War time experiences of Female Ex-combatants of Zimbabwe’s war of Liberation

Abstract

The story of sacrifice and suffering in the liberation struggle has been dominated by men and the role of females in the liberation struggle of Zimbabwe has not been equally celebrated. However, females played heroic roles without which the course of history might have been distorted. Due to their physical biological make up, females suffer more hardships, some humiliation, as compared to their male counterparts. In contemporary writings, a few researches were done targeting individuals such as Chung’s and Nhongo-Simbanegavi’s works. This study traces the plight of female ex-combatants back to their war time experiences to get a rich background to understand their psychological disposition and ability to be socio-economically reintegrated in post-independence Zimbabwe. These war time experiences show the inherent complexities of transitional justice as invisible war-borne scarred human emotions are often not given due attention when peace finally prevails. The study which employed the qualitative approach and the target population included both male and female ex-combatants from Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and Zimbabwe People’s (ZIPRA) cadres, revealed that female ex-combatants went through distressing experiences during the war which required close attention (which unfortunately seemed not rendered) at reintegration in post-independence Zimbabwe. Recommendations are that the female ex-combatants be afforded systemic counselling.