The 1980 Entumbane clashes, also known as Entumbane I, occurred in and around Bulawayo, Zimbabwe between 9 and 10 November 1980, amid political tensions in the months immediately following Zimbabwean independence.[1]
Fighting broke out in the city's western suburb of Entumbane between groups of guerrillas from the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and others from the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), days after the two factions were put into coterminous assembly camps there to await integration into the new Zimbabwe National Army.[1] A four-hour firefight, precipitated by a speech by government minister Enos Nkala threatening that ZANLA would ultimately destroy ZIPRA,[2] ended when the largely white-ledBSAP Support Unit, numbering over 280 men from Echo Troop, Juliet Troop, Hotel Troop, Charlie Troop and Lima Troop, intervened on behalf of the government.[citation needed] (The Rhodesian African Rifles at that time were confined to barracks due to disagreements about integration into the new Zimbabwean National Army. They were officially on "reaction standby".)[citation needed] Officers from both guerrilla forces then called for a ceasefire.
Official government figures counted 58 dead (15 combatants and 43 civilians) and over 500 wounded, but eyewitness accounts describe a death toll running into the hundreds.[1] The conflict was followed four months later by the larger 1981 Entumbane Uprising, also known as Entumbane II, which nearly developed into a new civil war.[3]
Binda, Alexandre (November 2007). Heppenstall, David (ed.). Masodja: The History of the Rhodesian African Rifles and its forerunner the Rhodesian Native Regiment. Johannesburg: 30° South Publishers. ISBN978-1920143039.
Hill, Geoff (2005) [2003]. The Battle for Zimbabwe: The Final Countdown. Johannesburg: Struik Publishers. ISBN978-1868726523.
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The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry, served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, under the unrecognised government of Rhodesia following its 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain. During the second half of 1979 it fought for Zimbabwe Rhodesia, a black majority-ruled version of the same state which also failed to win international recognition. After an interim period under British control from December 1979 to April 1980, the RLI briefly remained active within the armed forces of Zimbabwe, but did not see action under this government. It disbanded on 31 October 1980.
The 1st Battalion, The Rhodesian Light Infantry, commonly the Rhodesian Light Infantry, served in the Rhodesian Bush War as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces between 1964 and 1979, under the unrecognised government of Rhodesia after its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain on 11 November 1965. Latterly, during the second half of 1979, it fought for Zimbabwe Rhodesia, a reorganised version of Rhodesia under a black majority government which still went unrecognised. After an interim period under British control from December 1979 to April 1980, the RLI briefly remained active within the armed forces of the internationally recognised Republic of Zimbabwe, but did not see action under this government. It laid up its colours on 17 October 1980 and disbanded two weeks later.
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ZIPRA elements
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