Robert Mugabe

===Imprisonment: 1963–1975===
Mugabe was arrested on his return to Southern Rhodesia in December 1963.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=49|2a1=Blair|2y=2002|2p=21|3a1=Meredith|3y=2002|3p=33|4a1=Norman|4y=2008|4p=49}} His trial lasted from January to March 1964, during which he refused to retract the subversive statements that he had publicly made.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=49|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=33}} In March 1964 he was sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=33}} Mugabe was first imprisoned at Salisbury Maximum Security Prison, before being moved to the [[Rhodesia Prison Service|Wha Wha]] detention centre and then the Sikombela detention centre in [[Kwekwe|Que Que]].{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=51|2a1=Blair|2y=2002|2p=21|3a1=Meredith|3y=2002|3pp=33–34|4a1=Norman|4y=2008|4p=50}} At the latter, he organised study classes for the inmates, teaching them basic literacy, maths, and English.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=54|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=34|3a1=Holland|3y=2008|3p=27|4a1=Norman|4y=2008|4p=51}} Sympathetic black warders smuggled messages from Mugabe and other members of the ZANU executive committee to activists outside the prison.{{sfn|Smith|Simpson|1981|p=55}} At the executive's bidding, ZANU activist [[Herbert Chitepo]] had organised a small guerrilla force in [[Lusaka]]. In April 1966 the group carried out a failed attempt to destroy power pylons at [[Sinoia]], and shortly after attacked a white-owned farm near [[Chegutu|Hartley]], killing its inhabitants.{{sfn|Smith|Simpson|1981|pp=55–56}} The government responded by returning the members of the ZANU executive, including Mugabe, to Salisbury Prison in 1966.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=55|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=34}} There, forty prisoners were divided among four communal cells, with many sleeping on the concrete floor due to overcrowding;{{sfn|Smith|Simpson|1981|p=56}} Mugabe shared his cell with Sithole, [[Enos Nkala]], and [[Edgar Tekere]].{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=34}} He remained there for eight years, devoting his time to reading and studying.{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=34}} During this period, he gained several further degrees from the University of London: a masters in economics, a bachelor of administration, and two law degrees.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2002|1p=22|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=34}}
[[File:Ian Smith 1975.jpg|alt=|thumb|265x265px|While Mugabe was imprisoned, [[Ian Smith]] became leader of Rhodesia.]]
While imprisoned, Mugabe learned that his son had died of [[encephalitis]] at the age of three. Mugabe was grief-stricken and requested a leave of absence to visit his wife in Ghana. He never forgave the prison authorities for refusing this request.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1pp=57–58|2a1=Blair|2y=2002|2pp=21–22|3a1=Meredith|3y=2002|3pp=34–35|4a1=Holland|4y=2008|4pp=27–28}} Claims have also circulated among those who knew him at the time that Mugabe was subjected to both physical and mental torture during his imprisonment.{{sfn|Holland|2008|p=158}} According to Father Emmanuel Ribeiro, who was Mugabe's priest during his imprisonment, Mugabe got through the experience "partly through the strength of his spirituality" but also because his "real strength was study and helping others to learn".{{sfn|Holland|2008|p=152}}

While Mugabe was imprisoned, in August 1964, the Rhodesian Front government—now under the leadership of [[Ian Smith]]—banned ZANU and ZAPU and arrested all remaining leaders of the country's African nationalist movement.{{sfnm|1a1=Meredith|1y=2002|1p=33|2a1=Norman|2y=2008|2p=51}} Smith's government made a [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|unilateral declaration of independence from the United Kingdom]] in November 1965, renaming Southern Rhodesia as Rhodesia; the UK refused to recognise the legitimacy of this and imposed economic sanctions on the country.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=55|2a1=Blair|2y=2002|2p=21|3a1=Meredith|3y=2002|3pp=35–36|4a1=Norman|4y=2008|4p=54}}

In 1972, the African nationalists launched a guerrilla war against Smith's government.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2002|1p=23|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2pp=36–37}} Among the revolutionaries, it was known as the "Second Chimurenga".{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2002|1p=23|2a1=Alao|2y=2012|2p=21}} Paramilitary groups based themselves in neighbouring Tanzania and Zambia; many of their fighters were inadequately armed and trained.{{sfn|Smith|Simpson|1981|p=61}} ZANU's military wing, the [[Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army]] (ZANLA), consisted largely of Shona. It was based in neighbouring [[People's Republic of Mozambique|Mozambique]] and gained funds from the People's Republic of China. ZAPU's military wing, the [[Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army]] (ZIPRA), was instead funded by the [[Soviet Union]], was based in Zambia, and consisted largely of [[Northern Ndebele people|Ndebele]].{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2002|1p=23|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2pp=36–37|3a1=Alao|3y=2012|3p=20}}

Mugabe and other senior ZANU members had growing doubts about Sithole's leadership, deeming him increasingly irritable and irrational.{{sfn|Smith|Simpson|1981|p=66}} In October 1968 Sithole had tried to smuggle a message out of the prison commanding ZANU activists to assassinate Smith. His plan was discovered, and he was put on trial in January 1969; desperate to avoid a death sentence, he declared that he renounced violence and his previous ideological commitments.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1pp=66–68|2a1=Norman|2y=2008|2p=55}} Mugabe denounced Sithole's "treachery" in rejecting ZANU's cause, and the executive removed him as ZANU President in a [[vote of no confidence]], selecting Mugabe as his successor.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=68|2a1=Blair|2y=2002|2p=22|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=56}} In November 1974, the ZANU executive voted to suspend Sithole's membership of the organisation.{{sfnm|1a1=Smith|1a2=Simpson|1y=1981|1p=72|2a1=Norman|2y=2008|2p=57}}

Fearing that the guerrilla war would spread south, the South African government pressured Rhodesia to advance the process of détente with the politically moderate black governments of Zambia and Tanzania. As part of these negotiations, Smith's government agreed to release a number of black revolutionaries who had been indefinitely detained.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2002|1p=22|2a1=Norman|2y=2008|2p=57}} After almost eleven years of imprisonment, Mugabe was released in November 1974.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2002|1p=22|2a1=Meredith|2y=2002|2p=37|3a1=Norman|3y=2008|3p=59}} He moved in with his sister Sabina at her home in Highfield township.{{sfn|Blair|2002|p=22}} He was intent on joining the ZANU forces and taking part in the guerrilla war,{{sfn|Meredith|2002|p=37}} recognising that to secure dominance of ZANU he would have to take command of ZANLA.{{sfn|Blair|2002|p=23}} This was complicated by internal violence within the paramilitary group, predominately between members of the [[Manyika tribe|Manyika]] and [[Karange]] groups of Shona.{{sfn|Smith|Simpson|1981|pp=76–78}}