Talk:Zimbabwe African National Union

Factual errors
This page has several factual errors:

1. Contrary to what the page says, ZANU-PF had the moniker PF before the 1979-1980 election campaign. It campaigned as ZANU-PF. => PF miniker was added on 6th OCT. 1976, announcement of PF alliance.

2. Moreover, I would not have said that Sithole and Chitepo were dissatisfied with Nkomo's militancy, but his lack of it.

3. In addition, the description of tribalism in Zimbabwean politics is confused -- It was ZAPU (Nkomo's party) which attracted mostly Ndebele support. Sithole was from the Eastern part of the country, and much of his support came from there, not from the south-west (Ndebele-populated) areas. (please note that the Ndebeles and Ndaus(south eastern Zimbabweans) have a bond born out of having both been expelled by Shaka from KwaZulu-Natal in the 1800's)81.158.40.54 15:06, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

4. The first post-Indendepence Government of Robert Mugabe (formed in 1980), like that of the regime of Abel Muzorewa which preceeded it, had both black and white Ministers, including 2 men who had been Ministers under Ian Smith. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.253.184.200 (talk • contribs) 19:19, 31 December 2005
 * Based on the above comment, I am tagging this article as disputed until the above is resolved.--Ezeu 00:24, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

Have a look into the German version of this issue ... and your questions are answered. 80.136.185.123 09:29, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I did and it does not. I do not speak good German, but I can at least see that the German version (a) has no citations and (b) fails the above questions as well. Babakathy 22:10, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Looking at points raised on this page:
 * 2 - 4 are correct, citation Martin, D and Johnson, P. 1981. | The Struggle for Zimbabwe. Faber & Faber.
 * 1 is incorrect. Although the patriotic front existed prior to 1979, the name "ZANU-PF" was first used in that election campaign: Joshua Nkomo had registered ZAPU as Patriotic Front and Ndabaningi Sithole had registered his party as ZANU (without the Ndonga at that stage). Mugabe thus registered the larger "official" ZANU faction (ie the one recognised by the OAU) as ZANU-PF. Citation ibid: | The Struggle for Zimbabwe. Babakathy 20:19, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Additional errors on main page:

5. ZANLA operated initially from Zambia as well as Mozambique. Citation ibid

6. ZIPRA operated from Zambia and Botswana. ZIPRA were offered bases in Mozambique by Samora Machel, but did not take up the offer. Citation ibid

7. Bases in Mozambique became available after FRELIMO liberated Tete Province, which borders Zimbabwe. This was well before Portuguese withdrawal from Mozambique and that country's independence. Citation ibid

8. Characterising the split in ZANU between Sithole and Mugabe as tribalist is wrong: it was more about leadership and strategy (militant vs moderate). Babakathy 20:29, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

9. Gukurahundi refers to either the Zimbabwean Fifth Brigade or to its activities and attrocities; latter is wikipedia usage. In no way does it refer to the activities of the governments armed opponets "dissidents" of "super-ZAPU". Essentially it could be considered the name of the government campaigns during the 1980s regional civil war, but not the name of the war itself. Babakathy 22:15, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Rewrite
Basically, I think this article needs a rewrite, to deal with factual errors, but also irrelevant material (location of ZIPRA bases is a ZAPU or ZIPRA article issue). I suggest the following sections: Babakathy 20:41, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Foundation (split from ZAPU, early years)
 * War years, including formation of ZANLA - links to ZANLA article - the Dare reChimurenga and the split (Mugabe vs Sithole)
 * ZANU (PF) 1980 - 1987
 * ZANU (PF) 1987 - 2007
 * ZANU (upto 1995) and ZANU-Ndonga (from 1996) (Sithole's party)

This page is 75 % presented at Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front and should perhaps be changed to a master article covering only foundation and war years in detail and then linking to ZANLA, ZANU (PF) AND ZANU (Ndonga). Babakathy 22:24, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

offices during the struggle
In which countries did ZANU have offices and representatives during the struggle (before 1980)? --41.14.61.40 (talk) 16:41, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

rewrite
I have tried to address major factual errors in the article and disambig post1980 politics. Think it quite a bit better now but needs more sources. Babakathy (talk) 04:39, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Merge with ZANU–PF?
I feel that this page could be merged with ZANU–PF. For one, the distinctions between "ZANU" and "ZANU–PF" are not very clear cut, given that the Patriotic Front existed in some form as far back as the 1970s, and "ZANU" actually campaigned as "ZANU–PF" in the 1980 and 1985 elections, prior to the 1987 Unity Accord that merged ZANU with ZAPU. Moreover, there is nothing about ZANU's history/ideology/role in the liberation struggle that could not also reasonably be included in the main ZANU–PF article. Jgefd (talk) 20:00, 7 January 2023 (UTC)