In rural areas, the liberation war is often remembered through specific battles which afflicted permanent scars on communities. This is the case with the Mushayi battle of 25 August 1979 which involved the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) guerrillas and Rhodesian Security Forces (RSFs). The Mushayi homestead is about 63 km from the small town of Gutu in Masvingo Province. It is located in Dambara area comprising small scale commercial farms (formerly Native/African Purchase Areas). The suffering of affected people as a result of the said battle is central to understanding post-war healing, reconciliation and integration at local level because memory is key in making sense of the world people live in. Grassroots perceptions are important because the sense of sameness over time is sustained by remembering. Political status in Zimbabwe today, 41 years after the armed struggle is hinged on liberation war credentials. The importance of the paper lies in locating demands for compensation and restitution by some victims of the war not only in Zimbabwe but throughout Africa. It also dispels allegations that African Purchase Area farmers always sided with the minority regime since Rhodesians had originally established them to create a content loyal middle class. Last, the article explores the contribution of Purchase Areas as important places for resting, meeting and recuperating under the cover of vegetation.
Benedict, B. (2015). Voice Construction in the Postcolonial Text: Spivakian Subaltern Theory inNigerian Drama. African Research Review, An International Multidisciplinary Journal, 9, Serial No. 39. https://doi.org/10.4314/afrrev.v9i4.16
Benyera, E. (2014). The Contribution of Mass Graves to Healing and Closure: The Case of Chibondo, Mt Darwin, Zimbabwe. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 4, No. 1.
Bhebe N. (1999). The ZANU and ZAPU Guerrilla Warfare and the Evangelical Church in Zimbabwe. Gweru: Mambo Press.
Bhebe, N., & Ranger, T. (1995). Soldiers in Zimbabwe’s War of Liberation. Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications.
Brinkman, I. (2003). War, “Witches and Traitors: Cases from the MPLA’s Eastern Front in Angola (1966-1975)”. Journal of African History, 44, 303-325 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853702008368
Carter, D. B. (2016). Provocation and the Strategy of Terrorist and Guerrilla Attacks. International Organization, 70, 133-173. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818315000351
Chakawa, J. (2013). Sellouts and the Liberation War in Zimbabwe: The Case Study of Hurungwe District. In V. Z. Nyawo-Shava (Ed.), Themes in Contemporary History of Zimbabwe: Emerging Perspectives in Afrikology. Gweru: Mambo Press.
Christiansen, L. B. (2010). Zimbabwe’s Liberation War Recycled in Saunders C, Documenting Liberation Struggles in Southern Africa: Select Papers from the Nordic Africa Documentation Project, Nordic Africa Institute.
Chung, F. (2007). Reliving the Second Chimurenga: Memories from Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle. Harare: Weaver Press.
de Sousa, S. B. (2002). Toward a New Legal Common Sense (2nd ed.). London: Lexis Nexis Butterworths.
Ellert, H., & Anderson, D. (2020). A Brutal State of Affairs: The Rise and Fall of Rhodesia. Harare: Weaver Press.
Feltoe, G. (1975). Legalising Illegalities. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs
Flower, K. (1987). Serving Secretly: Rhodesia into Zimbabwe, 1964-1981. London: John Murray.
Galastri, L. (2018). Social Classes and Subaltern groups: Theoratical Distinction and Political Application. Capital and Class, 42, No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309816817692122
Galoob, S. M. R. (2015). A Theory of Liberal Reparation. Ph.D. Thesis, Berkeley: Department of Jurisprudence and Social Policy in the Graduate Division of the University of California.
Godwin, P. (1996). Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa. London: Picardo.
Godwin, P., & Hancock, A. (1993). Rhodesians Never Die. Harare: Boabab Books. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203650.001.0001
Golaab, S. M. R. (2015). A Theory of Liberal Reparation. Ph.D. Thesis, Berkeley: Department of Jurisprudence and Social Policy in the Graduate Division of the University of California.
Kriger, N. (1992). Zimbabwe’s Guerrilla War: Peasant Voices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511895869
Louia, E. H. (2012). Retracing the Concept of Subaltern from Gramsci to Spivak: Historical Developments and New Applications. African Journal of Historical Culture, 14, No. 1.
Marighella, C. (2002). Mini-Manual of the Urban Guerrilla. Montireal: Abraham Guillen Press.
Martin, D., & Johnson, P. (1981). The Struggle for Zimbabwe: The Chimurenga War. Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House.
Mazarire, G. (2010). Rescuing Zimbabwe’s Other Liberation Archives. In C. Saunders, Documenting Liberation Struggles in Southern Africa: Select Papers from the Nordic Africa Documentation Project, Nordic Africa Institute.
Mhanda, W. (2007). Dzino: Memories of a Freedom Fighter. Harare: Weaver Press.
Mpofu, O. M. (2020). On the Shoulders of Struggle: Memoirs of a Political Insider. Harare: Lan Readers.
Msindo, E., & Nyachega, N. (2019). Zimbabwe’s Liberation War and the Everyday in Honde Valley, 1975 to 1979. South African Historical Journal, 71, 70-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2019.1583682
Mujere, J., Sagiya, M. E., & Fontein, J. (2017). Those Who Are Not Known Should Be Known by the Country: Patriotic History and the Politics of Recognition in Southern Zimbabwe. Journal of East African Studies, 11, 86-114. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2017.1290765
Nell, K. (2011). Viscount Down: The Complete Story of the Rhodesian Viscount Disasters as Told by a SAS Operator, Keith Nell.
Nhongo-Simbanegavi, J. (2003). Gender and Nationalism: The Case of ZANLA. In T. Ranger (Ed.), The Historical Dimensions of Democracy and Human Rights in Zimbbwe, Volume Two: Nationalism, Democracy and Human Rights. Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications.
Nkomo, J. (2001). The Story of My Life, SAPES Trust.
Nyamubaya, F. (1997). The Killing of Pieter Oberholzer in July 1964. History in Africa, 24.
Preston, M. (2004). Stalemate and the Termination of Civil War: Rhodesia Reassessed. Journal of Peace Research, 41, No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343304040050
Pringle, I. (2017). Murder in the Zambezi: A History of Air Rhodesia Viscounts Shot down by Russian-Made Missiles, Ian Pringle.
Sadomba, W. Z. (2008). War Veterans in Zimbabwe’s Land Occupations: Complexities of a Liberation Movement in an African Post-Colonial Settler Society, Research School for Resource Studies for Development.
Sibanda, E. M. (2005). The Zimbabwe African People’s Union 1961-1987: A History of Insurgency in Southern Rhodesia. Trenton: Weaver Press.
Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In C. Nelson, & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Stiff, P. (1983). Selous Scouts: Top Secret War. Alberton: Galago Publishing.
Szijártó, I. (2002). Four Arguments for Microhistory. Rethinking History, 6, 2. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642520210145644
Wessels, H. (2015). A Handful of Hard Men: The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia. Philadephia and Oxford: Casemate.