The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won the first free elections in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, president of ZANU since 1977, became the prime minister. Joshua Nkomo and his Patriotic Front-ZAPU (PF-ZAPU) party trailed Mugabe's ZANU-PF by 20-57seats in the new 100-seat parliament. Mugabe formed a Government of National Unity by drawing its members from all major political parties of the fifteen-year conflict. Nkomo was offered the ceremonial post of president, but declined. PF-ZAPU under Nkomo retained a stronghold in the province of Matabeleland. The effects of this election would make both ZAPU and ZANU into tribally-based parties, ZANU with backing from the Shona majority, and ZAPU the Ndebele minority.
eventREF E-0012410Revised
4 March 1980
ZANU-PF wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe
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- Updated
- 30 Nov 2025
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How we know this
- 01BBC News,"1980: Mugabe to lead independent Zimbabwe",From: BBC News,[Online],Available at: news.bbc.co.uk,[Accessed on:05 February 2014]
- 02Bute, E.L. & Harmer, H.J.P. (1997). The Black Handbook, London: Cassell.
Last updated · 30 Nov 2025
South African History Online. (2011, March 16). ZANU-PF wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012410
South African History Online (2011) 'ZANU-PF wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012410 (Accessed: 7 October 2026).
South African History Online, ZANU-PF wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012410, (accessed 7 October 2026).
"ZANU-PF wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012410. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.
South African History Online. "ZANU-PF wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012410.
Also on 4 March
- 1955Inaugural Conference of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU)
- 1963Walter Sisulu convicted of inciting protest
- 1963ANC leader Walter Sisulu is convicted and sentenced to six years in prison for contravening the unlawful Organisations Act
- 1970S.P. Botha, Minister of Water Affairs, proposes new schemes to ease the Western Cape’s water supply problem
- 1976Daryll Cullinan, SA cricket player, is born in Kimberley.
- 1980ZANU-PF under Robert Mugabe wins the first free elections in Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe becomes president
- 1990Hundreds of political prisoners began a hunger strike at Robben Island
- 2005UN warns Africa of the scourge of HIV
Further reading
Biography
Edson Sithole
Edson Sithole was born in what was then Southern Rhodesia in 1935. He was the first black person in Southern Africa to.....
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