stories they told made a deep and lasting impression on white Rhodesians. They feared the same would happen at home; they feared being put in a similar predicament by Rhodesian politicians.
The memories of the Congo burnt bright in the minds of the Rhodesian electorate. Then, just 10 days before the 1962 general election, the ZAPU leaders were set free. This was too much for many white people and rang like a death knell for the Whitehead government. A new right-wing party, the Rhodesian Front (RF), launched by Ian Smith and ‘Boss’ Lilford, won the election. Winston Field became the new prime minister. Field did not last long. The new government’s lurch to the right and his failure to secure early independence cost him his job. He resigned as prime minister in 1963 to be succeeded by the first Rhodesian-born prime minister, Ian Smith.
Smith, a BCom graduate from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, was a different type of leader. When World War II broke out, he volunteered for service. After his pilot training in Southern Rhodesia, he was seconded to the Royal Air Force (RAF). Smith was badly injured when his Hawker Hurricane fighter plane crashed in Egypt in 1943. As soon as he was fit again, he returned to flying until his Spitfire was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire over Italy in 1944. He bailed out and spent months with partisans before reaching Allied lines. Although he had shown a strong loyalty to the Crown by volunteering to fight for Britain, he would take a much firmer line with Britain over independence.
The RF victory and Field’s demise shocked the ZAPU leadership and put paid to any lingering hopes they may have had that the 1961 Constitution could be amended. The nationalists concluded that as a political party, ZAPU was wasting its time pursuing a negotiated settlement. This is when the majority of the executive decided that an armed insurrection was the only way to bring about change.
However, cracks in the party leadership showed again when Nkomo, opposed to a violent uprising, went against the majority. He strongly believed that diplomatic pressure would win the day. More leadership divisions started appearing, this time of a tribal nature: not all the Shona members of the executive took kindly to being led by an Ndebele. This tribal animosity was deeply ingrained in Rhodesia, and a Shona-dominated party was beginning to take shape.
The Ndebele, a name originating from maTebele in Sotho or ama-Ndebele in Nguni, meaning ‘nomads’, were an offshoot of King Shaka’s Zulu nation. They had settled in Bulawayo, in the south of present-day Zimbabwe, after being defeated in 1836 by white Dutch-speaking pioneers, the Voortrekkers, in the Transvaal province of neighbouring South Africa.
At the time the Ndebele arrived, the country was a federation of chiefdoms controlled by a changamire , a king or general of the Rozwi dynasty. These chiefdoms, which spoke different dialects, were given a collective name by outsiders – the Shona people.
Once Mzilikazi, the Ndebele king, had settled in his new land, he set his sights on the north and soon went on the rampage, killing the ruling changamire and forcing most of the Shona, who outnumbered the Ndebele, to flee to the north and east to escape his raiding impis. For protection, the Shona built small stone fortifications in the granite hills, thousands of which are still standing today, especially in Mashonaland and Manicaland.
Nkomo would have to contend with this historical baggage as he grappled to hold together his Ndebele and Shona party.
2
The birth of ZANU and UDI
As disenchantment set in with Nkomo’s leadership, it came as no surprise when a group of rebel nationalists met in Salisbury, at the Highfield home of Enos Nkala. The rebels publicly announced their launch of a new party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). The same day, Nkomo announced the formation of the People’s Caretaker Council, which was essentially a
The memories of the Congo burnt bright in the minds of the Rhodesian electorate. Then, just 10 days before the 1962 general election, the ZAPU leaders were set free. This was too much for many white people and rang like a death knell for the Whitehead government. A new right-wing party, the Rhodesian Front (RF), launched by Ian Smith and ‘Boss’ Lilford, won the election. Winston Field became the new prime minister. Field did not last long. The new government’s lurch to the right and his failure to secure early independence cost him his job. He resigned as prime minister in 1963 to be succeeded by the first Rhodesian-born prime minister, Ian Smith.
Smith, a BCom graduate from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, was a different type of leader. When World War II broke out, he volunteered for service. After his pilot training in Southern Rhodesia, he was seconded to the Royal Air Force (RAF). Smith was badly injured when his Hawker Hurricane fighter plane crashed in Egypt in 1943. As soon as he was fit again, he returned to flying until his Spitfire was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire over Italy in 1944. He bailed out and spent months with partisans before reaching Allied lines. Although he had shown a strong loyalty to the Crown by volunteering to fight for Britain, he would take a much firmer line with Britain over independence.
The RF victory and Field’s demise shocked the ZAPU leadership and put paid to any lingering hopes they may have had that the 1961 Constitution could be amended. The nationalists concluded that as a political party, ZAPU was wasting its time pursuing a negotiated settlement. This is when the majority of the executive decided that an armed insurrection was the only way to bring about change.
However, cracks in the party leadership showed again when Nkomo, opposed to a violent uprising, went against the majority. He strongly believed that diplomatic pressure would win the day. More leadership divisions started appearing, this time of a tribal nature: not all the Shona members of the executive took kindly to being led by an Ndebele. This tribal animosity was deeply ingrained in Rhodesia, and a Shona-dominated party was beginning to take shape.
The Ndebele, a name originating from maTebele in Sotho or ama-Ndebele in Nguni, meaning ‘nomads’, were an offshoot of King Shaka’s Zulu nation. They had settled in Bulawayo, in the south of present-day Zimbabwe, after being defeated in 1836 by white Dutch-speaking pioneers, the Voortrekkers, in the Transvaal province of neighbouring South Africa.
At the time the Ndebele arrived, the country was a federation of chiefdoms controlled by a changamire , a king or general of the Rozwi dynasty. These chiefdoms, which spoke different dialects, were given a collective name by outsiders – the Shona people.
Once Mzilikazi, the Ndebele king, had settled in his new land, he set his sights on the north and soon went on the rampage, killing the ruling changamire and forcing most of the Shona, who outnumbered the Ndebele, to flee to the north and east to escape his raiding impis. For protection, the Shona built small stone fortifications in the granite hills, thousands of which are still standing today, especially in Mashonaland and Manicaland.
Nkomo would have to contend with this historical baggage as he grappled to hold together his Ndebele and Shona party.
2
The birth of ZANU and UDI
As disenchantment set in with Nkomo’s leadership, it came as no surprise when a group of rebel nationalists met in Salisbury, at the Highfield home of Enos Nkala. The rebels publicly announced their launch of a new party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). The same day, Nkomo announced the formation of the People’s Caretaker Council, which was essentially a
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