Ian Douglas Smith was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. He was the country's first premier not born abroad, and led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965, following prolonged dispute over the terms. He remained Prime Minister for almost all of the 14 years of international isolation that followed, and oversaw Rhodesia's security forces during most of the Bush War, which pitted the unrecognised administration against communist-backed black nationalist guerrilla groups. Smith, who has been described as personifying white Rhodesia, remains a highly controversial figure—supporters portray him as a man of integrity and vision "who understood the uncomfortable truths of Africa," while his opponents consider him "an unrepentant racist."
"Ishe Komborera Africa", also called "Ishe Komborera Zimbabwe", was the Zimbabwean national anthem from 1980 to 1994. It was the country's first national anthem after gaining independence in 1980. It is a translation of 19th-century South African schoolteacher Enoch Sontonga's popular African hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" into Zimbabwe's native Shona and Ndebele languages.
Simon Vengai Muzenda was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 2003 under President Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe Rhodesia was an unrecognised state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 11 December 1979. Zimbabwe Rhodesia was preceded by an unrecognised republic named Rhodesia and was briefly followed by the re-established British colony of Southern Rhodesia, which according to British constitutional theory had remained the lawful government in the area after Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965. About three months later, the re-established colony of Southern Rhodesia was granted internationally recognised independence within the Commonwealth as the Republic of Zimbabwe.
"Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia" was the national anthem of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe Rhodesia between 1974 and 1979. The tune was that of "Ode to Joy", the Fourth Movement from Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which had been adopted as the official European continental anthem by the Council of Europe in 1972. The music used in Rhodesia was an original sixteen-bar arrangement by Captain Ken MacDonald, the bandmaster of the Rhodesian African Rifles. A national competition was organised by the government to find an appropriate set of lyrics to match the chosen tune, and won by Mary Bloom of Gwelo.
The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) is a political organisation which has been the ruling party of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was led for many years under Robert Mugabe, first as Prime Minister with the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and then as President from 1987 after the merger with the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and retaining the name ZANU–PF, until 2017, when he was removed as leader.
Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and Georgist politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) from 1961 until it merged in 1987 with Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) to form ZANU–PF.
Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa, also commonly referred to as Bishop Muzorewa, served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979. A United Methodist Church bishop and nationalist leader, he held office for only a few months.
The Rhodesian Bush War—also called the Second Chimurenga and the Zimbabwe War of Liberation—was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia . The conflict pitted three forces against one another: the Rhodesian white minority-led government of Ian Smith ; the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, the military wing of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union; and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army of Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is the primary trade union federation in Zimbabwe. The Secretary General of ZCTU is Japhet Moyo and the president is Peter Mutasa. The former General Secretary was Morgan Tsvangirai. Jeffrey Mutandare is a former President of the ZCTU.
The Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (FROLIZI) was an African nationalist organisation established in opposition to the white minority government of Rhodesia. It was announced in Lusaka, Zambia in October 1971 as a merger of the two principal African nationalist factions in Rhodesia, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). However, it was in fact a breakaway faction of both ZAPU and ZANU, established by members of both groups who had become disaffected due to their rival organisations' incessant internal and external disputes. Its domination by members of the Zezuru, a subgroup of the Shona people, led to accusations that it was merely a tribal grouping and ridicule as the "Front for the Liaison of Zezuru Intellectuals".
Joseph Wilfred Msika was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Second Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1999 to 2009.
George Bodzo Nyandoro was a Zimbabwean politician and activist in the struggle to end white minority rule in Rhodesia. Nyandoro was one of the founders of the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) and served as the General Secretary of the Zimbabwe African People's Union.
The Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) was a political party active between 1957–1959 in Southern Rhodesia. Committed to the promotion of indigenous African welfare, it was the first fully fledged black nationalist organisation in the country. While short-lived—it was outlawed by the predominantly white minority government in 1959—it marked the beginning of political action towards black majority rule in Southern Rhodesia, and was the original incarnation of the National Democratic Party (NDP); the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU); the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU); and the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), which has governed Zimbabwe continuously since 1980. Many political figures who later became prominent, including Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, were members of the SRANC.
The Victoria Falls Conference took place on 26 August 1975 aboard a South African Railways train halfway across the Victoria Falls Bridge on the border between the unrecognised state of Rhodesia and Zambia. It was the culmination of the "détente" policy introduced and championed by B. J. Vorster, the Prime Minister of South Africa, which was then under apartheid and was attempting to improve its relations with the Frontline States to Rhodesia's north, west and east by helping to produce a settlement in Rhodesia. The participants in the conference were a delegation led by the Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith on behalf of his government, and a nationalist delegation attending under the banner of Abel Muzorewa's African National Council (UANC), which for this conference also incorporated delegates from the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (FROLIZI). Vorster and the Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda acted as mediators in the conference, which was held on the border in an attempt to provide a venue both sides would accept as neutral.
Paul Tangi Mhova Mkondo was a Zimbabwean nationalist, part of the first group of Gonakudzingwa restriction camp political prisoners, Pioneer Insurance Executive, Business magnate, Academic, philanthropist, conservationist, pioneer Indigenous businessman and entrepreneur.
Masotsha Ndlovu (1890-1982) was a black labour union leader in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. He was active in that country's section of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU).
Lazarus Nkala, known in political circles by the nickname UMavava, was a Rhodesian trade union leader, activist, and revolutionary. Born in Filabusi in Matabeleland, he attended mission and government schools and trained as a builder. He worked in Bulawayo, and became a union leader and African nationalist activist. In the 1950s and 60s, he served in leadership roles in the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress, National Democratic Party, and Zimbabwe African People's Union. He was detained in 1964 and, with the exception of a three-week period the following year, was held in continuous detention for the next ten years. Upon his release in 1974, he was named Organising Secretary of the ANC, and attended the Victoria Falls Conference as part of Joshua Nkomo's delegation. He died shortly after in an automobile accident driving from Salisbury to Bulawayo.
Welshman Hadane Mabhena was a Zimbabwean politician and governor of Matabeleland North. He was the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament from then Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) following the signing of Unity Accord in 1987. During the Gukurahundi era, he was labelled a dissident and was arrested and detained. Mabhena was conferred with a National Hero honour in October 2010 by President Robert Mugabe but his family declined because Mebhena had instructed that he did not want to be buried at the National Heroes Acre in Harare along with other ZANU-PF members due to political squabble he had with Mugabe a decade earlier.
