The struggle within the struggle: an examination of the political power wrangle between the African National Council and other nationalist parties, especially ZANU and ZAPU, in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle (c. 1971-1980)

Abstract

The article examines the logic behind the establishment of the African National Council (ANC) under the leadership of Bishop Abel Muzorewa and it further explores how the movement got entangled in power politics of Zimbabwe’s liberation movements (c.1971 − c.1980) especially with the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) under the leadership of Ndabaningi Sithole and later Robert Mugabe, as well as its struggles with the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) under Joshua Nkomo. It further examines how the predominantly clergy-led ANC, having been constituted to represent the collective interests of Zimbabweans and the incarcerated nationalists, evolved after the 1972 “Test of Acceptability” into a political party whose support base would largely emanate from Protestants. This article highlights that the struggle for power in the nationalist leadership was the paramount cause for the undermining and discrediting by ZANU and ZAPU of the ANC and its Protestant-dominated leadership’s contributions to the Africans’ struggle for liberation (c.1971 – c.1980).