The nexus between ZANU PF, Mbuya Nehanda and the liberation struggle

Abstract

Zimbabwe has a very rich history, deep rooted in its liberation struggle. However, this deep attachment to the liberation struggle has overshadowed and impeded basic government functions leading to the demise of the economy as the ruling party is entangled with the past and clearly lacking political will and innovation for the future. In the discourse of liberation war movements and activities, it is important to analyse the causes that give rise to their existence, which therefore becomes a backdrop on which their successes and failures can be analysed. This paper therefore will establish the main causes which fueled the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe and using such causes as benchmarks analyse how ZANU PF is faring forty years after independence. In this regard there are historical figures such as Mbuya Nehanda and the history of the liberation war which have become construed and contorted in political gimmicks such that the separation of such facts and ZANU PF have become difficult over the years. Hence, this paper seeks to analyse the relationship between ZANU PF, Mbuya Nehanda and liberation struggle. In making such an analysis it also becomes clearer whether ZANU PF still represents what it purports to have gone to war for, and the extent to which it has been successful in realising its objectives.