Eliot Tofa
The Bible and the quest for Democracy and Democ-
ratization in Africa: The Zimbabwe Experience
The political landscape in Zimbabwe
Party politics and the Church
Although, the country’s constitution allows multi-party politics, Zim-
babwe largely remained a de facto one party state in the post-independ-
ence era. Arguably, the post-colonial state somewhat betrayed the spirit
and letter of the struggle against colonialism and it has occasioned brut-
ish suffering among the citizens. Zimbabwe is one of the African coun-
tries that gained independence in and through a vicious and protracted
armed struggle. It was granted independence on 18th April 1980 follow-
ing the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979.
From time immemorial, the Church, on scriptural basis, has been al-
ways involved in state politics. The church rallied behind a sizeable
number of political parties participated in the 1980 elections. These
included the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), Zimbabwe
African People’s Union (PF ZAPU), United African (National Congress
UANC) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU NDONGA).
The first national leaders were clergymen although the 1980 elections
were won by ZANU. President Robert Mugabe, a former Marxist-Lenin-
ist leader became the first president of Zimbabwe. Although the church
was critical of the post-independence challenges, the only significant
criticisms to ZANU PF was the PF ZAPU, initially a Soviet backed
communist group which also had participated in the liberation struggle.
PF ZAPU consisted of the Ndebele, a minority tribe which is based in
the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.
The Matabeleland Massacres and the co-optation of ZAPU
Since 1980, Zimbabwe has been gradually falling into a political quag-
mire. In the immediate aftermath of the attainment of independence,
ZANU PF indicated the determination to introduce a one-party state in
Zimbabwe. The major huddle to this intention was PF ZAPU since it
was an established political party with a relatively large following in the
Midlands and Matabeleland provinces. ZAPU was formed on December