District Assistants, Guerrillas and Teenage Girls in Protected Villages during Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle

Abstract

This chapter contributes to the histories of war and children by examining the fate of teenage girls who were caught up in violent conflict as inmates in Protected Villages (PVs) during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle in the 1970s. The establishment of PVs opened the floodgates of children’s rights violations as various political players were engaged in a fierce and bitter political struggle. The PVs or Keeps were mannered by Rhodesian security agents such as the Guard Force, police, soldiers, District Security Assistants and District Assistants who controlled the lives and movement of inmates. The chapter argues that teenage girls suffered gender-specific challenges at the hands of these security agents much more than other inmates of the PVs. Through interviews, teenage girls were given a platform to share their war time experiences, thus presenting an opportunity of unearthing important nuances of the liberation struggle that are yet to be explored in historiography.