SUMMARY
The Black Nationalist liberation group ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) originated as a splinter faction from the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) in 1963. It maintained the same objective as ZAPU – to topple the colonial government system and establish majority rule – but broke away, due to its belief that harsher methods were necessary for the liberation struggle in Rhodesia, later renamed Zimbabwe, and partly due to personal rivalries. Nonetheless, ZANU reunited with ZAPU to form the PF on 9 October 1976; its active struggle against the [government] is, therefore, recorded under the PF group name after this date.
ZANU relied mainly on rural support and its membership predominantly drew from the Shona ethnic population. It maintained a separate political and a military wing but similar to other political entities seeking to challenge the governing status quo, ZANU was quickly banned just one year after it was formed. Consequently, it established bases for its operations in Zambia. In the seventies, many of these were relocated to Mozambique as ZANU began cooperating with the left-wing, liberationist armed group leading the struggle for independence in neighboring Mozambique, Frelimo. When Mozambique gained its independence in 1975 and Frelimo became the Government of Mozambique, this relationship enabled ZANU to continue using Mozambican territory for its operations. As a result, most ZANU operations concentrated on the northern and eastern areas of Rhodesia, bordering Mozambique.
The military wing of ZANU was called the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and reports stated that it had approximately 1000 fighters active within Rhodesia) and up to 15 000 fighters stationed in Mozambique undergoing training or already trained in 1976. From 1964 onwards, ZANLA launched small-scale attacks with many of the guerilla attacks focusing on disrupting communications and infrastructure such as roads and railways.
Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole was the primary founder of ZANU and served as its first elected leader in 1963. Robert Mugabe was one of the key figures that supported Sithole during the formation of ZANU and he served as the Secretary General. However, both Sithole and Mugabe were imprisoned in 1964 until 1974 for subversive speech. During this time period, Sithole adopted a more moderate stance and publicly vowed in court to disassociate himself with all forms of violence, including subversive activities related to the liberation struggle. As a result, Mugabe effectively took over the leadership of ZANU by 1974 with most rank and file ZANU members choosing to follow his more militant approach rather than follow Sithole, who formed a small splinter group called ZANU-Ndonga in 1975 to pursue a non-violent agenda.
Throughout most of the conflict, ZANU received a major proportion of its military supplies and military training from China, which established training camps for ZANU in Tanzania and Mozambique, where it was permitted access to territory. During the sixties, some members were also sent for guerrilla training in sympathetic socialist countries such as Soviet Union and North Korea.
