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Abstract
Discipline is a subject more referred to than examined in the history of Zimbabwe's liberation war. While there are references to the administration of punishment in specific circumstances or, more often, contemptuous remarks by Rhodesian soldiers regarding the unprofessional conduct of guerrillas in general, few studies have investigated the systematic deployment of disciplinary structures in Zimbabwe's guerrilla movements. Drawing on internal sources, this article explores this subject by focusing on the Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (ZANLA), the armed wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), in the 1960s and 1970s. These sources show that there was a thin line between the party and its army. The rules governing both were mutually interchangeable under the principle that the ‘vanguard party’ should guide the gun. The orthodox view regarding the ‘triumph of the military’ in ZANU is confirmed, but the article goes further to demonstrate how the ZANU High Command gained the capacity to determine the management of discipline and the administration of punishment such that it was, in practice, the gun that guided the party. With time ZANU became highly militarised. The article identifies three phases of this process. Towards the end of the war, and after ZANU and ZANLA had undergone a series of internal crises, they faced a serious challenge of ‘anarchism’ in the operational zones. This required ZANU's renewed Central Committee to organise a strategy to restore order. This strategy, spearheaded by the Departments of Defence and of the Commissariat, inadvertently elevated these two units as the party's most influential and powerful organs, a legacy that haunts ZANU to this day.
Notes
1 ZANU(PF) Draft Constitution, Presented to the Second People's Congress by the Central Committee, 8–13 August 1984.
*This article was first presented to a panel on ‘Discipline and Punishment’ at the African Studies Association (UK) annual conference in Oxford in September 2010. I am grateful to the organizer Professor Jocelyn Alexander for her support and critical input throughout its formulation and revision. I also wish to thank the Journal of Southern African Studies for the generous grant that made this possible, and Professors Ngwabi Bhebe and Terence Ranger for kindly availing to me some critical sources on the subject matter from their personal collections. Equally, I wish to acknowledge the access I was given by the ZANU-PF Department of Information and Publicity to their Archives which went a long way in determining the scope of this article.
2 E.Z. Tekere, A Lifetime of Struggle (SAPES Books, Harare, 2007), p. 62.
3 See D. Martin and P. Johnson, The Struggle for Zimbabwe (London, Monthly Review Press, 1981), p. 10 and D. Cowderoy and R.C. Nesbit, War in the Air: Rhodesian Air Force 1935–1980 (Alberton Galago, South Africa, 1987), p. 43.
4 The Ranger Papers, Doc. Ranger 00272, I. Chigwendere, ‘The Political Roots of ZANU’, n.d., available at www.aluka.org.
5 ZANU, ‘ZANU's Political Programme’, Mwenje, No. 2., Lusaka, Zambia, 1 August 1972, in C. Nyangoni and G. Nyandoro (eds), Zimbabwe Independence Movements: Select Documents (Rex Collings, London, 1979), pp. 249–51.
6 Chigwendere, ‘The Political Roots of ZANU’.
7 ZANU(PF) Archives, ‘Table of Hierarchies’, n.d.
8 Phelekezela Mphoko, ‘The Joint Military Command: Mbeya Tanzania March 1972 and the Zimbabwe People's Army, September 1975’, unpublished mimeo. See also Retired Air Marshall Josiah Tungamirai's account in C. Makari, Magamba EChimurenga (Gweru, Mambo Press, 2005), Chapter 10.
9 Interview between Ngwabi Bhebe and William Ndangana, 1984, Zimbabwe Oral History Trust (ZOHT) Collection; National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ), Oral History Collection (OHC) (Unclassified), ‘Capturing A Fading Memory’ Collection, Interview with Emmerson Mnangagwa, August 2006.
10 See Z.W. Sadomba, War Veterans in Zimbabwe's Revolution: Challenging Colonialism and Settler and International Capital (Woodbridge, James Currey, 2011), p. 14.
11 ZANU, ‘ZANU's Political Programme’, pp. 249–51.
12 ZANU, ‘ZANU's Political Programme’, p. 252.
13 ZANU, ‘ZANU's Political Programme’
14 ZANU, ‘ZANU's Political Programme’
15 R.G. Mugabe, ‘ZANU Carries the Burden of History’, Zimbabwe News, 10, 2 (May–June 1978), p. 56.
16 ZANU, ‘ZANU's Political Programme’, p. 253.
17 ZANU, ‘ZANU's Political Programme’, p. 254.
18 Interview with Cde. Dzinashe Machingura (Wilfred Mhanda), Sunridge, Harare, 1 May 2011.
19 Based on ‘Political Education in ZANU’, Abridged notes prepared and authorised for publication by ZANU Chief Political Commissar Mayor Urimbo, Zimbabwe News, 10, 1(10 January 1978), p. 57.
20 M. Sithole, Zimbabwe: Struggles within the Struggle (Harare, Rujeko Publishers, [1979] 1999), p. 103.
21 Interview with Dzinashe Machingura.
22 Mphoko, ‘The Joint Military Command’.
23 See for instance L. White, The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo: Texts and Politics in Zimbabwe (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2003); F. Chung, Re-Living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle (Harare, Weaver Press, 2007); and Sithole, Zimbabwe.
24 Sadomba, War Veterans in Zimbabwe's Revolution, p. 46.
25 Sithole, Zimbabwe, pp. 66–7.
26 Chung, Re-Living the Second Chimurenga, p. 89.
27 Makari, Magamba EChimurenga, pp. 95–105.
28 White, The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo, p. 22.
29 White, The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo, p. 37.
30 White, The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo, p. 28.
31 R.J.N. Gumbo, ‘Reflections on my Role in the Liberation Struggle of Zimbabwe’, unpublished manuscript, ZOHT Collections, p. 15.
32 Chung, Reliving the Second Chimurenga, p. 93.
33 See for instance D. B. Moore, ‘The Zimbabwe People's Army: Strategic Innovation or More of the Same?’ in N. Bhebe and T.O. Ranger (eds) Soldiers in Zimbabwe's Liberation War (University of Zimbabwe Publications, Harare, 1995) and, more recently, Sadomba, War Veterans in Zimbabwe's Revolution.
34 Gumbo, ‘Reflections on My Role’, p. 9.
35 T.O. Ranger, Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe (London, James Currey, 1985), pp. 206–7.
36 D.B. Moore, ‘Democracy, Violence, and Identity in the Zimbabwean War of National Liberation: Reflections from the Realm of Dissent’, Canadian Journal of African Studies, 29, 3 (1995), p. 389.
37 Moore, ‘Democracy, Violence, and Identity in the Zimbabwean War of National Liberation’, p. 90.
38 Interview with Cde. Dzinashe Machingura.
39 Moore, ‘Democracy, Violence and Identity in the Zimbabwean War of National Liberation’.
40 Sadomba, War Veterans in Zimbabwe's Revolution, p. 38.
41 Sadomba, War Veterans in Zimbabwe's Revolution, p. 22.
42 Doc. 31, ‘The Mgagao Declaration By Zimbabwe Freedom Fighters ca. Oct. 1975’, in Baumhogger, The Struggle for Independence, vol. II.
43 Interview with Cde. Dzinashe Machingura.
44 Sadomba, War Veterans in Zimbabwe's Revolution, pp. 22, 27. Sadomba cites the case of Morrison Nyathi, a senior ZANLA commander from the Chitepo era, who was demoted by a review committee and defected to the Rhodesian Forces in bitterness.
45 Rtd. Major Alex Mudavanhu, ‘The War Memoirs of Cde Feya Muchabvuma: A ZANLA Combatant's Story of Zimbabwe's Liberation War’, unpublished manuscript, Masvingo, 2007, p. 56. Cited with the permission of the ZOHT.
46 Interview with Pardon Humanikwa (Cde Pardon Patiripakashata), ZANU PF HQ, Harare, 14 February 2007.
47 Mudavanhu, ‘The War Memoirs of Cde. Feya Muchabvuma’, p. 58.
48 Mudavanhu, ‘The War Memoirs of Cde. Feya Muchabvuma’, p. 59.
49 See N. Kriger, Zimbabwe's Guerilla War: Peasant Voices (Harare, Baobab Books, 1992), Chapter 5.
50 See Chung, Re-Living the Second Chimurenga, Chapter 11.
51 Much of the content of this education is elaborated in the Commissariat Lecture series, which were serialised in the Zimbabwe News from 1978 onwards. See for instance ‘Political Education in ZANU’, Zimbabwe News, 10, 1 (1978), pp. 53–9.
52 See for example, ‘Rhodesian Mercenary Pilot Captured’, Zimbabwe News, 9, 4 (1977), ‘Confessions of Wonderful Mukoyi, Captured Selous Scouts’, Zimbabwe News, 9, 5–6 (1977), and ‘Confessions of Johanne Kambanje Kaodza’, Zimbabwe News, 10, 1 (1978), p. 19, among others.
53 Gumbo, ‘Reflections on My Role’, p. 45.
54 I. Mandaza, ‘Edgar Tekere and Zimbabwe's Struggle for Independence’, in Tekere, A Lifetime of Struggle, p. 13.
55 Chung, Re-Living the Second Chimurenga, pp. 180–81.
56 See, ‘Excerpt of Letter from J.M. Tongogara/K. Kangai/R.N. Gumbo to R. Mugabe’, 24 January 1976, Doc. 35, and ‘Dare ReChimurenga Leadership's Declaration on Mugabe's Leadership of ZANU’, 24 January 1976, Doc. 36, in Baumhogger, The Struggle For Independence, p. 29.
57 Ranger Papers, Doc. R00325, ‘E. Zvobgo’, Classified as ‘Unknown ZANU’, available at www.aluka.org. See also Zimbabwe News from 1977 onwards.
58 E. Tekere, ‘The State of the Party’, Doc. 450, in Baumhogger, The Struggle for Independence, Vol. III, p. 499.
59 Tekere, ‘The State of the Party’.
60 E. Tekere, ‘The State of the Party’, Doc. 450, in Baumhogger, The Struggle for Independence, vol. III
61 See R.G. Mugabe, ‘Opening Address to the First Zimbabwe Women's Seminar’, Zimbabwe News, 11, 1 (January–June 1979), p. 80.
63 Mugabe, ‘Defining the Line’, pp. 37–8.
62 R.G. Mugabe, ‘Defining the Line’, Speech delivered at a Central Committee Meeting at Chimoio between August 31 and September 8, 1977, in R.G. Mugabe, Our War of Liberation: Speeches, Articles, Interviews 1976–1979 (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1983), p. 33.
64 ZANU(PF), ‘Presidential Address to the Plenary Session of the Enlarged Central Committee’, 27–29 December 1978.
65 Gumbo, ‘Reflections on my Role’, p. 42.
66 NAZ, File MS939, H. Hamadziripi, Chimoio Prison, to Aquina Braghanza [Aquino de Braganca], Director of African Studies, [Eduardo] Mondlane University, 23 February 1978.
67 Gumbo, ‘Reflections on My Role’, p. 45.
68 For Muzenda's role see Bhebe, Simon Muzenda, p. 220.
69 Tekere, A Lifetime of Struggle, pp. 102–3.
70 Tekere, A Lifetime of Struggle, p. 102.
71 Gumbo, ‘Reflections on my Role’, p. 46.
73 Zvobgo, ‘The ZANU Idea’. Emphasis in original.
74 E. Zvobgo, ‘The ZANU Idea’, Programmatic Speech and Article, 8 August 1979, Doc. 28, in Baumhogger, The Struggle For Independence, vol. II, p. 24.
72 E. Zvobgo, ‘The ZANU Idea’, Programmatic Speech and Article, 8 August 1979, Doc. 28, in Baumhogger, The Struggle For Independence, Vol. II, p. 23.
75 R. Mugabe, ‘Imperialist Plotting to Create a Neo-Colonialist Buffer Zone in Zimbabwe’, Address to The Zimbabwe Nation over Radio Maputo's Voice of Zimbabwe on the eve of his return from the Malta Constitutional Conference on 24 February 1978, Zimbabwe News, 10, 1 (1978), p. 6.
76 H. Ellert, Rhodesian Front War: Counter-insurgency and Guerilla Warfare 1962–1980 (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1993), pp. 179–95.
77 Major Gen. T. Mugoba, ‘ZANLA Operations in Gaza Province: Reflections on the Futility of the Fighting Doctrine of the Rhodesian Security Forces 1976–79’ (BA Honours Thesis, University of Zimbabwe, 1995), makes reference to the existence of such bases in ZANLA's Gaza operational province in Mberengwa and Gezani, although he warns that talk of well-established training bases could be an exaggeration.
78 E. Tekere, ‘The State of the Party’, Doc. 450, Baumhogger, The Struggle for Independence, Vol. III, p. 499.
79 ZANU(PF) Archives, ZANU Operational Department, Department of Defence (ODDD), ‘Political Report Covering Part of the Southern Front as per Sub-Area: Sector 2: Matibi 1 and Belingwe’, 4 June 1978.
80 ZANU(PF) Archives, ZANU Operational Department, Department of Defence (ODDD), ‘Political Report Covering Part of the Southern Front as per Sub-Area: Sector 2: Matibi 1 and Belingwe’, 4 June 1978, p. 8.
81 ZANU(PF) Archives, ZANU Operational Department, Department of Defence (ODDD), Political Report for Gaza Sector 3, p. 11.
82 Interview with Retired Brigadier General Benjamin Mabenge (Cde Freddie Matanga), Linguistics Sound Lab, University of Zimbabwe, 24 February 2007. For Matanga's reputation, see J. Nhongo-Simbanegavi, ‘Zimbabwe Women in the Liberation Struggle: ZANLA and its Legacy 1972–1985’ (D.Phil. Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997), p. 192.
83 Interview with Retired Major Dickson Dzora (Cde. Dix Marxism), ZANU(PF) Headquarters, Harare, 15 February 2007.
84 Ranger Papers, Doc. Ranger 00103, Maurice Nyagumbo, Salisbury Central Prison, to Robert Mugabe and the ZANU Central Committee, c. June 1979, available at www.aluka.org.
85 Ranger Papers, Doc. Ranger 00103, Maurice Nyagumbo, Salisbury Central Prison, to Robert Mugabe and the ZANU Central Committee, c. June 1979, available at www.aluka.org
86 ZANU, ‘Detailed Minutes of the Third Plenary Session of the Enlarged Central Committee’, 27–29 December 1978.
87 ZANU, ‘Detailed Minutes of the Third Plenary Session of the Enlarged Central Committee’, 27–29 December 1978
88 ZANU, ‘Detailed Minutes of the Third Plenary Session of the Enlarged Central Committee’, 27–29 December 1978
89 ZANU, ‘Detailed Minutes of the Third Plenary Session of the Enlarged Central Committee’, 27–29 December 1978
90 ZANU, ‘Detailed Minutes of the Third Plenary Session of the Enlarged Central Committee’, 27–29 December 1978 The only other addition to the ZANU Structure apart from this was the post of Administrative Secretary, to which Nathan Shamuyarira was appointed after some shortcomings were identified in the department of Administration falling directly under the office of the Secretary-General.
91 ZANU Draft Constitution, August 1984, pp. 6–7.