Abstract:
This study is about the involvement and participation of Bulilima youths in Zimbabwe’s
national liberation struggle from 1960 to 1980. The study describes and explains how and
to what extent Bulilima youths were involved and participated in Zimbabwean guerrilla
war. Bulilima is a border district between Zimbabwe and Botswana which, from 1960 –
1980 became Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas’ central and key
strategic entry point into and exit out of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). For the purposes of this
study, the term youth refers to young people between the ages of twelve and twenty-five,
born in Bulilima District between 1945 and 1967. During the guerrilla war, the use of the
category youth was political, with biological and cultural aspects also taken into account.
The study is primarily based on the war experiences of twenty-six women and twenty-six
men who were youths during the time period of the study (1960 – 1980). It is qualitative
and involves forty-eight open-ended interviews in the major villages of Bulilima District.
The interviews are complemented by a survey of both primary and secondary sources. It
is hoped that the results of this study will raise salient issues on the involvement and
participation of Bulilima youths in Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.
