The National Democratic Party (NDP) was a socialist African nationalist political party in Southern Rhodesia that was active from 1 January 1960 to 9 December 1961. [1] The party was founded by Joshua Nkomo with the objective of achieving greater rights for the African majority of the country, but it was banned by the white minority government just a year into its existence. Ten days after the NDP was banned, Nkomo founded the Zimbabwe African People's Union.
On 1 January 1960, the National Democratic Party replaced the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC), Chikerema and Nyandoro became members while still detained, and Nkomo came on as president on 28 November 1960. [2] The NDP was an ideologically identical organisation to SRANC, although rural organising was nearly impossible after the Native Affairs Amendment Act. [3]
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 Matabeleland 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 after an internal military crackdown that claimed more than 20,000 of ZAPU supporters.
The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) is a Zimbabwean political party. It is a militant communist organization and political party that campaigned for majority rule in Rhodesia, from its founding in 1961 until 1980. In 1987, it merged with the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. It was relaunched in 2008.
Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo led the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) until he was assassinated in March 1975. Although his murderer remains unidentified, the Rhodesian author Peter Stiff says that a former soldier of the British Special Air Service (SAS), Hugh Hind, was responsible.
The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second Chimurenga as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia.
James Robert Dambaza Chikerema served as the President of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe. He changed his views on militant struggle in the late 1970s and supported the 'internal settlement', serving in the attempted power-sharing governments.
General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia in February 1980 to set the membership of the House of Assembly of the first Parliament of the independent Zimbabwe. As stipulated by the new Constitution of Zimbabwe produced by the Lancaster House Conference, the new House of Assembly was to comprise 100 members, 80 of whom would be elected proportionally by province by all adult citizens on a common role, and 20 of whom would be elected in single-member constituencies by whites on a separate roll.
Joseph Wilfred Msika, was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Second Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1999 to 2009.
Leopold Takawira (1916–1970) served as the vice-president of the Zimbabwe African National Union after supporting the National Democratic Party (NDP) and later the Zimbabwe African People's Union. Takawira was also known by his totem as 'Shumba yeChirumanzi'
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 colonial history of Southern Rhodesia is considered to be a time period from the British government's establishment of the government of Southern Rhodesia on 1 October 1923, to Prime Minister Ian Smith's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965. The territory of 'Southern Rhodesia' was originally referred to as 'South Zambezia' but the name 'Rhodesia' came into use in 1895. The designation 'Southern' was adopted in 1901 and dropped from normal usage in 1964 on the break-up of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and Rhodesia became the name of the country until the creation of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979. Legally, from the British perspective, the name Southern Rhodesia continued to be used until 18 April 1980, when the name Republic of Zimbabwe was formally proclaimed.
Tapfumaneyi Maurice Nyagumbo was a Zimbabwean politician, who spent almost two decades in prison as a consequence of his political activities.
Judith Todd is the second daughter of Garfield Todd (1908–2002), Rhodesian Prime Minister 1953-58, and a political activist regarding Zimbabwe. She was married to Richard Acton from 1974 to 1984. Todd was born at Dadaya Mission in Rhodesia. She was educated at Queen Elizabeth Girls School. Her missionary father, Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd, served as Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia between 1953 and 1958. Her mother, Jean Grace Wilson Todd, designed and implemented the Southern Rhodesian African Educational System.
During the 1960s, many independence movements emerged in countries near Rhodesia, which had significant effects on political affairs and social conditions within Rhodesia.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) from 1975 to 1980 and led its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), from 1980 to 2017. Ideologically an African nationalist, during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as a Marxist–Leninist, and as a socialist after the 1990s.
Tichafa Samuel Parirenyatwa was Zimbabwe's first trained black physician, medical doctor and the first vice-president of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). He rose to prominence during ZAPU's political struggle against the colonial administration in Southern Rhodesia.
Canaan Zinothi Moyo was a Zimbabwean politician, in the NDP and ZAPU, after which he fled into exile in Sweden.
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.
Jane Ngwenya was a Zimbabwean politician. She served as Deputy Minister of Labor, Manpower and Social Protection during Zimbabwe's first independent government in 1980. She fought for racial justice against the white minority in Rhodesia, joining the National Democratic Party of Zimbabwe in 1960 and later served as the first woman executive of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU).