Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle Research Articles

The nexus between ZANU PF, Mbuya Nehanda and the liberation struggle

Zimbabwe has a very rich history, deep rooted in its liberation struggle. However, this deep attachment to the liberation struggle has overshadowed and impeded basic government functions leading to the demise of the economy as the ruling party is entangled with the past and clearly lacking political will and innovation for the future. In the discourse of liberation war movements and activities, it is important to analyse the causes that give rise to their existence, which therefore becomes a backdrop on which their successes and failures can be analysed. This paper therefore will establish the main causes which fueled the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe and using such causes as benchmarks analyse how ZANU PF is faring forty years after independence. In this regard there are historical figures such as Mbuya Nehanda and the history of the liberation war which have become construed and contorted in political gimmicks such that the separation of such facts and ZANU PF have become difficult over the years. Hence, this paper seeks to analyse the relationship between ZANU PF, Mbuya Nehanda and liberation struggle. In making such an analysis it also becomes clearer whether ZANU PF still represents what it purports to have gone to war for, and the extent to which it has been successful in realising its objectives.

Unequal access to redress for women ex-combatants in Zimbabwe: an intersectional analysis

ABSTRACT Women played a range of complex roles during the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe between 1961 and 1980. However, although the Zimbabwean post-independence government made attempts to promote gender equity following the liberation struggle, women ex-combatants continue to experience unequal access to redress compared to their male counterparts. Part of the reason for this is that they were not considered as a specific social group in post-independence policies. Discussions at Lancaster House in 1979 addressed redress for ex-combatants broadly but neglected to pay attention to women and their unique experiences in the struggle and in the post-independence context. In addition to this, it is not only gender, but also issues of social class and ethnicity that have shaped the political and socio-economic position of women ex-combatants in post-independence Zimbabwe. Using an intersectional lens, this article examines the experiences of Zimbabwean women ex-combatants, taking into consideration their class, sexuality, gender and ethnicity. It argues that gender on its own is inadequate to account for unequal access to redress. Rather, other social categories such as, but not limited to, social class and ethnicity should be investigated in order to understand the struggles faced by women ex-combatants in post-conflict societies in order for all to have equal access to justice and redress.

Tweeting to Democracy: A new anti-authoritarian liberation struggle in Zimbabwe

What does it take for a citizen movement to topple a deep-rooted authoritarian regime? This paper analyses the successes and failures of citizen-led social media campaigns in Zimbabwe. Using data drawn from an extensive ethnographic study of 50 WhatsApp and Facebook communities, this paper studies the conditions under which citizen activism, particularly those movements that originate on social media, become street protests that can effectively unseat an illegitimate regime. I find that the success of recent movements – evidenced by policy changes and increased citizen participation – is in part because of the rise of a youth citizenry that does not feel indebted to the liberation struggle. Zimbabwean born frees are more willing to take political risks by speaking candidly about politics online and mobilizing their peers.

Understanding the Traditional and Contemporary Purpose of the Njelele Rainmaking Shrine through the Oral Testimonies of Local People in Matobo

The Njelele shrine is located in the Matobo Hills, an area that has been declared a world heritage site. The site of the Njelele shrine is of paramount spiritual significance in Zimbabwe, and it is visited annually between August and September for ritual purposes just before the rain season begins. The rituals are not limited to rainmaking but also relate to, for example, asking for forgiveness after society’s wrongdoings and asking for cures for diseases. During the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe, this shrine was consulted by politicians and liberation fighters, and, in contemporary times, war veterans still consult the Ngwali oracle. It is believed that many years ago a voice came from the Njelele rocks but that it has since disappeared because of the disrespect people have shown to the area. This article conveys the views of the local community about the traditional and contemporary purposes of the Njelele national shrine, and in so doing aims to provide some insight into these people’s views. It also looks at the diverse values that different interest groups attach to the site. The researcher mainly used oral testimonies as sources of information but also consulted some published sources.

Indigenous Medical Knowledge and the Experiences of ZIPRA Guerrillas in Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle

This article aims to examine the importance of indigenous medical knowledge during the 1970s when guerrillas from the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) negotiated their way to the front to fight the Rhodesian white minority regime. From the 1960s until the ceasefire at the end of 1979, ZIPRA was one of the two liberation movements that waged war to liberate Zimbabwe. This article traces the experiences of guerrillas who moved from the Zambian side of the Zambezi Valley into Rhodesia. The terrain that the guerrillas had to navigate on foot was punctuated by many devastating and life - threatening challenges. Some of these included malaria, sleeping sickness, venereal diseases, snake bites, mental disorders, injuries and even fatigue. Given that the guerrillas had no hospitals and other medical facilities at their disposal, it is important to establish how local knowledge assisted them to survive, especially when ailments struck them. The purpose of this study was to determine the role the fighters’ knowledge of indigenous medicines played in dealing with these difficulties. The author collected information by conducting interviews with former ZIPRA guerrillas who had operated in Zimbabwe during the war. Some civilians who were in ZIPRA operational areas were also interviewed. The importance of the study lies in understanding the continued use and existence of indigenous medical remedies in Zimbabwe. Findings from the study are valuable in widening knowledge horizons on indigenous medical knowledge as a useful alternative in times of need.

ZPRA this, ZPRA that!! Where are the records to prove ZPRAs Role in the Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe?

In the liberation of Zimbabwe, the contribution of two liberation fronts, the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), cannot be ignored. However, documentation relating to the contribution made by ZPRA in the liberation struggle is scarce. Future generations have to know and understand the role played by ZPRA; and thus, there is a need for memory in the form of documents to highlight the role and contribution of ZPRA. The ZPRA Trust has highlighted the need to document its role in the liberation of Zimbabwe. This study, therefore, sought to find out what documentation exists on ZPRA’s contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe, what documentation gaps exist on ZPRA’s contribution to the liberation struggle, and how ZPRA intends to fill gaps in its archives or memory. It also sought to find out what challenges stand in ZPRA’s way as it seeks to document its contribution to the liberation struggle, and where ZPRA’s liberation documentation and archives are. The ZPRA Trust is the unit of analysis for this study; as it is responsible for the administration of ZPRA’s affairs. This study was qualitative in nature, and a case study research design was applied. Purposive sampling was used as ZPRA cadres who lead the ZPRA Trust made up the population of the studyÂ

Makhokhoba and the Surrounding Areas as the Remarkable Centres of Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe: A Case of Zhii Protests

Makhokhoba and Mzilikazi are two of the oldest suburbs in Zimbabwe and Bulawayo respectively. The people in these areas played a pivotal role in dismantling the yoke of colonialism in Zimbabwe. They also suffered a lot during this period as they were treated as second-class citizens; as evidenced by their type of dwellings—mainly hostels and one- room houses. These were meant for accommodating a man only, as women were not allowed in these areas because they were supposed to stay in rural areas while only the men worked in the city of Bulawayo. This mistreatment, poor working conditions and other ills they suffered in the hands of colonialists led to Zhii protests (Zhii is an Ndebele word for Ndebele war cry). The Zhii protests were mainly volatile skirmishes against the colonial power in the 1950s concerning poor working conditions. These skirmishes are vividly captured in records of oral history interviews found at the National Archives of Zimbabwe. It is therefore, the aim of this article to delve more into these protests by studying the life stories of selected individuals in order to understand the socio-political and economic factors behind them. The life story approach will be interrogated as the best way of collecting oral testimonies. Oral history sources and published literature have been used as sources of information

More lasting than bronze: Through the darkness as a competing and self-empowering narrative

ABSTRACTWhen confronted with a society and system of government that keeps changing the country’s political history, individuals like Judith Garfield Todd turn to memoir writing to challenge the new “patriotic history”, and to resist attempts to erase them from national history. In this paper, I argue that in her memoir, Judith Todd uses the authority of presence, epistemic privilege, erasure, palimpsest and converging voices to construct a new account of the discourse of the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe. In doing so, Todd challenges the Zanu-PF hegemonic discourse of the struggle, which is constructed along racial lines and is a deliberate move by Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF to create a complete ruin of the role played by the Todd family and the entire white community in the struggle for liberation in Zimbabwe.

The construction of Uhuru party group identity in Zimbabwe: a textual analysis of revolutionary songs in Shona

Since Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation war, the Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) (ZANU-PF) has used song to develop its group identity. During the war, choirs related to the party's military wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, sang in support of the party's war effort. After independence, various groups have sung to promote ZANU-PF. This article examines texts of ZANU-PF songs from the liberation war and the Fast Track Land Reform Programme of the early 2000s, two landmarks in Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle, Chimurenga. The Critical Discourse Analysis concept of identity frames this textual analysis. The article finds that through the songs examined here, ZANU-PF self-qualifies as the party of Chimurenga. The ZANU-PF concept of Chimurenga is heterogeneous as it draws upon various other ideologies, such as Maoism, and the dogma of ‘the children of the soil’. That heterogeneity is homogenized so as to enable the party to portray itself as perfect deliverer and guarantor of Black liberation, and rival political formations as traitors of Chimurenga.

A potentially dystrophic era: Analysing the lyrical sociology of selected sungura songs in Zimbabwe in the 1990s and beyond

This article provides an exegesis of selected sungura songs sung in the 1990s and beyond by some of Zimbabwe's renowned musicians. Sungura is a Swahili word for rabbit. The word has become so naturalised in Shona to the extent that it now refers to a popular music genre sung mainly in indigenous languages. The beat is fast and furious and with a lot of emphasis on the footwork. The 1990s mark the incubation of new nation-state politics in which the subaltern overtly registers protestations against pauperising state policies. These protestations eventually explode in 1997 and intensify at the turn of the century, clearly marking ‘a paradigmatic rupture’ and solidifying the separation of the state from the citizens (Ndlovu-Gatsheni). As a result, sungura musicians operationalise art in expressing a national identity characterised by a brand of politics and economics triggering mass dystopia and dystrophy. Remarkably, these direct protests coincide with critical discourses coming from different literary artists and scholars, who also begin to articulate revisionist discourses that indict the nationalist ideologies. Among them are novels such as Pawns (1992), Echoing Silences (1997) and Mapenzi (1999). In the post-2000 era, there are numerous publications that begin to deconstruct the nationalist ideology with its penchant for heroism and unparalleled political and historical greatness. Among them are the Zimbabwe Women Writers authored Women of Resilience: The voices of women ex-combatants, Fay Chung's Re-living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe's liberation struggle), Raftopoulos and Mlambo's Becoming Zimbabwe: A history from the pre-colonial period to 2008 and Edgar Tekere's A lifetime of struggle (2007).

Ambiguities of the oral song narrative in Charles Samupindi's novel, Pawns (1992)

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to explore the role of the song narrative within the intertext of the novel Pawns by Charles Samupindi. Pawns uses the oral song narrative to affirm as legitimate the second Zimbabwe liberation struggle that took place between 1970 and 1979. The song genre is also used in the novel to question the history of the liberation struggle which is the novel's main focus. This is done to promote a sense of critical doubt about the authority attributed to narrativity in classical realism that the novel employs in its structure. The song genre enables readers to realize the possibilities that a novel can imaginatively authorize its own meanings whose values and content are never allowed to settle as social absolutes. Oral song and classical realism in the novel constitute the ambiguities of the identities of Zimbabwean people. In short, this article will show that the novelty of Pawns is its embedded formal ‘contamination’ – a technique that confers to the novel a unique, liminal and carnival spirit, as well as enchanting semantic instability regarding the ideologies of the Zimbabwe war narratives.

Re-living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, by Fay Chung

History is predominantly the story of the powerful. But in these memoirs, through skilful use of language and respect for the reader's intelligence, Fay Chung has succeeded in keeping her own position of power out of sight. Using a personal narrative, she brings to life familiar ground in Zimbabwe's racial past, the nationalist struggle, and how the ‘revolution lost its way’. Personalities such as Tongogara, Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe are important actors in this account but their agency is subordinated to stronger structural forces. In recent literature on the Zimbabwe crisis this important point is often left out, with Robert Mugabe often portrayed as the sole agent behind the story of Zimbabwe. In this book the struggle for Zimbabwe is presented as a multiplicity of ideological, strategic and practical struggles within the main liberation movements and beyond. Fay Chung makes incisive connections between struggles within ZANU (PF) and between it and ZAPU during the liberation struggle, on the one hand, and the ongoing political instability, especially since 1997, on the other. The liberation movements were not homogeneous and particular emphasis is given to the vashandi and the young intellectuals who lost out to the veteran militarists at decisive stages during the war. Current struggles, she argues, are a series of simultaneous revolutions that are ‘unfinished business’ from the liberation war years.

Censorship, Surveillance, and Protest Theater in Zimbabwe

Praise Zenenga's article navigates the long and troubled history between Zimbabwe's theater artists, and national government and local police strongmen. Zenenga uses the Zimbabwean Censorship and Entertainment Control Act of 1967 as his departure point and compartmentalizes censorship of theater arts into three eras: 1) Zimbabwe's liberation struggle from the late 1960s through the 1970s, 2) the newly won independence of 1980s, with hope of economic and social progress giving way to frustration, and 3) the contemporary clash of President Mugabe's strong response against theater's critique of broken government promises. Even though the Censorship Board demands scripts be registered, Zimbabwean theater artists have found creative ways around censorship throughout these three eras, implementing underground performances and “hit and run” political guerilla theater. Zenenga disturbingly uncovers that, while official government censorship may be decreasing, partly to evade international scrutiny, shadowy interrogation, harassment, and even physical assault of artists are becoming more common.

Changing nationalist politics in African fiction

The aim of this paper is to explore the transformations taking place in the images of African nationalist politics as depicted in African fiction from Zimbabwe and to examine the new roles that these creative artists have assumed in postcolonial Africa. It is argued that guerrillas in the second Zimbabwe liberation struggle (1963–79) described themselves as ‘comrades’, ‘freedom fighters’ and ‘war veterans’ and that even after the war of 1980–2008 they continue to do so. These romanticized images of the nationalist leaders and players have come under consistent interrogation in the fictions by Zimbabwean authors such as Samupindi, Vera, Marechera and Hove. The authors depict the contradictory roles that nationalists have played and continue to play in Zimbabwe, challenging the official narrative of national triumphalism. These changing portrayals of nationalist politics can be taken as paradigmatic of the desire by Africans to ‘change’ the representation of African nationalism, to introduce new patterns of meaning in the postcolonial period. It is argued here that this is an indicator of the disappointment of ordinary people with the African leadership's style of ruling ‘their’ subjects, which shows a tendency to undermine the very essence of the nationalist struggles that these leaders led while fighting colonialism in the name of people's emancipation.

The mobilization of popular music in the promotion of national unity in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT Almost three decades now after Zimbabwe's independence, the marshalling of popular music in order to propel the nationalist movement has still not received the academic attention it deserves. This article analyses the crucuality of popular music in the forging of national unity during and after the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe. The armed nationalist struggle, epically referred to as chimurenga, was significantly buoyed up by war songs invariably composed inside and outside the country as the war heated up. The indispensability of (national) unity in supporting the war effort so as to win independence compelled the freedom fighters and the masses to constantly manipulate popular songs to harness those cultural traditions vital in rallying the masses behind the nationalist cause. The war of liberation gave birth to chimurenga music, a homogeneity of musical styles bound together by their use as a medium for the articulation of an anti-colonial and anti-imperialist sensibility. I contend that although national unity remains one of Zimbabwe's greatest challenges, historically through chimurenga songs, the country has been able to achieve some notable level of national cohesion.

Book Review:Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle, Fay Chung

Reviewed by: Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle Teresa Barnes Chung, Fay . 2006. Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute Press; and Harare: Weaver Press. 358 pp. $35.00 (paper). Fay Chung is a Zimbabwean, born of immigrant Chinese parents. Because of her participation in the Zimbabwean liberation struggle and the postindependence governmental milieu, her name is familiar to anyone who has [End Page 113] lived, worked in, or studied Zimbabwe over the past three decades. Her detailed and thoughtful memoirs should be required reading for all these people and many more, as a unique view of the trajectory of the liberation experience in Zimbabwe. There have not been enough memoirs from the Zimbabwean struggle. Those of Joshua Nkomo, Nathan Shamuyarira, and Maurice Nyagumbo recounted the nationalist, rather than the revolutionary days. Certainly there have been none from women activists. Chung's is a complex story. She writes as a social outsider about taking considerable personal risks at the heart of political and military struggle; as a practicing educationist and theorist, rather than a party or political leader; as a woman who came to motherhood in a time when personal commitments could have only political overtones; as a person who chose to spend her adult life devising workable solutions in the eye of huge political storms. There are small glimpses of Chung's personal life: her upbringing, her family as she was growing up in colonial Rhodesia; how her decisions to pursue higher education and teaching as a career led her to political involvement; the birth of a daughter. But the heart of the book is reserved for her mature political voice, witnessing the course of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle. Chung was a student at the University of Rhodesia and taught in Harare township in the early 1960s. She was in exile with ZANU in Zambia and Tanzania in the 1970s. She crafted an ambitious educational program for thousands of refugees and combatants in the camps in Mozambique. She tried to translate progressive educational policies into action by an intransigent and untransformed bureaucracy after independence. Zimbabwe's post-2000 descent into violence, authoritarianism, hyperinflation, and economic collapse have rendered the production of triumphant reminiscences on the liberation struggle impossible. Rather, the conundrum of Zimbabwean historiography is not to pave over the admitted bumpiness of real, considerable postcolonial social advances with the asphalt of current disgust and disappointment. Under these pressures, drawing a coherent narrative from the dedication of the 1970s through the optimism of the 1980s, the increasing jadedness of the 1990s, and the despair, cynicism and collapse of the twenty-first century is an exquisitely difficult task. Some authors have recently sidestepped this problem by reciting and analyzing the multiplicities of historical narratives. Chung, in contrast, navigates one path through these tricky currents using a barometer of political skillfulness: some protagonists were astute enough to read national and international winds, and others were not. There is no gold standard of achievement or behavior that she can measure their political decisions against. In the end, as the pieces that were to make up Zimbabwe were put together and then fell apart, perhaps the only cohering force in the story is that Chung herself lived through all of it. Chung maintains a diplomatic silence on many issues. Why did she finally leave ZANU? What does she think now of Robert Mugabe? Who, for heaven's sake, killed Herbert Chitepo in 1975? She provides no direct answers, but between the lines, she provides detail on the multiple divisions [End Page 114] within the liberation movement from practically its first days of life, escalating in the difficult 1970s. By proposing that what were seen externally as the successes and failures of the liberation armies were all in fact the results of intricate personal, ideological and political power struggles, she achieves narrative coherence while maintaining a cohering thread of an abiding rejection of colonial racism. Chung's feminism is constantly mediated through her position as a participant in a revolutionary movement. As she is no stranger to the idea of the political use of violence, she maintains that the liberation armies...

Fay Chung. Re-living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from the Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute, 2006. 358 pp. Appendixes. Name index. No price reported. Paper.

Fay Chung. Re-living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from the Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute, 2006. 358 pp. Appendixes. Name index. No price reported. Paper. - Volume 49 Issue 3

Re-living the Second Chimurenga: memories from the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe

Fay Chung grew up in a Chinese family in Rhodesia in the 1950s and 1960s. She studied education and literature, and became a lecturer at the University of Zambia in the early 1970s. In Zambia, she ...

Book Reviews

Books Reviewed: Ange Wieberdink, Troubled Waters: The Ambivalence of South–North Partnerships in Research for Development — A Case Study. Nicholas Stern, Jean‐Jacques Dethier and F. Halsey Rogers, Growth and Empowerment: Making Development Happen. Alan Bicker, Paul Sillitoe and Johan Pottier (eds), Development and Local Knowledge. Michael Klein and Tim Harford, The Market for Aid. David Ellerman, Helping People Help Themselves. David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Deborah Leipziger, The Corporate Responsibility Code Book. Janet Roitman, Fiscal Disobedience: An Anthropology of Economic Regulation in Central Africa. Fay Chung, Re‐Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle. Norma Kriger, Guerrilla Veterans in Post‐War Zimbabwe: Symbolic and Violent Politics 1980–1987. Donald S. Moore, Suffering for Territory: Race, Place, and Power in Zimbabwe. Craig Acerneaux and David Pion‐Berlin, Transforming Latin America: The International and Domestic Origins of Change. Rhoda E. Reddock (ed.), Interrogating Caribbean Masculinities: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses. Partha Nath Mukherji and Chandan Sengupta (eds), Indigeneity and Universality in Social Sciences: A South Asian Response. Tamar Horowitz, Bella Kotik‐Friedgut and Stefani Hoffman (eds), From Pacesetters to Dropouts: Post‐Soviet Youth in Comparative Perspective.

Identity and Exclusion in the Post–War Era: Zimbabwe's Women Former Freedom Fighters

This study examines how demobilisation and reintegration processes affected the roles and status of women ex-combatants after the liberation war in Zimbabwe. The success of post-war demobilisation and reintegration depends on the formulation and implementation of programmes that recognise the contributions of women and treat them as a differentiated mass with specific aspirations. In disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) processes after most wars, the roles of women in the conflicts and their post-war needs are ignored or not adequately addressed. Their critical roles and contributions in the conflict and its resolution are rarely recognised. The vital contribution that women fighters made in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle between 1962 and 1979 has gone largely unsung. Through extensive interviews with female ex-combatants, this article argues that the absence of a gender-sensitive demobilisation and reintegration policy resulted in the marginalisation and exclusion of women ex-combatants in the military, social, political and professional spheres. What then, it asks, are the lessons that can be learnt from Zimbabwe's experience of demobilisation and reintegration?