Guro Lauvland Bjorknes.pdf - NMMU

2.2.2 Revolutionary Struggle
Shortly after the white government banned the National Democratic Party in 1961, Mugabe and
Nkomo formed the Zimbabwe African People‟s Union (ZAPU). In September 1962 ZAPU was
banned and Nkomo eventually put in prison where he shared with his colleagues his faith in
continuing the liberation struggle in exile. After attempts to organise a government in exile and
continue the struggle for a free Zimbabwe from outside its borders, Nkomo lost his fellow
leaders‟ trust and Sithole and his followers regrouped into the Zimbabwe African National Union
(ZANU) in 1963 (Hill, 2003:54-57). ZAPU was banned and they formed the People‟s Caretaker
Council (PCC). ZAPU was also blamed for potentially wanting to exclude other parties in the
reconciliation with a white government (Ellert, 1989:3).
The government in Rhodesia declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965
after much civil unrest that had led to a national state of emergency (Ellert, 1989:3). White
Rhodesians had earlier had different opinions on the racial issue and not all were as conservative
and racist as Smith and his regime. With the UDI a united white population stood behind the
white government as a growing fear of the British and the international community threatened
their position. They also felt threatened by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and the
blacks within their borders. People were forced to sympathise with the Rhodesian Front and
risked being banned by their families and imprisonment by the fascist state if they did not obey
(Chung, 2006:62-63).
Between 1972 and 1980 civil war (Chimurenga) raged in Zimbabwe. Over 30 000 lives were lost
(Anstey, 2006:83 and 84). After a conference in Geneva attended by all the main players, black
and white, there was still no solution to the conflict. Eventually an agreement was reached at the
polls in 1980: ZANU PF won by a modest majority and the new Zimbabwean flag was raised
over Zimbabwe. At the age of 56 Mugabe became the Prime Minister (Hill, 2003:67-70).
2.2.3 Independent Zimbabwe in the 1980s
During the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference, headed by Lord Carrington, the British
foreign secretary, the Patriotic Front alliance of ZANU and ZAPU agreed to 20 per cent of the
seats in the new government being reserved for whites for seven years. Conflicting opinions rose
10