27-620: Non-state allies: Non-state opponents: Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army ( ZANLA ) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), a militant African nationalist organisation that participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe ). ZANLA was formed in 1965 in Tanzania , although until the early 1970s ZANLA
54-539: A Ndebele homestead, given their lack of the Ndebele language, they would simply demand in Shona: " ndipe sadza nehuku " (Give me sadza with chicken) hence the local Ndebele derogatory nickname for them " oSadza nehuku ". They were known as well for saying "Down with Nkomo" most of the time, hence another Matebele name for them became " opasi ". Following the 1980 general election large portions of ZANLA were integrated into
81-542: A Shona word which literally means "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains", which is perhaps best translated as "total annihilation", was its ideal for conducting politics. Many of the idealistic Shona young men and women who joined the ZANLA to fight against the minority government of Rhodesia were greatly disillusioned once they reached the training camps in Mozambique and Zambia, discovering that
108-616: A split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) in 1963. ZANU split in 1975 into wings loyal to Robert Mugabe and Ndabaningi Sithole , later respectively called ZANU–PF and ZANU–Ndonga . These two sub-divisions ran separately at the 1980 general election , where ZANU–PF has been in power ever since, and ZANU–Ndonga a minor opposition party. ZANU was formed 8 August 1963 when Ndabaningi Sithole , Henry Hamadziripi, Mukudzei Midzi, Herbert Chitepo , Edgar Tekere and Leopold Takawira decided to split from ZAPU at
135-464: A total of 107 passengers and crew. Air Rhodesia Flight 825 (named the Hunyani ) was a scheduled flight from Kariba to Salisbury that was shot down on 3 September 1978 by ZIPRA guerrillas using an SA-7 surface-to-air missile (SAM). ZAPU (the political body behind ZIPRA) leader Joshua Nkomo publicly claimed responsibility for shooting down the Hunyani on BBC Television the same evening, saying
162-539: The 1980 general election to the newly constituted state of Zimbabwe, ZANU–PF (registered as such) won a majority with ZAPU (registered as PF–ZAPU) in second place. ZAPU merged into ZANU–PF in 1987. Sithole's group (registered as ZANU) failed to win any seats in 1980. Later it won a few seats and was renamed ZANU-Ndonga ; it remains a minor party with support among the Ndau . Zimbabwe People%27s Revolutionary Army Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army ( ZIPRA )
189-609: The Nigerian Defence Academy . A Nigerian soldier, Colonel Musa Bityong , left behind in the guerrilla camps was able to recruit 100 former ZANLA / ZIPRA guerrillas , and again returned in December to recruit 50 more. Zimbabwe African National Union The Zimbabwe African National Union ( ZANU ) was a militant socialist organisation that fought against white-minority rule in Rhodesia , formed as
216-558: The Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) respectively to fight the struggle from neighbouring countries – ZANLA from Mozambique and Zambia , and ZIPRA from Zambia and Botswana . Most of ZANU's operations were planned from exile, where the party leadership was based throughout the 1970s, when the party had offices in Lusaka , Dar es Salaam , Maputo and London. The Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA)
243-685: The Rhodesian-Mozambican border. This greatly assisted the recruitment and training of cadres. In 1974, the ZANLA was shaken by the so-called "Nhari mutiny" when Thomas Nhari and several cadres objected to the party's tactics; Nhari and the rest were convicted by a kangaroo court of mutiny and executed, despite the "court" ruling that they should only be demoted. After the "Nhari mutiny", the ZANU become consumed with an "obsession" to purge its ranks of "sell-outs and counter-revolutionaries", and executions of ZANLA members by their colleagues become
270-511: The ZANLA were far from being the romantic freedom-fighters that they had imagined. Beside their overall political ideologies, the main differences between the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the armed wing of the pro-Soviet Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), and ZANLA were that: During the late 1970s, the predominantly Shona tribe ZANLA fighters were deployed in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, areas where
297-474: The aircraft had been used for military purposes, but denied that his men had killed survivors on the ground. Eighteen of the fifty-six passengers in the Air Rhodesia plane survived the crash, with most of these having been seated in the rear. Three crash survivors who remained at the aircraft managed to avoid being killed by running away and hiding in the bush. A second plane, Air Rhodesia Flight 827 (named
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#1732766308275324-593: The cadres. As Mugabe had described himself in an interview as a " Marxist–Leninist-Mao Zedong Thought " supporter, which enraged the Kremlin , Soviet support went exclusively to the rival Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). The ZANU was organized along Maoist lines, being conceived as a vanguard party that would guide the masses towards the revolution, and the party did not tolerate any sort of critical thinking or dissent within its ranks. The South African historian Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni noted that far from being
351-404: The conforming to the popular stereotype of "freedom-fighters", the ZANLA was a rigidly hierarchical organization whose cadres were expected to unconditionally obey orders, and which regularly conducted purges to liquidate any cadres who differed even in the slightest from the party line. The party's principal spokesman Edson Zvobgo wrote that the "ZANU Idea" was the "gun idea", namely that violence
378-467: The execution of those cadres who differed from the party line as routine and normal. ZANLA's close association with the FRELIMO helped it after Mozambican independence in 1975. From about 1972, ZANLA had operated from Tete Province in northern Portuguese Mozambique , which was FRELIMO-controlled, and, after Mozambican independence, ZANLA was permitted to open additional training and supply camps along
405-522: The front. ZIPRA's crossing points into Zimbabwe were at Feira in Zambia opposite Mashonaland East and West. For example, the operational boundary was Sipolilo where ZIPRA, Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and Rhodesian Security Forces clashed. ZIPRA operated alone in Mashonaland West. No ZANLA combatants were present in that area until the later stages of the war. Beside
432-676: The house of Enos Nkala in Highfield, Salisbury . The founders were dissatisfied with the militant tactics of Nkomo . In contrast to future developments, both parties drew from both the Shona and the Ndebele , the two major tribes of the country. Both ZANU and ZAPU formed political wings within the country (under those names) and military wings: the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and
459-528: The more militant wing of ZANU, as Sithole was a proponent of détente. This crisis grew with the Mgagao Declaration, where ZANLA leaders and guerillas declared their opposition to Sithole, and led to the effective split of ZANU into a group led by Sithole, who renounced violent struggle, and the group led by Robert Mugabe and Simon Muzenda , with the support of ZANLA, who continued the murder and intimidation of farmers. Both groups continued to use
486-623: The name ZANU. The Mugabe faction formed the Patriotic Front with ZAPU in 1976, and became known as ZANU-PF . Sithole's faction, dubbed " ZANU Mwenje " or "ZANU Sithole", joined a transitional government of whites and blacks in 1979, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa . When sanctions remained in place, he joined Muzorewa for the Lancaster House Agreement in London, where a new constitution and elections were prepared. At
513-533: The new Zimbabwe National Army . Those who served as the ZANLA elite in exile became the new elite in Zimbabwe, enjoying far greater benefits and perks than did those who had actually fought the Rhodesian Army in the field during the 1970s. In June 1980, after the independence of Zimbabwe, a team of Nigerian soldiers came to convey former pro-independence guerrilla fighters to Nigeria for recruitment in
540-420: The norm. At its camps for training cadres in Mozambique and Zambia, all new ZANLA cadres were publicly beaten by their officers until they lose control of their bowels to determine if they were "sell-outs" to the revolution and huge pit structures called chikaribotso were dug for holding prisoners as many of the cadres did not pass the test to see if they were loyal to the revolution. For the party, Gukurahundi ,
567-597: The overall political ideologies, the main differences between ZIPRA and ZANLA were that: ZIPRA was in formal alliance with uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the ANC 's militant wing. ZIPRA and MK mounted a celebrated, if strategically unsuccessful, raid into Rhodesia in the mid-1960s. The incursion was stopped by Rhodesian Security Forces, working in concert with the South African Police . In 1978 and 1979 ZIPRA downed two civilian passenger planes of Air Rhodesia , killing
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#1732766308275594-500: The predominantly Ndebele ZIPRA mostly operated. There were a lot of clashes between the two forces. ZANLA fighters were well known for their savagery when it came to dealing with Ndebele civilians who were usually taken into what were called overnight bases and forced to sing songs in Shona denouncing ZAPU and its leader Joshua Nkomo . These ZANLA cadres had a love for chicken and a local staple food known as Sadza . Each time they came to
621-537: Was ZANU's military wing. There were two splits within ZANU prior to independence. The first was with Nathan Shamuyarira and others leaving to join the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (FROLIZI) in 1973 after Shamuyarira's bid for the party leadership was defeated by Chitepo. Following the assassination of Chitepo on 18 March 1975, Sithole assumed leadership of the party, but faced immediate opposition from
648-435: Was based in camps around Lusaka , Zambia. Until 1972 ZANLA was led by the nationalist leader Herbert Chitepo . He was followed by Josiah Tongogara from 1973 until his death in 1979; by then ZANLA had an estimated 25,500 combatants. With the war drawing to a close, commands fell to Robert Mugabe , previously ZANU's number two leader after Tongogara and head of the movement's political wing. Until about 1971, ZANLA's strategy
675-634: Was based on direct confrontation with the Rhodesian Security Forces . From 1972 onwards, ZANLA adopted the Maoist guerrilla tactics that had been used with success by the Mozambique Liberation Front ( FRELIMO ): infiltrating combatants into the country, politicising the peasantry and participating in 'hit-and-run' ambush operations. ZANLA was supported by China , which supplied arms and provided advisors to train
702-453: Was the best solution to any problem, and that the ZANU cadres should embrace the "gun idea" of ruthlessly seeking to gun down all enemies of the party. The ZANLA gloried the gun as a symbol of power and of "cleaning up the rot" as the purges to liquidate cadres who showed insufficient willingness to embrace the party line wholeheartedly were known. The ZANU leadership ruled via fear, and Ndlovu-Gatsheni described "violent disciplinary measures" and
729-629: Was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), a Marxist–Leninist political party in Rhodesia . It participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe ). ZIPRA (or often ZPRA) was formed during the 1960s by the nationalist leader Jason Moyo , the deputy of Joshua Nkomo . Because ZAPU's political strategy combined political negotiations and armed force, ZIPRA developed as elaborately training both regular soldiers and guerrilla fighters, although and by 1979 it had an estimated 20,000 combatants, based in camps around Lusaka , Zambia and at
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