Zimbabwe's Short Story

Short story on Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ/), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in southern Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the west and southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east and northeast. Although it does not border Namibia, less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates it from that country. The capital and largest city is Harare. A country of roughly 16 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona, and Ndebele the most commonly used.

Throughout the centuries, Southern Africa was also inhabited by people with a different life style. The San (Bushmen) people did not live in cities or villages, nor did they cultivate the fields or keep domesticated animals. They were hunters and fruits gatherers. Their history is immortalized on thousands of rock paintings, some of which are more than 30 000 years old. Few San people still remain in Zimbabwe, but groups can still be found in the Kalahari Desert areas of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

By the 19th century, Cave drawingsthe great Shona speaking empires had disintegrated into numerous principalities and chiefdoms. At the same time, a powerful kingdom emerged in Kwazulu Natal under King Shaka. Upheavals in that region drove one of Shaka's generals, Mzilikazi, and his soldiers northwards until they settled in the western part of Zimbabwe about 1836 after subduing the local Shona chiefs. In 1860, his son, Lobengula, became the second and last Ndebele king. He was deposed by British troops in 1893.

1. A massive land grab exercise, which drove thousands of Africans, often at gunpoint, from 50% of the country into reservations, now called communal lands. Land was taken without compensation to the owner and given to Rhodesias soldiers, or later to veterans of the two world wars of the 20th century, or to any white settler, but not to black persons. This racial land division was consolidated by the Land Apportionment Act of 1930 and the Land Tenure Act of 1969, which prohibited blacks to own land in white areas.

2. The exclusion of Africans from the political process. Africans were denied the right to vote or stand for parliament, or to hold high office in the army, police or public service.
3. Africans were excluded from the best schools, residential areas, and other amenities, which were reserved for whites only. Rhodesia was a mirror image of the apartheid policy, which then prevailed in South Africa. 

From 1960 onwards, major contradictions developed between colonial policy in London, which now wanted change, and the Rhodesian administration, which opposed majority rule, resulting in the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) of 1965 by the Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Smith. Despite judgments by the highest courts in Rhodesia and England that the rebellion was illegal and treasonous, the British government refused to send troops to quell the rebellion, but imposed economic sanctions, which were to last for fourteen years.

Africans resisted British rule from the beginning of European settlement. Although King Lobengula was defeated in 1893, Africans in both Mashonaland and Matabeleland took up arms in the First Chimurenga War of 1896-97, which was led by the famous spirit mediums Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi. The uprising was suppressed by the use of unparalleled brutality and torture of the prisoners of war and civilians. For the following 60 years there was no armed opposition to British minority rule. Political, labour protests and unrest continued.

Following the UDI, the Africans launched the Second Chimurenga (liberation war) with the Chinhoyi Battle in 1966. Up to 1970, freedom fighters fought sporadic battles with Rhodesian security forces. The Rhodesian security forces were largely supported by South African Army. This period was followed by sustained war led by the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) supported by the independent African states, especially Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Botswana, and also by China and the Soviet Union. The liberation war ended in December 1979, following the Lancaster House Conference, at which the Rhodesian regime and the British government conceded defeat and granted independence under a democratic constitution. Zimbabwe emerged as an independent state on 18th April 1980 with Robert Mugabe as Prime Minister and Canaan Banana as ceremonial President.

The first seven years of Independence brought many changes to Zimbabweans. Fearing retribution for the many atrocities and war crimes perpetrated by the former white regimes and ninety years of racial discrimination and oppression on the African people, most whites fled the country in spite of the declaration of the policy of reconciliation by Prime Minister Mugabe and proclamation of a general amnesty. The white population dropped from 250 000 to 100 000. It is now estimated to be 75 000. Significantly however, the white farmer population remained constant and prosperous. Its numbers were reduced from 5 000 to 4 500 farmers, during the first ten years of independence. The racial division of land remained to haunt Zimbabwe.

During this period the government rapidly consolidated African control of the army, police, civil service and other arms of government. The country went through a period of unrest, when rebel soldiers waged a terror campaign in which many civilians in Matabeleland were killed or mutilated. It took government forces three years in which to suppress the revolt during which the security forces were accused of having used excessive force. The bush rebels surrendered their arms when ordered by Joshua Nkomo following the signing of Unity Accord of 1987, which resulted in the merging of ZAPU Party into ZANU (PF) with President Mugabe as President, and Joshua Nkomo and Simon Muzenda as Vice Presidents. The Unity Accord ushered in a period of peace and tranquillity, which lasted until 1999. 

Significant constitutional changes occurred in 1987. The post of Prime Minister was abolished in favour of an executive president. The 20 parliamentary seats that had been reserved for whites who constituted less than 1 per cent of the electorate were abolished. Zimbabwe became a fully fledged democracy.