had
demonstrated an unwavering unwillingness to work for the settlers.
The Rhodesian Native Labour Bureau (RNLB) had also failed to
solve the labour problem for the settlers. This was also one of the
reasons why the BSA Company rule had come to an end in 1923.
In the white areas on the other hand, huge tracks of potentially
productive agricultural land remained idle. In addition to cheap
labour, a Land Bank Act was set up in 1912 to give loans to settler
farmers. They had little deeds which gave them a sense of security
as an extra to the best land they owned both in terms of quality and
quantity. In TTLs areas, land could be expropriated from the
Africans without compensation in the event of a mining claim
being established.

b) Provincialisation

The policy of “regionalisation” or “provincialisation” was

implemented since 1972 with many features similar to the South
African Bantustan System. The nation was divided into 3 groups –
whites, Mashonas and Matebeles – on the basis of existing land
distribution and ownership. By delegating greater local
government powers to chiefs and “tribal” authorities and
emphasising the differences between the two main African groups,
the regime’s aim was to encourage a narrow tribal identity instead
of a wider national identity among the black people.

c) Urban Centres

Urban areas (i.e the main towns in Rhodesia and all the country’s
industrial and commercial areas were in European areas. The
general policy of successive settler governments was to allow
Africans to live in urban areas only if they were in employment.
Two types of accommodation was provided for Africans locations
which housed “unmanned workers”(e.g Mbare Flats) and urban
townships where families were allowed to live (eg. Gillingham
now Dzivarasekwa- reserved for gardeners and domestic workers
mainly cooks who worked in the suburbs for the white masters).
Africans who were not lawfully residing or employed in an urban
area could be expelled by the colonial authorities e.g under the
African (Urban Areas) Accommodation and Registration Act, it
was illegal for the family of an African domestic servant to live
with him or her in a European suburb without official permission.

The African townships were overcrowded (just like the TTLs in

rural areas) often with no domestic electricity and water had to be
fetched from a tap in the street. The sanitary facilities were not
good. There were few entertainment or recreational facilities
except municipality owned beer-halls, inadequate schools and
other social services.

The townships were strategically designed to minimize the threat

of African political activity. Most of them were located several
miles from white business districts and suburbs. Water and
electricity could be cut off in the event of strikes or
demonstrations. In Salisbury (Harare) there was a small township –
Marimba park where a small number of better – off African
families owned European style houses. It was regularly shown by
the settler regime to overseas visitors.

d) Economic Structure

Zimbabwe under white minority rule had an economic structure

which consisted of relatively sophisticated industrialized cash
sector owned and controlled by the whites. A huge underdeveloped
sector based on the TTLs was a source of cheap African labour
ensured by the introduction of a system of lass and taxes which
forced Africans to enter into the cash economy in white owned
farms, mines and business enterprises and as domestic servants in
white homes.

The vast majority of black workers performed unskilled or

semiskilled manual jobs at very low rates of pay. The 1934
Industrial Concialiation Act “legally” barred blacks from engaging
in skilled labour and excluded when from the rights and
protections of European workers. It was later relaxed to allow a
few blacks to venture into teaching, nursing and agricultural
extension services. Generally and as a matter of colonial principle,
the whites controlled land and capital. They also monopolized
skills , technical expertise and denied trade union rights to black
workers. This meant that Africans had very limited chances of
economic development. Well off African businessmen existed
however and often owned bus companies or stores in the African
townships, but compared with the overall mass of black workers,
their number was insignificant. The main sectors of the economy
were manufacturing, agriculture, mining and tourism.

e) Foreign Investment

The Rhodesian economy was developed over the years following

the first white settlement as shown above but also through massive
inputs of foreign capital since the second world war. Most of this
investment was of British origin. Overseas investments amounted
to around two-thirds of total investments in the early 1960s.

Since the UDI (November 1965) multinational companies with

their headquarters in Britain, the United States of America and
other western countries continued to operate for profit in
Zimbabwe. Without them, the white minority would not have been
able to survive. Most of the foreign investment came from South
Africa or via the South African subsidiaries or overseas multi-
nationals.

f) Education

The education system was divided along racial lines. The Ministry
of Education had two departments for education in the country.
One department was in charge of European Affairs and the other
for native (African) Affairs. The government heavily supported
European Education whilst African Education was neglected.
Initially the government was more concerned with providing
primary education for Africans and left the Misionaries to provide
secondary education. The first government secondary school for
Africans was Goromonzi which opened its doors in 1947 and was
followed by other like Fletcher. African Education was modelled
along two distinct lines- the F1 and F2 system. The F1 system
established schools which emphasized the use of hands
(practicals). On the other hand, the F2 system established schools
which taught academis. On the whole, the education system was
geared towards the marginalisation of Africans through limiting
their education opportunities.
THE RISE OF MASS NATIONALISM AND THE
PROSECUTION OF THE SECOND CHIMURENGA

After the collapse of traditional resistance in 1898, and the seizure

of political power by the representatives of the white settler in
1923, Company rule had become anachronism. In the 1923
referendum the white settlers were offered a choice between
joining the Union of South Africa and responsible self-
government. They chose the latter and between then and 1979
Rhodesia was governed by a settler Cabinet responsible to a settler
parliament. African intellectuals felt betrayed by the policies of
segregation enforced in the 1930s beyond.

Gradually African protest movements emerged. The most

significant movement in the period between the two world wars
was the growth of powerful trade unions, especially the African
Railway Workers Union and the Reformed Commercial and
Industrial Workers’ Union, which mobilized the growing urban
proletariat on non tribal and non regional lines. Accelerated white
settler immigrating, and deteriorating Socio-Economic conditions
in the post war period brought issues to a head. Bulawayo, then the
major industrial city, became the centre of African trade unionism
and politics. In 1945, the African railways Workers’ Union struck
first by organising a general strike, which brought this vital
communication network to a stand still from Mutare (Umtali) in
Rhodesia to the Zambian Copperbelt.
In 1948 broader demands were made I a countrywide general strike
that brought all commercial and industrial activities in the major
cities to a standstill for a week. The campaign for the establishment
of federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland by the white settlers in
1953 lulled the workers a little with a promise f reforms, but they
soon recognized and launched the City national Youth league in
1955. As the name indicates, the league represented the young
proletarians in the growing cities. In the late 1950s, the Old
Moderate Congress was replaced by a much more radical
successor. On September 12, 1957, the African National Congress
was reborn, and it quickly mobilized the rural peasantry whose
livelihood was made precarious by the combined effects of the
land Apportionment and naïve Land Husbandry Acts. The late
Joshua Nkomo was a leading figure in these trade unions and
political developments. Some white Rhodesians demanded outright
repression. Others hoped for accommodation. Garfield Todd as
Prime Minister between 1953 and 1957 opted for greatly
accelerated African Education and promises of partnership. When
Todd was overthrown by his cabinet colleagues for going too fast,
all chances of compromise vanished. The Southern Rhodesia
African National Congress SRANC was banned in 1959 by David
Whitehead and hundreds of Africans thrown into jail. A host of
repressive laws were introduced against the nationalist movement
to add to those already in existence: Among them were the native
Affairs Act, Unlawful Organisation Act, Preventive Detention Act,
all in 1959. These were soon followed by the emergency Powers
Act and Law and Order maintenance Act of 1960.

The sustained repression of the African people by the settlers

convinced the nationalist leadership that little could be gained by
pressurizing the Whitehead Government.. Instead, they adopted the
strategy of forcing Britain to implement the process of
decolonisation, which had already initiated in other parts of Africa.
This strategy failed to work. The National Democratic Party was
launched in January 1960 to replace the banned SRANC. OJoshua
Nkomo was elected President and among his lieutenants was
Ndabaningi Sithole, Herbert Chitepo, Robert Mugabe,, Bernard
Chidzero, George Silundika, Jaison Moyo, Leopold Takawira,
Josiah Chinamano and Dumbutshena among others.

The NDP was banned in 1961 and replaced with the Zimbabwe
African people’s Union (ZAPU) in December 1961. ZAPU was
banned in 1962, in September and there was increased frustration
among the nationalist movement. This led to the formation of the
Zimbabwe African national Union (ZANU) in August 1963 under
the leadership of Ndabaningi Sithole. This was also banned in
1964. The whites failed to realize that nationalism after all,
involves imagining a past and a future in order to change the
present. Inevitably the nationalist literal imagination focused
especially on the glories of the African past and on the oppressions
of colonialism. By 1964 most of the nationalist leaders were either
in prison, detention or exile. However, numerous incidents of
sabotage followed in the early months of 1964. A group of 100
blacks under General Chedu calling themselves the Zimbabwe
Liberation Army organised sabotage in the rural areas of the
country. To gain credibility, ZANU launched the first guerillas
unit, the Crocodile Group in 1964 as it attacked a police camp and
killed a white farmer and in Melsetter (Chimanimani). Meanwhile,
the emergency of a more militant African nationalism created a
backlash in the white community leading to the election in
December 1962 of the Rhodesian Front Party, of which Ian Smith
became leaser in 1964 after taking over from Winston Field.

The reactionary Rhodesia Front issued a Unilateral Declaration of

Independence (UDI) throwing off remaining restraints from
Britain, intensifying segregation and undoing the advances that had
been achieved by partnership. There was no course open to African
Nationalists but to prepare for guerilla war. It was long drawn out
process. The nationalists resolved that they were to be either their
own liberators through direct confrontation as a state of emergency
was declared giving license to the Rhodesian Security Forces to
kill any African they suspected to be opposed to them, take
prisoners and seize the little property of the peasants, including
goats and sheep without any compensation or recourse to the law.

Meanwhile, the internal political situation in Rhodesia by 1963,

had forced the nationalists to seek foreign bases for the military
training of young black cadres as ZANU and ZAPU armed wings
were to be known as the Zimbabwe African National Liberation
Army (ZANLA) and Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
(ZIPRA) respectively. Early Military Training for these cadres
were offered in friendly countries like Egypt, China, Ghana.
Tanzania and Zambia, just to mention but a few in preparation for
the armed struggle proper. The armed struggle began in 1966 when
the Rhodesian Security Forces clashed with a smaller group of
guerillas in Sinoia (now Chinhoyi) with the result that all 7
members of ZANLA were killed.

In August 1967, ZIPRA formed an alliance with the South Africa-

African National Congress (SAANC) armed with Umkhonto We
Sizwe, deployed four groups of 20 guerillas into Rhodesia. The
result was a fiasco as a series of bitter running battles took place
from 13 August in the Wankie district resulting in the loss of many
guerillas. Some of the guerillas managed to escape back onto
Zambia while others fled into Botswana. Immediately, there were
air space violations of Zambia by the Rhodesian Forces. Leaflets
were dropped into the Zambezi valley calling on the guerillas to
surrender or die. Despite this ZIPRA and Umkhonto We Sizwe
deployed another larger group of about 150 guerillas but again
were repulsed.

These events prompted the South African Governments to send

troops to Rhodesia to assist the Rhodesian Forces track down
insurgents. There was introduced the Law and Order maintenance
Amendment Bill by the Rhodesian Government on 7 September
1967 which was passed without dissent on the 19th of the same
month. This Anti-Insurgency Bill made the Death Sentence
mandatory for persons found with arms of war unless he could
prove beyond reasonable doubt that he had no intention of
endangering the maintenance of law and Order in Rhodesia or a
neighbouring country. In retrospect, these incursions were virtually
suicidal hence remedial measures were to be found.

A vital role was played by the Front for the Liberation of

Mozambique (Frelimo), which had developed considerable
experience in guerilla warfare, was able to train Zimbabwean
Guerillas in the art of political mass mobilization. This move
forced the Rhodesian Forces to conduct combine military
operations with their Portugues counterparts in Mozambique from
1968 onwards. Despite this, the insurgents practiced the mass
mobilization with great success starting December 1972 when
guerillas attacked Alterna Farm in Centenary. The situation
appeared brighter due to the collapse of the Portuguese Authority
in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea Bissau in 1974 after the
successful Military Coup in Portugal headed by General Sionola
against Salazar, then Prime Minster of Portugal.

However, this was not to be as John Voster, then South Africa’s

Premier, came up with the Détente Policy whose main theme was
to stifle the guerilla war’s effort in Rhodesia. This was exacerbated
by Chitepo’s death on 18 March 1975 in Zambia in a landmine
incident. It has to be remembered that when most Nationalists were
arrested after the banning of their parties, an external wing known
as dare Re Chimurenga was established to spearhead the
prosecution of the armed struggle. The late Herbert Chitepo was
appointed Chairman of this establishment in 1968. Soon after the
1972/73 guerilla offensives, the Rhodesian government in
retaliation, forcibly drove the blacks into Protected Villages/Keeps
to deny them from feeding the guerillas albeit with little success.
Meanwhile, both ZAPU and ZANU had been rocked by internal
squabbles in the early 1970s and 1974 respectively. Under the
influence of the OAU Liberation committee, the two political
parties (APU and ZANU) were forced to unite. The situation was
rectified in 1975 in December when the two parties formed a
combined-armed wing to be called the Zimbabwe People’s Army
(ZIPA) with the blessings of both Nyere and Machel. Thus guerilla
warfare gathered momentum in early 1976 as ZANLA guerillas
intensified operations in Tete, Manica and Gaza Provinces whilst
ZIPRA intensified its operations in the Northern and Southern
[Link]’s Tete, Manica and Gaza provinces were divided
into sectors whilst ZIPRA’s Fronts were divided into regions.
Meanwhile, the Rhodesians killed thousands of guerillas and
refugees in bombing raids on camps inside Mozambique,
Mulungishi and Chifombo in Zambia. But gradually, the guerillas
began to exert pressure on the Rhodesian State. The turning point
came when ZNLA guerillas began to operate from Mozambique in
mid 1970. By 1977, Robert Mugabe had achieved control of both
ZANLA and ZANU Thousands of young guerillas were infiltrating
the country from Mozambique. Meanwhile, Zambia Joshua was
the unchallenged leader of ZAPU and of its army ZIPRA. With
Soviet backing, apart from guerilla warfare, he had manned a
conventional air, tank and artillery assault on Rhodesian towns.

The Smith regime was under pressure from its ally, South Africa.
Ian Smith tried to undercut the guerillas by coming in terms with
moderate African leaders in an Internal Settlement. In April 1979,
Bishop Abel Muzorewa was elected as the leader of Zimbabwe
Rhodesia. But no one recognized his regime. He and Smith were
drawn into negotiations with Nkom and Mugabe at the end of 1979
at the Lancaster House.

None of the parties involved got what they wanted from the
Lancaster House but a;; believed that they could win the
independence election; Muzorewa though so because of his large
scale financial support and his electoral victory in 1979, Nkomo
thought so because when the nationalist parties were banned in
1964, his ZAPU has enjoyed more countrywide backing; Mugabe
also thought so because he had so many young guerillas in place.
Mugabe’s prediction was the most accurate. In the 1980 elections,
his party won two thirds of the votes; Nkomo won a third and
Muzorewa was routed.

POST INDEPENDENCE DEVELOPMENTS IN ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe obtained independence on the 18th of April 1980 after
waging a bitter and protracted armed struggle against the British
settler regime. A new era was ushered on that historic day, putting
and end to a ninety year period of colonial rule characterised by
extreme social, political and economic marginalisation of the
majority Africans. Against this background, the new Zanu Pf
government was always going to be under pressure especially as
people had high expectations. The new government had to tackle
major political and socio-economic challenges most of which had
arisen from the need to redress the past colonial imbalances.

Political Developments

On the political front, the almost a century period of racial

disharmony which was exacerbated by more that 15 years of
bloody armed conflict, had left deep scars and the protagonists had
seemingly irreconcilable differences. In light of this new Zanu PF
government declared the policy of reconciliation in which it urged
the people, irrespective of whatever background and role in the just
ended conflict, to put the past behind them and to unite and work
together for the development of the nation.

In his famous on the eve of independence, Prime Minster Robert

Mugabe urged all the former protagonists to convert “rifles into
ploughshares”. In line with this policy, cabinet posts were offered
to all major political movements, including the white Rhodesian
Front, thus the new government assumed a true “national”
character.

Despite this however, the reconciliation policy was not well

received in all quarters. The whites particularly, it can be argued,
generally found it difficult to accept new reality and even on the
eve of independence, packed their bags and drove for destinations
mainly in South Africa, Britain, Australia. Canada and New
Zealand. A greater percentage of those who chose to stay did so
from the realization that they could still maintain their economic
priviledges and advantages they had enjoyed over the years of
colonization. This was especially so since the Lancaster House
Constitution which led to independence, guaranteed them some
protection against wholesale unilateral transfer of resources
through the “willing buyer – willing seller” clause. Ever since it
can be argued the white community generally never bothered to
integrate itself into the mainstream Zimbabwean Society. It found
satisfaction in participating in exclusive elite organizations such as
the Commercial Union (CFU). One of the government’s early
success towards nation building was also the integration of the
former protagonists armies of the former Rhodesian Forces, Zanla
and Zipra forces into one force – The Zimbabwe National
Army/Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZNA/ZDF). It was not easy to
integrate these former enemy forces with different military training
backgrounds and experiences (Zanla and Zipra were essentially
guerilla units while the Rhodesian army was a formal conventional
force) into one force. Military experts from the British army played
a vital role in the integration process. Former Rhodesia Army
Commander General Peter Walls was given command of the new
ZDF.

However this successful integration of the forces did not stop

senior officers from resigning from service and were soon joining
their counterparts in civil service trekking into South Africa and
other destinations. The compactness of the forces into the ZNA
was soon put to test by political challenges which soon unfolded.
According to Professor Terence Ranger, none of these parties
involved in the Lancaster House negotiations got what they wanted
but all were prepared to compromise because they each believed
they could win the independence elections:- Muzorewa, because of
his large scale financial support and his electoral victory in 1979,
Nkomo – because of the country wide backing his Zapu had
enjoyed before the banning of the nationalist parties in 1964, and
Mugabe – because his Zanu had covered more grounds in the
liberation war and he had so many young guerillas in place. The
reality of Mugabe’s victory caused some tremors and according to
professor Ranger, Nkomo’s votes had come from the west of the
country and he and his party could hardly believe their defeat. In
the meantime, the former Zipra and Zanla combatants in the ZNA
remained loyal to their respective political parties. As tension
increased, clashes between the former Zipra and Zanla elements of
the ZNA occurred in some military barracks in the country notably
at Entumbane in Bulawayo and Connemara in Kwekwe. The
clashes resulted in some armed forces (of Zipra) elements
deserting the army from various military camps. The situation
deteriorated in 1982 into an armed insurrection which was largely
confined to Matebeleland and some parts of the Midlands
provinces. The insurrection seriously threatened the stability of the
country. The government blamed ZAPU for the dissident problem
but the party (ZAPU) denied any involvement. As the situation
threatened to get out of control, the government deployed some
army units, some of which were later accused of employing
excessive force, thereby committing some human rights abuses. A
few years later, on the 5th of July 1999, on the occasion of the
burial of Joshua Nkomo at the National Heroes Acre, Mugabe
acknowledged the unfortunate development and described it as “a
moment of madness.”

In the meantime, whilst the military operation was underway,

negotiations between Zanu PF and PF Zapu had begun on the
political front. These negotiations culminated in the signing of the
Unity Accord on 22 December 1987 which led to the merging of
the two parties in to the United Zanu PF. Stability was restored and
since then the country has enjoyed peace which is an envy of the
whole region.

After the 1987 Accord, the constitution was amended to create the
executive presidency and also to create two vice president posts.
Mugabe became the executive president in 1988 and in the interest
and spirit of unity Joshua Nkomo and Simon Muzenda became co-
vice presidents.

Since its overwhelming victory in the 1980 elections ZANU PF

has continued to dominate the political landscape of the country.
Zimbabwe has adopted a multi-party system of democracy though
at some point in the mid 80s, the idea of a one party state system
was mooted and provoked a hot debate. Parliamentary and
presidential elections have been held on time after every five and
six years in accordance with the constitution. Parliamentary
elections were held in 1980, 1985,1990,1995 and 2000 and
Presidential elections 1990, 1996 and 2002. The next
parliamentary and presidential elections are due in 2005 and 2008
respectively. Multi partysm or political pluralism has enabled the
existence of, and given a rise to numerous political parties and
movements, some of which have since folded. Examples of such
parties were/are Forum Party of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Unity
Movement, Zimbabwe Union of Democrats, United Parties, Zanu
Ndonga, National Alliance for Good Governance, Movement for
Democratic Change etc. Generally most of those parties before
2000 failed to make any strong impact and Zanu PF continuously
rode to landslide victories.

The period from late 1980s through to 1990 and 2000 ushered in
new socio-economic challenges such as the need to redistribute
land, high inflation, high unemployment, negative balance of trade
etc. which all controlled the ZANU PF government. Amidst this,
the MDC emerged to offer the strongest challenge to ZANU PF’s
political dominance since independence. In the 2000 parliamentary
elections, MDC won 57 seats against ZANU PF’s 62 out of the
120 contestable seats. Today the two parties continue to dominate
parliamentary proceedings with ZANU PF having a slight edge.
The MDC accuses ZANU PF of economic mismanagement whilst
the ZANU PF believes and says the MDC is a front for British and
Western interests to block land reforms and hence its stance to
demonise the government and paint it black in the international
arena, a situation which has inflicted suffering in the Zimbabwean
masses.

Civil Unrest – The Full Story

In dealing with the dissident problem in Zimbabwe soon after

independence, one needs to identify which came first- the
dissidents or the Gukurahundi – the egg or the hen. In actual fact,
the Fifth Brigade came in response to the dissident problem.

The sequence of events

We were still in the Cold War, as a result there were Cold War
conflicts taking place in Southern Africa. During the civil war in
Angola, with USA supporting /funding UNITA. In Mozambique,
there was RENAMO which was jointly supported/funded by South
Africa and ex-Rhodesians, as well as the USA. The idea was to
create a cordon sanitare (sanitary cordone) against encroaching
communism from the north. The dissident problem can therefore
be viewed as a spill over of civil unrest in Angola and
Mozambique, with CIA playing a tribal game meant to destabilize
southern African states. The ex-Rhodesian soldiers, now resident
in the then apartheid South Africa helped fuel the unrest in the
early-independent Zimbabwe by playing the tribal tramp card –
playing the Shona against the Ndebele, with allegations going
rounds that the latter had been robbed of political victory. The
dispatching of the 5th Brigade to Matebeleland to quell the civil
unrest ignited a lot of talk with allegations that the establishment
meant to wipe out the Ndebele tribe. The Unity Accord of
December 1987 put the issue of civil unrest to rest.

The sequence of civil unrest started long before elections in 1980.

ZIPRA and ZANLA had a long history of mistrust and blood
between them. When ZIPA was formed in 1976 the union was a
forced marriage whose chief architect was Julius Nyerere. The
subsequent collapse of ZIPA and the clashes then sowed the seed
of the dissident problem in 1980. The ZIPA collapse was mainly
due to differences in tactical approaches in the prosecution of the
war. ZIPRA had a convention approach while ZANLA was truly
guerilla army in the maxist tradition. Logistical support during,
before and after the life span of ZIPA was also crucial since the
Soviet Union tended to favour ZIPRA while ZANLA was
supported by China. The feeling of big brother by ZAPU continued
in spite of the clear and undisputable electoral victory of ZANU
(PF) in 1980. The catching of arms of war on ZAPU properties and
the Entumbane clashes saw the birth of dissident elements from the
former ZIPRA elements and from then on the issue became on of
“response” by the ZANU PF government to what was seen as
partly apartheid. South African destabilisation of historical had bad
blood between the 2 former liberation movements. The Fifth
Brigade response should therefore be seen in this context. The
excesses of 5 Brigade and the death of many innocent civilians in
Matebeleland is a deplorable and sad chapter in our history and
should not only be deplored but never repeated. The lessons that
we have learnt as people is never to nurture tribal superiority
sentiments which have seen repeated genocidal horrors in the great
lakes region. For Zimbabwe the ballot box should and must always
provide the legitimacy to govern.

Socio-Economic Developments

The major challenge facing the new government was to redress

colonial imbalances which had resulted in the marginalisation of
the black people. Aggressive and corrective initiatives had to be
pursued in education, health, land distribution, economic
empowerment and other general social service provisions.

Upon gaining power in 1980, the government embarked on a

programme to resettle 18 000 families on about 1,1 million
hectares of land at a cost of $60 million. Britain was to fund half of
this programme while Zimbabwe would pay for the remainder. In
1983, the government raised its targets to 162 000 families to be
resettled on 9 million hectares at a cost of $570 million. Such
targets were obviously ambitious and were never attained partly
due to lack of funding and squabbles with the British around the
disbursement of the pledged funds. By 2000 however, about 71
000 families had been resettled. The agrarian reforms and general
economic growth have been adversely affected by severe droughts
in the agricultural seasons of 1982, 1992 and 2000 – 2002.

In education, primary education was made free and compulsory.

Many more schools were built. Within the first four years of
independence, primary school enrolment rose from 819 568 in
1979 to 2 044 487 in 1983. The number of secondary schools
increased from 177 in 1979 to 1 548 in 1999. The massive
expansion of education created increased demand for trained
teachers and the government had to overcome the early shortages
by establishing more teacher training colleges. ZINTEC
programmes were introduced to “fast track” the training of
teachers as the student teachers received most of their training in
classrooms. A government to government arrangement with Cuba
enabled thousands of Zimbabweans to train as science teachers in
Cuba. Expatriate teachers were also recruited from abroad.
Polytechnical colleges wee also increased such that apart form
Harare and Bulawayo, each province now boasts of a polytechnic
college of its own. State universities have also increased from one
to four. Adult literacy programmes famously dubbed “night
schools” were started after 1980 to enable those disadvantaged
adults to gain some basic literacy and advance with education if
they so wished. The net effect of such initiatives has been that
Zimbabwe now has the highest literacy rate in Africa – at over 92
% it can only be rivaled by that of Egypt. Today Zimbabwe’s
highly skilled human resources is in high demand not only in
Africa but also in Europe and USA. In health great strides were
also made in making services accessible to all groups including the
blacks and the poor who were once marginalized. Free treatment
was accorded to all those who earned below $150 000-00 per
month. More clinics were built and some were upgraded into
district and provincial referral hospitals. Andrew Flemming
Hospital became the largest in the country. Free immunization
programmes against the six child killer diseases were introduced. It
has to be noted and emphasized that after 1980, the economy was a
semi-mixed socio-planned one which required state intervention
and regulation. One of these, interventionist measures as
introduced in industrial relations, was where the state sought to
protect workers from excessive capitalist abuses and improve their
security. In light of this the following measures became a feature
of policy:-

 Minimum wage levels were imposed by the government,

pegged at $150, 00 in 1980
 The ministry of labour through its labour tribunals was given
the powers to approve or disapprove dismissals: In effect this
meant an employer had to apply for and seek authority from
the ministry before a worker could be fired or laid off.
 Subsidies and price controls on basic foodstuffs were
introduced.

The economy however did remarkably well during the early years
of independence, with a growth rate of about 5% which actually
two or three times faster than the rest of Africa. However, the
government’s populist policies on basic foodstuffs as well as on
key parastatals meant that it had to contend with huge expenditure
which often mismatched its revenue account. As the years went by,
the government began to find it difficult to finance its huge
recurrent expenditure and the budget deficit continued to widen.
As interventionism and other state’s regulatory mechanisms
expanded they tended to outgrow its (state’s) administrative
capacity and began to stifle economic growth.
The state’s interventionism and regulatory measures tended to
discourage any fresh investment. At the same time the expanded
education service was now churning out hundreds of thousands of
school leavers into the job market. This resulted in rising levels of
unemployment. Against this background, the government found its
only recourse was to the International Monetary Fund and the
World Ban, who resultantly introduced the Economic Structural
Adjustment Programme (ESAP) with a view of attracting
investment. The ESAP later ZIMPREST were characterized by:-

 Reduction of Public Expenditure

 Economic Liberalization/Privatisation
 Devaluation

These austerity measures led to a steep rise in the prices of food

and services as well as retrenchments which all led to sharp decline
in the standards of living. Contrary to the anticipated benefits of
ESAP, interest rates and inflation increased from 14 to 15% while
unemployment increased. ESAP was later succeeded by
ZIMPREST, which was also IMF/WB inspired but both reform
programmes failed to turn around the economy as intended. Instead
they only succeeded in opening the Zimbabwean market to US and
British business exploitation while ordinary Zimbabweans
continued to suffer and the economy plummeted further. The
government began to accuse the IMF of ill advising it while the
IMF in turn maintained that the government was its own western
enemy as it failed to meet particular targets and conditions such as
speed privatization of public utilities and reduction of public
expenditure. As the animosity between the government and the two
Briton-wood institutions intensified, the government started to
consider adopting economic recovery programmes which are
“homegrown: i.e which factor in Zimbabwe’s particular
circumstances. ZIMPREST was abandoned and replaced by the
Millenium Recovery Programme (MRP). Because the government
has finally resolved to solve theland issue once and for all, the
MRP was short lived and was soon replaced by the national
Economic Recovery Programme (NERP) whose 10 Point Plan is
based on the premise that “Land is economy and economy is land”

Current Challenges

It has to be noted that the IMF inspired economic programmes all

impacted negatively on the provision of social services, leading to
immense suffering of people. The government had therefore to
switch to “home grown programmes” which ideally should be
founded on the basis of available indigenous resources. An
example of such programme is the NERP currently in operation,
which is dove-tailed to the government’s current land reform
programme. The land redistribution exercise embarked upon by the
government is aimed at economically empowering the black
majority as well as stimulating economic growth through raising
agricultural production. However, the programme had brought the
international spotlight on Zimbabwe, with the West, whose kith
and kin are the major losers in the game accusing the government
of violating human rights especially with regard to property rights.
Britain and the West now put their weight behind the opposition
MDC in charging that the land reforms are a political gimmick
meant to bolster support for the ruling ZANU PF party. (The
question whether or not land redistribution is a political gimmick
will be tackled separately later)

The animosity between Zimbabwe on one side and the West and
Britain on the other largely centred on the land reform programme
has led to Zimbabwe being subjected to international sanctions,
both official and unofficial. The challenge for the country now is
not only to handle and survive the sanctions but to turn around the
economy as well. Finally, apart form successfully concluding the
land reform programme, another very critical challenge facing the
nation today Is the HIV/AIDS menace. With Zimbabwe currently
having the fourth highest rate of infection in the world, the fight
against HIV/AIDS should received top priority, otherwise it is
threatening to wipe off and reverse all the socio economic gains
achieved since independence.
References

State Politics in Zimbabwe, University of Zimbabwe Publications,

Harare 1990

A Social History of Zimbabwe, Oxford, 2002