Robert Mugabe

===Early political career: 1960–1963===
While Mugabe was teaching abroad, an anti-colonialist African nationalist movement was established in Southern Rhodesia. It was first led by [[Joshua Nkomo]]'s [[Southern Rhodesia African National Congress]], founded in September 1957 and then banned by the colonial government in February 1959.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1pp=33–34|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2pp=24–25}} SRANC was replaced by the more radically oriented [[National Democratic Party (Southern Rhodesia)|National Democratic Party]] (NDP), founded in January 1960.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=35|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=26}} In May 1960, Mugabe returned to Southern Rhodesia, bringing Hayfron with him.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=24|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=26}} The pair had planned for their visit to be short, however Mugabe's friend, the African nationalist [[Leopold Takawira]], urged them to stay.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=26}}

[[File:Joshua Nkomo (1978).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Joshua Nkomo]] became one of the leading figures of resistance to white minority rule in Southern Rhodesia.]]

In July 1960, Takawira and two other NDP officials were arrested; in protest, Mugabe joined a demonstration of 7,000 people who planned to march from [[Highfield, Zimbabwe|Highfield]] to the Prime Minister's office in Salisbury. The demonstration was stopped by riot police outside Stoddart Hall in Harare township.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1pp=25–26|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=26|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=43}} By midday the next day, the crowd had grown to 40,000 and a makeshift platform had been erected for speakers. Having become a much-respected figure through his profession, his possession of three degrees, and his travels abroad, Mugabe was among those invited to speak to the crowd.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=27|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=26|3a1=Holland|3y=2008|3p=13}} Following this event, Mugabe decided to devote himself full-time to activism, resigning his teaching post in Ghana (after having served two years of the four-year teaching contract).{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=27}} He chaired the first NDP congress, held in October 1960, assisted by [[Chitepo]] on the procedural aspects. Mugabe was elected the party's publicity secretary.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=37|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=27|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=44}} Mugabe consciously injected emotionalism into the NDP's African nationalism, hoping to broaden its support among the wider population by appealing to traditional cultural values.{{sfn|Smith|Simpson|1981|p=37}} He helped to form the NDP Youth Wing and encouraged the incorporation of ancestral prayers, traditional costume, and female [[ululation]] into its meetings.{{sfn|Smith|Simpson|1981|pp=37–38}} In February 1961 he married Hayfron in a Roman Catholic ceremony conducted in Salisbury; she had converted to Catholicism to make this possible.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=38|2a1=Blair|2y=2002|2p=20|3a1=Meredith|3y=2002|3p=27|4a1=Holland|4y=2008|4p=13|5a1=Norman|5y=2008|5p=44}}

The British government held a Salisbury conference in 1961 to determine Southern Rhodesia's future. Nkomo led an NDP delegation, which hoped that the British would support the creation of an independent state governed by the black majority. Representatives of the country's white minority—who then controlled Southern Rhodesia's government—were opposed to this, promoting continued white minority rule.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|pp=27–28}} Following negotiations, Nkomo agreed to a proposal which would allow the black population representation through 15 of the 65 seats in the country's parliament. Mugabe and others in the NDP were furious at Nkomo's compromise.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1pp=39–40|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=28}} Following the conference, Southern Rhodesia's African nationalist movement fell into disarray.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=28}} Mugabe spoke at a number of NDP rallies before the party was banned by the government in December 1961.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=42|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=29|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=44}} Many of its members re-grouped as the [[Zimbabwe African People's Union]] (ZAPU) several days later,{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=43|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=29|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=44}} with Mugabe appointed as ZAPU's publicity secretary and general secretary.{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=44}}

Racial violence was growing in the country, with aggrieved black Africans targeting the white community.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=29}} Mugabe deemed such conflict a necessary tactic in the overthrow of British colonial dominance and white minority rule. This contrasted with Nkomo's view that African nationalists should focus on international diplomacy to encourage the British government to grant their demands.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=29}} Nine months after it had been founded, ZAPU was also banned by the government,{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=43|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=29|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=44}} and in September 1962 Mugabe and other senior party officials were arrested and restricted to their home districts for three months.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=43|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=29|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=44}} Both Mugabe and his wife were in trouble with the law; he had been charged with making subversive statements in a public speech and awarded bail before his trial.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=45|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=31}} Hayfron had been sentenced to two years imprisonment—suspended for 15 months—for a speech in which she declared that the British Queen [[Elizabeth II]] "can go to hell".{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1pp=45–46|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=31}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=Europeans must realise that unless the legitimate demands of African nationalism are recognised, then racial conflict is inevitable. | salign=right |source=— Mugabe, early 1960s{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=42|2a1=Norman|2y=2008|2p=44}} }}

The rise of African nationalism generated a white backlash in Southern Rhodesia, with the right-wing [[Rhodesian Front]] winning the [[1962 Southern Rhodesian general election|December 1962 general election]]. The new government sought to preserve white minority rule by tightening security and establishing full independence from the United Kingdom.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=45|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=30}} Mugabe met with colleagues at his house in Salisbury's Highbury district, where he argued that as political demonstrations were simply being banned, it was time to move towards armed resistance.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=30}} Both he and others rejected Nkomo's proposal that they establish a government-in-exile in [[Dar es Salaam]].{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1pp=44–45|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2pp=30–31}} He and Hayfron skipped bail to attend a ZAPU meeting in the [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]]n city.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1pp=46–47|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=31}} There, the party leadership met Tanganyika's president, [[Julius Nyerere]], who also dismissed the idea of a government-in-exile and urged ZAPU to organise their resistance to white minority rule within Southern Rhodesia itself.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=47|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=31}}

In August, Hayfron gave birth to Mugabe's son, whom they named Nhamodzenyika, a Shona term meaning "suffering country".{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=48|2a1=Blair|2y=2002|2p=20|3a1=Meredith|3y=2002|3p=32|4a1=Holland|4y=2008|4p=14|5a1=Norman|5y=2008|5p=45}} Mugabe insisted that she take their son back to Ghana, while he decided to return to Southern Rhodesia.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=49|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=32}} There, African nationalists opposed to Nkomo's leadership had established a new party, the [[Zimbabwe African National Union]] (ZANU), in August; [[Ndabaningi Sithole]] became the group's president, while appointing Mugabe to be the group's secretary-general ''in absentia''.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=49|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=32|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=46}} Nkomo responded by forming his own group, the People's Caretaker Council, which was widely referred to as "ZAPU" after its predecessor.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=32}} ZAPU and ZANU violently opposed one another and soon gang warfare broke out between their rival memberships.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=33}}<ref name="struggleforzimbabwe7071">{{cite book|title=The Struggle for Zimbabwe|last1=Martin|first1=David|last2=Johnson|first2=Phyllis|date=July 1981|edition=First |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]]|isbn=978-0-571-11066-7|pages=70–71}}</ref>