ZANLA

ZANLA, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, was the guerrilla arm of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and a principal participant in the Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Second Chimurenga. Active from the mid-1960s until Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, ZANLA conducted insurgent warfare inside Rhodesia from cross-border bases in neighboring countries, particularly Mozambique and Tanzania. Its objectives were to end white-minority rule and achieve national self-determination for what would become Zimbabwe.

Formation and operations: ZANLA was established as the military wing of ZANU to wage organized resistance against the Rhodesian government. It relied on guerrilla tactics—ambushes, raids, sabotage, and rural mobilization—while seeking to build political and popular support for the nationalist cause. The movement operated alongside its rival, ZIPRA—the armed wing of PF-ZAPU—though the two organizations pursued parallel paths toward contested aims, sometimes leading to internal conflict during the war.

Leadership and ideology: The leadership combined exile political authority with field command. Josiah Tongogara emerged as a prominent field commander in the late 1970s. Ideologically, ZANLA embraced anti-colonial nationalism with socialist-oriented tendencies common among liberation movements of the era. It received external support from overseas allies aligned with anti-colonial struggles, including socialist states, and drew training and resources from networks sympathetic to its aims.

End of the war and legacy: The war concluded with the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979, paving the way for Zimbabwe’s internationally recognized independence in 1980. Following independence, ZANLA and ZIPRA forces were integrated into the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, and ZANU-PF became the governing party. ZANLA’s legacy is tied to the creation of the modern Zimbabwean state and the regional dynamics of decolonization in Southern Africa.