DISCUSSION : HISTORY IN FOCUS
Mugabe: Power and Plunder in Zimbabwe
Martin Meredith
Published in February 2002, this book tells the story of Robert Mugabe’s seizure of power and the journey to a dictatorship.
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Zimbabwe's Political History
The Origins of Racial Tension
The land today called Zimbabwe is thought to have been populated from at least 300AD, when a Neolithic Bantu-speaking civilisation inhabited the land south of the Zambezi River. Later centuries saw the arrival of Iron Age peoples from the north, and the discovery of gold deposits throughout the land. Small gold mines began to be worked as early as the 8th century AD, and trade was established with Swahili and Arab merchants from eastern Africa.
The rise and fall of Mashonaland
Shona-speaking people, whose language was the forefather of the dominant tongue in today's Zimbabwe, migrated from the north to the area during the 9th and 10th centuries, and by 1200 had established Mashonaland in eastern Zimbabwe. The Shona thrived through the mining and trading of minerals. They also famously built in stone, leaving Zimbabwe a rich legacy of magnificent ruins mostly in the Great Zimbabwe area, and also giving the country its name - Zimbabwe means 'stone house'.
Under King Mutota, the Shona empire enjoyed its greatest period of expansion between 1450 and 1500. At that point, Mashonaland included most of present-day Zimbabwe, as well as large swathes of what is now Mozambique. The Shona were subsequently defeated by the Rozwi, whose domination of Zimbabwe lasted well into the 19th century. Portuguese explorers had reached the country by 16th century, but by 1690 most had been forced away, and two centuries of relative peace and prosperity ensued. The remaining Shona were attacked in 1837 by the Matabele, Zulu peoples, who settled in Western Zimbabwe, then called Matabeleland. The Rozwi empire fell a few decades later as a result of invasions led by Mzilikazi, leader of the Matabele.
Britain and Cecil Rhodes
Mzilikazi was succeeded by his son, Lobengula, who was to be the last Matabele ruler. By the 1880s, Matabele rule was increasingly threatened by the European presence in the south, and in 1888, Lobengula signed an agreement - the Rudd Concession - with representatives of Cecil Rhodes. This was the first key moment that spawned the Zimbabwe of today. As far as Lobengula understood, the agreement gave permission for Rhodes' British South Africa Company to mine gold in Zimbabwe. He also accepted British protection. However, to Rhodes, the treaty meant that the British South Africa Company now had sovereignty of the land, and in 1895 the region became Rhodesia, following an unsuccessful rebellion by Lobengula. Another Matabele attempt to regain independence failed in 1897.
The white population grew to 24,000 by 1911, and the land was then divided into Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). In the 1922 referendum, Southern Rhodesia elected to become a 'responsible self-government', rather than joining the Union of South Africa, and the white minority now had absolute rule. Black politics were effectively quashed when financial qualifications were set-up, allowing only those of certain incomes to vote. The 1930 land act excluded Africans from ownership of much farming land, and a further act in 1934 prohibited African participation in skilled professions. As a result, Africans worked primarily for white-owned farms, factories and mines.
White Rule
Southern Rhodesia's prosperity grew spectacularly on the strength of the tobacco crop after World War II - Africans from Zambia and Malawi moved to the country seeking better wages, and immigration from South Africa and Britain was equally healthy. By the end of the 1940s, moves were in place to create a Central African Federation of Southern and Northern Rhodesia, which would bolster the economies of both.
The Federation, which also included Nyasaland (now Malawi), was established in 1953, and lasted for ten years. In 1958, the premier of Southern Rhodesia, Garfield Todd, was thrown from power, following his attempts to grant more power to the Africans, and Sir Edgar Whitehead assumed leadership.
The Federation collapsed in 1963, having endured Black African opposition from the start. Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia became the independent African states of Malawi and Zambia respectively, paving the way for eventual majority black rule. Southern Rhodesia remained a white-ruled British colony, despite the fact that whites were outnumbered by blacks to the ratio of 23: 1. The ten years of the Federation had led to the formation of several black opposition groups, angered by their lack of a political voice. Foremost amongst these was the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), which had been banned in 1961. ZAPU transmogrified into ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) in 1963, led by Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole. ZANU's secretary general was Robert Gabriel Mugabe (born 1925), a descendant of the Shona people who had been educated at Fort Hare University in South Africa.
Black Opposition
In the early 1960s, the white contingent of Southern Rhodesia (by now simply known as Rhodesia) made attempts to mollify black African political leaders. In November 1962, the United Federal Party, still under Sir Edgar Whitehead, promised an end to racism. Disastrously, this pledge led to their total defeat in the elections, and the extreme right-wing Rhodesia Front, headed by Winston Field, took over. Field demanded complete independence from Britain, which Britain was prepared to grant so long as majority - i.e. black - rule swiftly ensued. The Rhodesia Front refused this condition
In 1964, Field, astonishingly not considered right wing enough by his party, was replaced by Ian Smith. All black opposition groups were banned, including ZANU and the revived ZAPU. Mugabe and Sithole were imprisoned, along with ZAPU's leader, Joshua Nkomo. On 11 November 1965, Ian Smith issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), immediately declared illegal by Britain.
The UDI and the Rhodesia Front were deemed to be a rebellion against the crown. Harold Wilson imposed sanctions on the breakaway colony, in the hope of felling the Smith regime, however Rhodesia's economy confounded all expectations by actually continuing to grow. Subsequent meetings between Smith and the British government came to nothing.
Independence Talks
Meanwhile, increasing guerrilla warfare by ZAPU and ZANU succeeded in increasing white emigration from Rhodesia, and by 1975, Nkomo, Sithole and Mugabe were released from prison. The African National Council (ANC), formed in 1971 and led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa joined discussions with ZAPU and ZANU to liberate black Rhodesia. Meanwhile, guerrilla warfare continued apace, led primarily by Mugabe's ZANU members.
Talks between Smith and the ANC, and later Smith and Nkomo, who had started a separate branch of the ANC, failed - the demand for a transition to majority rule again refused by Smith. In the wake of these failed talks, black military struggle in Rhodesia was stepped up dramatically. In September 1976, after increased Anglo-American pressure, Smith promised majority rule within two years. Nkomo and Mugabe had by now joined to form the Patriotic Front (PF).
The Land Tenure Bill was amended, giving all citizens the right to purchase land, and Smith, in the face of a mass white exodus from Rhodesia, approached Sithole and the ANC's Muzurewa with a proposed deal: power would be handed over to them provided guarantees were afforded to the whites - a minimum of 28 seats in the 100 seat parliament, a veto over legislation for 10 years, and white control of the army air force, police and civil service. Muzurewa agreed, and became prime minister in June 1979, however the new constitution was denounced by Mugabe and Nkomo, who continued warfare from bases in Mozambique.
The New State Of Zimbabwe
In 1979, economic and trade sanctions were lifted by Britain under Margaret Thatcher's Lancaster House Agreement. Independent elections were held in 1980, won by Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, and in April 1980 the new state of Zimbabwe became fully independent under the rule of Rev Canaan Banana as president and Mugabe as prime minister. Following a rift between PF and ZAPU, Nkomo was thrown from the cabinet, and fled to England.
In the 1985 elections, Mugabe's popularity soared, and in 1988 the condition allowing whites 20 seats in parliament was rescinded. President Banana had retired in 1987, and Mugabe combined the positions of president and prime minister. Nkomo returned as vice president, following reconciliation between ZANU-PF and ZAPU. Mugabe was re-elected as Zimbabwe's president in March 1990, despite the presence of the new Zimbabwe Unity Movement, headed by Edgar Tekere, which supported capitalism and multiparty democracy, as opposed to Mugabe's insistence on a one-party state.
Land Resettlement
Mugabe first mentioned the redistribution of land in 1991, declaring that half the land belonging to white farmers would be allocated to blacks. This led to increased support of Mugabe in rural areas, and he was again re-elected in 1995, despite opposition from the United Front, formed by Ian Smith and Rev Sithole, and the Forum Party, formed in 1993. The land redistribution programme, meanwhile, moved sluggishly because of insufficient funds.
In 1997, ZANU-PF was accused of co-opting funds intended for veterans of the independence struggle, and using them elsewhere. Increased benefits for veterans were agreed upon, which in turn led to a sudden, sharp increase in taxes. By 1998, the consequences of these taxes came into play: rioters in thier thousands descended on Harare, and a state-wide labour strike began.
Recent History
Mugabe announced that the redistribution of land would now be sped up, and that white farmers would no longer be compensated; a list of 1000 properties was published and circulated. Mugabe's actions are directly responsible for the innumerable, hideously violent invasions of white-owned farms, led by black veterans of the liberation war in the months leading up to the recent elections. Hundreds of farm workers have been beaten and tortured, and farm owners murdered. ZANU-PF won the June parliamentary elections, but for the first time in 20 years, they did so only narrowly - the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won 57 of 120 seats, despite the campaign of intimidation levelled at its supporters by Mugabe.
Since the election, gangs have occupied a further 30 white-owned properties, and death threats have been issued against yet more farm-owning whites. At the beginning of July, Mugabe announced that white farms must now be taken 'with a sense of urgency'. The deadline for farmers to appeal against the seizure of their land expired on July 3. The most bitter of ironies is revealed in one of Mugabe's most celebrated quotations: "It could never be a correct justification that, because the whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, that the blacks must oppress them today because they have power."