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16-874: Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army ( ZIPRA ) 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

32-530: A guerrilla war against it. The armed wing of ZAPU, known as the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), was founded by Moyo and commanded by General Lookout Masuku . ZAPU was separate from ZANU as its armed wing, ZIPRA, was aligned with the Soviet Union , who prioritised mobilizing urban workers, whereas ZANU had a pro- People's Republic of China orientation which prioritised mobilizing

48-775: A meeting arranged with an informant from the country's Central Intelligence Organisation , but could not attend so sent Masuku in his stead. They judged this meeting very important, as the informant claimed that a few weeks earlier that Josiah Tongogara was killed in an ambush in Mozambique. The meeting took place in the Wimpy Bar in Salisbury (Harare), organised by "The Senator", which was his codename. He died on 5 April 1986 at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare from cryptococcal meningitis . SW Radio Africa expressed doubt about

64-464: 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

80-635: The Umniati ), was shot down on 12 February 1979 by ZIPRA guerrillas, again using an SA-7 SAM. Zimbabwe African People%27s Union The Zimbabwe African People's Union ( ZAPU ) is a Zimbabwean political party. It is a militant communist organization and political party that campaigned for majority rule in Rhodesia , from its founding in 1961 until 1980. In 1987, it merged with the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU – PF). The party

96-584: The ZIPRA intelligence chief, for allegedly planning a coup d'état against then-Prime Minister Robert Mugabe. The Supreme Court found Masuku, Dabengwa, and four others not guilty in 1983, but police detained them again under emergency regulations, holding them for four years. The government released Masuku because of poor health and Vote Moyo , a ZAPU official, on 11 March 1986. Masuku arrived in Rhodesia with Dumiso Dabengwa on 24 December 1979. Dabengwa had

112-474: 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

128-521: 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

144-503: The mandate to convene a two-day congress starting 11 April 2009. The congress would formally endorse the pullout from ZANU and elect an executive for the party. The party congress of 2009, which was supposed to elect new leadership, took place a month later than scheduled, on 16 May 2009. The congress formally endorsed the party's withdrawal from ZANU PF and withdrew support for its former members who had chosen to remain in ZANU. The congress

160-778: The midst of ongoing negotiations with rival parties, a group of former PF ZAPU and Zipra members loudly pushed to dissolve the alliance with ZANU – PF. The members convened a meeting on 8 November, and it was decided that: Ex-ZIPRA cadres officially withdrew their membership from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, which was under the administration of ZANU PF. They revived ZIPRA, led by Benny Ncube as chairperson, Tapson Moyo as vice chairperson, Petros Sibanda as secretary, Job Ndlovu as deputy secretary, Belinda Ndebele as treasurer, and committee members are Stanley Ncube and Clement Malaba Ncube. The committee's mandate

176-550: The official circumstances of Masuku's death, saying it was "suspicious." The Mugabe government later declared Masuku a national hero. On 18 November 2017, the Government of Zimbabwe decided to honor some of the nation's prominent Liberation War Heroes by renaming some of the country's military barracks after them. Llewellin Barracks, situated on the outskirts of the city of Bulawayo , was renamed Lookout Masuku Barracks for

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192-597: 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

208-583: The rural peasantry. It was relaunched in 2008 by Joshua Nkomo's son, Michael Nkomo. In 1980, ZAPU contested elections in Zimbabwe as the Patriotic Front, but lost to its rival ZANU . They merged into ZANU–PF in 1987 following the Gukurahundi massacres . The Unity Accord signed at that meeting stated that: Under the influence of Benny Ncube and Dumiso Dabengwa in mid-October 2008, in

224-630: Was attended by delegates from the country's 10 provinces as well as representatives from Canada, South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland . The party's new platform promised to restore "respectable nationhood" where the people were "the pivot around which proper, able and accountable leadership is elected." A full Congress was held in August 2010, at which a full policy was agreed and leadership elected with Dumiso Dabengwa as president and Emilia Mukaratirwa as vice-president. Lookout Masuku In 1982 Zimbabwean police arrested Masuku and Dumiso Dabengwa ,

240-650: Was formed on 17 December 1961, 10 days after the Rhodesian government banned the National Democratic Party (NDP) . It was founded by Joshua Nkomo as president, Samuel Parirenyatwa as vice-president, Ndabaningi Sithole as chairman, Jason Moyo as treasurer, Robert Mugabe as information and publicity secretary, and Leopold Takawira as external secretary. ZAPU was banned in 1962 by the Rhodesian white minority government, and later engaged in

256-512: Was to set up the association's structures in provinces and districts in preparation for the inaugural congress where the substantive executive was to be elected. The association would work closely with the mother party ZAPU. At the party conference, the ZAPU National Consultative Convention, held from 13 to 14 December 2008, Dumiso Dabengwa , a former Home Affairs minister was elected interim chairperson with

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