5 - The Longest Time

Summary

This chapter scrutinises Mujuru’s role as ZANLA’s chief of operations in the liberation war from 1977 onward. Relying on oral accounts by Mujuru and ZANLA guerrillas, the chapter reconstructs preparation for significant guerrilla incursions such as Mount Casino in 1977 and some turning point battles with Rhodesian forces in the late 1970s. The oral history accounts of FRELIMO veterans bring to light under-researched evaluations of their military partnership with ZANLA. The chapter argues that without this at times conflictual military collaboration, Mujuru and ZANLA’s successes would have been held back. It was in a wider transnational purview, not strictly the nation, that Southern African liberation movements’ anti-colonial wars were fought, won or lost. The chapter also argues that although the Rhodesian forces had a degree of success in infiltrating and dividing ZANLA and ZANU, a great deal of the divisions were internally generated. Because of repeated internal divisions, ZANLA’s war progressed in stops and starts that delayed the path to independence, much to the concern of host states incurring heavy costs for Zimbabwe’s freedom. The costs pushed host states such as Mozambique to order ZANU to agree an independence settlement in 1979.