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ZANU–PF
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 by 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.
At the 2008 parliamentary election, the ZANU–PF lost sole control of parliament for the first time in party history and brokered a difficult power-sharing deal with the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC). ZANU-PF then won the 2013 election, gaining a two-thirds majority. The party narrowly held their super-majority in the 2018 election.
On 19 November 2017, following a coup d'état, ZANU–PF removed Robert Mugabe as party leader, who resigned two days later, and appointed former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his place.
The first militant African nationalist organisation in Southern Rhodesia was the City Youth League (CYL), formed in the colony's capital, Salisbury, in August 1955 by James Chikerema, Dunduzu Chisiza, George Nyandoro, and Edson Sithole. On 12 September 1957, the CYL merged with the long-established but largely dormant Southern Rhodesia chapter of the African National Congress to form the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC). The new organisation adopted the CYL's principle of "one man, one vote" and elected Joshua Nkomo as its president. The SRANC, which demanded African majority rule, gained substantial support across the country, but was banned by the Southern Rhodesian government in February 1959. In turn, on 1 January 1960, the National Democratic Party (NDP) was formed. The NDP advocated a similarly militant platform, and was similarly banned in December 1961. In the same month, Nkomo formed the Zimbabwe African People's Union, which shared the same aims and tactics of its predecessor organisations. In September 1962, amid growing unrest in Southern Rhodesia's major towns, ZAPU was banned and many of its leaders detained. The colony's Unlawful Organisations Act was also amended in an attempt to prevent ZAPU from being reconstituted with a different name.
African nationalist politics in Rhodesia in the 1960s were characterised by internal rivalries and disputes over strategy. Divisions within ZAPU came to a head in April 1963 when Nkomo called a meeting of the party's executive in Dar es Salaam, where he had gone after ZAPU was banned in late 1962. The main criticisms of Nkomo were directed against his initial support of Southern Rhodesia's 1961 constitution (a position he later reversed), his extensive foreign travel in pursuit of international support for the movement, and his handling of the formation of a government in exile in Tanganyika. According to Nkomo, he had received permission to form a government in exile, but by the time the rest of ZAPU's leadership arrived in Dar es Salaam, he had changed his mind and was opposed the idea. Other accounts describe a split between Nkomo, who preferred an externally-based movement, and others—including Enoch Dumbutshena and Ndabaningi Sithole—who favoured an internal struggle and pressured Nkomo to return to Rhodesia. President Julius Nyerere told the assembled ZAPU leaders that neither he nor other African heads of state supported the idea of a government in exile and that "victory" could only be achieved within Rhodesia.
Nkomo returned to Salisbury on 2 July 1963, after which a majority of the party executive that had remained in Dar es Salaam voted to remove him as president of ZAPU. In response, Nkomo suspended the various "rebels", including Sithole and Robert Mugabe, from the party. Unable to outmaneuver Nkomo within ZAPU, his opponents decided to create their own organisation. On 8 August 1963, Sithole, Herbert Chitepo, Leopold Takawira, Edgar Tekere, Henry Hamadziripi, and Mukudzei Midzi gathered at the Highfield home of Enos Nkala to form the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).
In response to ZANU's formation, Nkomo called a mass meeting on 10 August 1963 at Cold Comfort Farm, a multiracial cooperative outside Salisbury, where he formed a new organisation, the People's Caretaker Council (PCP), to replace ZAPU, which was still banned. To preempt ZANU's growth, Nkomo took steps to solidify his hold on the masses, replacing ZAPU's existing centralised structure with a larger number of new, smaller branches. In the ZAPU–ZANU split, most of Nkomo's longtime allies who had been with him since the SRANC's formation in 1957—including Jason Moyo and George Nyandoro—stayed with ZAPU, while many nationalist leaders who had come to prominence in 1960 or later—like Sithole and Mugabe—joined the new party.
On 22 August 1963, Sithole held ZANU's first press conference, telling reporters, "When the party came to power it would repeal the Land Apportionment Act. It would also repeal the Land Husbandry Act and replace both by a new land redistribution law." In addition to land reform, Sithole pledged that "A bill of rights would be entrenched in the constitution guaranteeing the rights and freedom of every citizen." Sithole told the reporters that ZANU was "nonracial" and would accommodate "people who share a common destiny and democratic rule by the majority, regardless of race, colour, creed, or tribe." ZANU's platform was quickly taken up by the press, and stood in contrast to ZAPU, which had not made public a comprehensive platform. ZAPU responded by attacking ZANU leaders' character and ideological bona fides.
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ZANU–PF
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 by 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.
At the 2008 parliamentary election, the ZANU–PF lost sole control of parliament for the first time in party history and brokered a difficult power-sharing deal with the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC). ZANU-PF then won the 2013 election, gaining a two-thirds majority. The party narrowly held their super-majority in the 2018 election.
On 19 November 2017, following a coup d'état, ZANU–PF removed Robert Mugabe as party leader, who resigned two days later, and appointed former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in his place.
The first militant African nationalist organisation in Southern Rhodesia was the City Youth League (CYL), formed in the colony's capital, Salisbury, in August 1955 by James Chikerema, Dunduzu Chisiza, George Nyandoro, and Edson Sithole. On 12 September 1957, the CYL merged with the long-established but largely dormant Southern Rhodesia chapter of the African National Congress to form the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC). The new organisation adopted the CYL's principle of "one man, one vote" and elected Joshua Nkomo as its president. The SRANC, which demanded African majority rule, gained substantial support across the country, but was banned by the Southern Rhodesian government in February 1959. In turn, on 1 January 1960, the National Democratic Party (NDP) was formed. The NDP advocated a similarly militant platform, and was similarly banned in December 1961. In the same month, Nkomo formed the Zimbabwe African People's Union, which shared the same aims and tactics of its predecessor organisations. In September 1962, amid growing unrest in Southern Rhodesia's major towns, ZAPU was banned and many of its leaders detained. The colony's Unlawful Organisations Act was also amended in an attempt to prevent ZAPU from being reconstituted with a different name.
African nationalist politics in Rhodesia in the 1960s were characterised by internal rivalries and disputes over strategy. Divisions within ZAPU came to a head in April 1963 when Nkomo called a meeting of the party's executive in Dar es Salaam, where he had gone after ZAPU was banned in late 1962. The main criticisms of Nkomo were directed against his initial support of Southern Rhodesia's 1961 constitution (a position he later reversed), his extensive foreign travel in pursuit of international support for the movement, and his handling of the formation of a government in exile in Tanganyika. According to Nkomo, he had received permission to form a government in exile, but by the time the rest of ZAPU's leadership arrived in Dar es Salaam, he had changed his mind and was opposed the idea. Other accounts describe a split between Nkomo, who preferred an externally-based movement, and others—including Enoch Dumbutshena and Ndabaningi Sithole—who favoured an internal struggle and pressured Nkomo to return to Rhodesia. President Julius Nyerere told the assembled ZAPU leaders that neither he nor other African heads of state supported the idea of a government in exile and that "victory" could only be achieved within Rhodesia.
Nkomo returned to Salisbury on 2 July 1963, after which a majority of the party executive that had remained in Dar es Salaam voted to remove him as president of ZAPU. In response, Nkomo suspended the various "rebels", including Sithole and Robert Mugabe, from the party. Unable to outmaneuver Nkomo within ZAPU, his opponents decided to create their own organisation. On 8 August 1963, Sithole, Herbert Chitepo, Leopold Takawira, Edgar Tekere, Henry Hamadziripi, and Mukudzei Midzi gathered at the Highfield home of Enos Nkala to form the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).
In response to ZANU's formation, Nkomo called a mass meeting on 10 August 1963 at Cold Comfort Farm, a multiracial cooperative outside Salisbury, where he formed a new organisation, the People's Caretaker Council (PCP), to replace ZAPU, which was still banned. To preempt ZANU's growth, Nkomo took steps to solidify his hold on the masses, replacing ZAPU's existing centralised structure with a larger number of new, smaller branches. In the ZAPU–ZANU split, most of Nkomo's longtime allies who had been with him since the SRANC's formation in 1957—including Jason Moyo and George Nyandoro—stayed with ZAPU, while many nationalist leaders who had come to prominence in 1960 or later—like Sithole and Mugabe—joined the new party.
On 22 August 1963, Sithole held ZANU's first press conference, telling reporters, "When the party came to power it would repeal the Land Apportionment Act. It would also repeal the Land Husbandry Act and replace both by a new land redistribution law." In addition to land reform, Sithole pledged that "A bill of rights would be entrenched in the constitution guaranteeing the rights and freedom of every citizen." Sithole told the reporters that ZANU was "nonracial" and would accommodate "people who share a common destiny and democratic rule by the majority, regardless of race, colour, creed, or tribe." ZANU's platform was quickly taken up by the press, and stood in contrast to ZAPU, which had not made public a comprehensive platform. ZAPU responded by attacking ZANU leaders' character and ideological bona fides.
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