NOVEMBER has multiple meanings for different people in Zimbabwe. For crop farmers, November is the beginning of the rainy and planting season, while for livestock farmers it is the month of the goat (mwedzi wa mbudzi). This is when goats multiply because of the abundance of browse.
For believers, November also means different things. The Catholic Church considers it a sacred Month of Remembrance, while the Shona people believe ancestral spirits rest during the month. Therefore, activities related to the spiritual world are temporarily suspended, including marriages.
November has seen several significant national political events in Zimbabwe, whether by accident or design. Today, I focus on a few chosen incidents that took place in November between 1957 and all the years that ended with a seven. This is not to undermine other major events that occurred in between but to note how some of these evoke curiosity.
In the history of Zimbabwe's nationalist movement and the changes in colonial leadership, 1957 was a significant year. After the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress was formed in September of that year, the colonial United Rhodesia Party merged with the Federal Party to become the United Federal Party in November 1957. The new party was led by Sir Edgar Whitehead who served as Prime Minister for the next four years, while the disgruntled Garfield Todd, who was the previous Southern Rhodesia's Prime Minister, viewed his removal as a political coup.
In November 1967, the African Union, formerly the Organisation of African Unity, announced a new spirit of militancy at its annual general meeting, with calls for the establishment of a ‘fighting fund’ for the liberation of Zimbabwe. This came on the heels of a November 3 1967 United Nations General Assembly resolution which noted that economic sanctions were not effective in bringing down the Rhodesian government and called on the British government to apply force on the “illegal Rhodesian regime”. The Rhodesia government, which had announced the Unilateral Declaration of Independence on November 11, 1965, saw this as a form of a coup.
Between November 23 and 25 1977, the Rhodesian security forces launched a massive attack on the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (Zanla) camps in Chimoio and Tembue camps in Mozambique in an operation called Operation Dingo later known as the Chimoio Massacre. The number of casualties remains unclear with estimates ranging from 3 000 to more than 6 000 people. The attack was seen as an attempt by the Rhodesian forces to torpedo the quest for a free Zimbabwe. Zanla was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu) which fought against the white minority rule of Rhodesia.
In November 1987, the country experienced the killing of Christian missionaries and their children by anti-government forces at a Pentecostalist farm near Hope Fountain, south of Bulawayo. The attack reportedly resulted in the death of 16 people and injury of many. The attackers left a letter indicating they wanted to "drive western capitalist-oriented people out of the country” and “the land be given to the workers and peasants to till.” This was akin to the land invasion led by Chief Svosve later in 1998.
The government blamed the killing at the Hope Fountain on the non-State armed actors and labelled the Svosve people as squatters.
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However, it must be noted that the Gukurahundi massacre — the mass killings by Robert Mugabe's 5 Brigade in the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces had been going on between 1982 and 1987. In December of that same year, Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo signed a unity agreement merging their parties to form the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF).
The events of November 14, 1997 are still fresh in our minds as they marked the downfall of our economy. Under pressure, Mugabe ordered the release of Z$4,2 billion to pay compensation to war veterans. The Zimdollar crashed by 71,5% against the United States dollar in four hours while the local stock market lost 46% of its previous day's market capitalisation. The private sector lost Z$4 billion in market value on the same day which was also characterised by a national power blackout hence the term Black Friday. The economy is yet to recover.
After Black Friday, the following decade was characterised by violence, political unrest and contentious elections. The opposition needed external intervention to survive the 2008 elections. The African Union’s Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at its 42nd ordinary session held in November 2007 adopted a resolution regarding freedom of expression and the upcoming elections in Zimbabwe, mainly the need to create an environment conducive to democracy and human rights. Of course, the 2008 elections were chaotic and inconclusive and led to the government of national unity in February 2009.
Who can forget the events of November 2017, when the Zanu PF party backed by the army, mounted a coup that led to the removal of Mugabe as party leader? They replaced him with the current president, Emerson Mnangagwa. As we watch the 2030 Ndinenge Ndichipo campaign unfolds, what is in store for us in 2027?
