The story of the Second Chimurenga

TODAY Zimbabweans celebrate the bravery displayed by the freedom fighters who laid their precious lives for others. Their battle for freedom has been told and retold but the most outstanding was the Second Chimurenga.

The Second Chimurenga has become an important aspect of the history of Zimbabwe. It has become an important reference point to show the country’s unity of purpose which enabled the different nationalist movements to bring majority rule.

The Second Chimurenga was a struggle fought between the Africans and white Rhodesian government which culminated in the independence of the country in 1980. The war started in the early 1960s but took a more militant stance in 1966 at the Battle of Chinhoyi and ended in 1980 after the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement.

In Shona, the word chimurenga refers to an uprising or revolt. It has strong connotations of violence. In IsiNdebele it is called Umvukela.

In the history of Zimbabwe, the word was first used to refer to the wars of resistance (1896–97) fought by the Shona and Ndebele people against colonisation by the British under Cecil John Rhodes of the British South Africa Company.

The Second Chimurenga war was as a result of a collective need to get political independence, access to economic resources and land.

The war was also necessitated by the harsh laws imposed by the Rhodesian settler government such as the Land Apportionment Act of 1930 and the Native Land Husbandry Act which restricted Africans to certain areas which were not agriculturally productive.

A number of political parties were involved in the liberation struggle against the Rhodesia Front government under Ian Smith.

One of the earliest parties to be formed by Africans was the African National Congress in the 1950s. It had branches in most urban areas such as Salisbury and Bulawayo.

There was also the National Democratic Party (NDP) formed in 1959 and was led by Joshua Nkomo. It was banned in 1960 and this resulted in the formation of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) under Nkomo.

ZAPU eventually split into factions and this resulted in the birth of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu) in 1963 in the Highfield suburb of Salisbury (now Harare). It was led by the likes of Herbert Chitepo and Enos Nkala.

Zapu and Zanu had the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (Zanla) as their military wings respectively. Zanla had most of its bases in neighbouring Mozambique in areas such as Tete, Chimoio and Nyadzonia where the freedom fighters were trained. Zipra was headquartered in Zambia. The two movements also had bases in Tanzania, where they also trained their fighters.

Both parties adopted the Marxist and communist ideologies. They also adopted guerrilla warfare as their strategies in battle. Guerrilla warfare involved surprise attacks and ambushes.

The Second Chimurenga is said to have drawn inspiration from the First Chimurenga.

One of the unique characteristic of the nationalist parties was their reliance on the peasant communities for both material and moral support.

This was called the “fish and water” strategy adopted from Chinese Communists party led by Mao.

The liberation struggle is also said to have been planned during the first Zanu congress held in 1964 when Ndabaningi Sithole called the clarion for war where the party issued its five-point plan, which remains unknown.

The period between 1974-1975 Kenneth Kaunda the then president of Zambia which was part of the Frontline States and John Voster the then president of South Africa were making efforts to bring the liberation struggle to a halt to pave way for independence through political negotiations.

Later in December, the nationalist party leaders were invited to a meeting in Lusaka to discuss the terms of the political settlement.

The negotiations happened in Lusaka in December with incarcerated leaders allowed to attend. Leaders of the Frontline States (Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia) were part of the

negotiations in Zambia.

The chairman of the Frontline States was Julius Nyerere, the late former President of Tanzania.

On 8 December 1974, however, the nationalist parties agreed to form a temporary united party under ANC which was led by Abel Muzorewa. This new united movement would go to congress in 4 months.

Herbert Chitepo was assassinated on 18 March 1975.

Chief Rekayi Tangwena assisted Robert Mugabe and Edgar Tekere to cross into Mozambique to lead the struggle. It was also during this period that a decision was unanimously made by members of the High Command and those of the Dare ReChimurenga that Robert Mugabe was to be the president of Zanu PF.

Sweet victory

The end of the war came after the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979 which was chaired by Lord Carrington. Prior to the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement, several conferences were organised and hosted to try and bring the war to an end but never yielded any results. In 1976, for instance, there was the Geneva Conference.

In 1978, there was the signing of the internal settlement also referred to as the sell-out settlement which was, however, abandoned because it was rejected by Zanu PF and Zapu which were not included in the discussions. It was signed by Smith, Muzorewa, Sithole and Chief Jeremiah Chirau and it led to the creation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.

Many reasons have been put forward which led the fighting parties to finally come to the negotiation table. It is argued that Smith was under pressure to end the war mainly because it was becoming too costly.

The failure of the Internal Settlement is also pointed as a factor which lured Smith to come to the negotiating table. Rhodesia was under sanctions as a result of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) of 1965. The fall of the Portuguese empire in Mozambique enabled the infiltration of more guerrillas from Mozambique and this posed a major threat to Smith’s forces.

On the side of the Africans, pressure began to mount from the frontline States as their economies were failing, hence they were no longer in a position to support the liberation struggle.

— Pindula, Researchgate