This article gives an overview of liberal parties in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. It is limited to

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.

Introduction

The first political party in Southern Rhodesia to name designate itself as "liberal" was the

Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party The Southern Rhodesian Liberal Party was a political party in Southern Rhodesia, founded in 1943 by Jacob Smit (1881–1959), the former United Party (UP) Minister of Finance. It is thought that Smit split from the UP largely because Prime Minis ...

, founded by

Jacob Smit Jacob Hendrik Smit, CMG (3 September 1881 – 22 July 1959) was a Southern Rhodesian merchant and politician. Born in the Netherlands, Smit migrated to Rhodesia and traded as a merchant, before becoming Southern Rhodesia's Minister of Finance in 19 ...

as an opposition party against the then-dominant

United Federal Party The United Federal Party (UFP) was a political party in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. History The UFP was formed in November 1957 by a merger of the Federal Party, which had operated at the federal level, and the Southern Rhodesian ...

; however, besides its promotion of economic liberalism, it continued to support the white minority rule in the colony. It eventually lost representation in parliament and merged with what eventually became the conservative Rhodesian Front. During the bush War of the 1960s and 1970s, the only centrist party that pushed for majority rule and integration of the black African majority while not veering toward militant opposition was the

United African National Council The United African National Council (UANC) is a political party in Zimbabwe. It was briefly the ruling party during 1979–1980, when its leader Abel Muzorewa was Prime Minister. History The party was founded by Muzorewa in 1971.< ...

, led by (Zimbabwe Rhodesia) Prime Minister Rev.

Abel Muzorewa Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa (14 April 1925 – 8 April 2010), also commonly referred to as Bishop Muzorewa, was a Zimbabwean bishop and politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to ...

;

James Chikerema James Robert Dambaza Chikerema (2 April 1925 – 22 March 2006) served as the President of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe.Nyangoni, Wellington Winter. ''Africa in the United Nations System.'' Page 141. He changed his views on militant s ...

, a militant leader of FROLIZI, merged his party with Muzorewa's ANC coalition, and would later become the first vice-president of Muzorewa's UANC. The reformist prime minister of Southern Rhodesia,

Garfield Todd Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd (13 July 1908 – 13 October 2002) was a liberal Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1953 to 1958 and later became an opponent of white minority rule in Rhodesia. Background Todd was born in Invercargil ...

, also advocated against the Ian Smith government, for which he was detained (he also advocated against the Mugabe government, which stripped him of citizenship shortly before his death in 2002). When black majority rule began in 1980, parliament was dominated by the ZANU-PF, a Marxist party with illiberal tendencies, with the former Rhodesian Front (renamed the Republican Front and, finally, the Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe) representing the seats allocated to the white minority until the seats were abolished in 1987. In 1992, the CAZ met with members of other opposition parties, including the UANC and ZANU-Ndonga to form a united opposition to ZANU-PF; what resulted was the

Forum Party The Forum Party of Zimbabwe (FPZ) was a centre-right conservative political party in Zimbabwe. The Forum party was formed on 28 March 1993 and was led by a former Zimbabwean Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena. It was formed by a merge between the F ...

of former Chief Justice

Enoch Dumbutshena Enoch Dumbutshena (20 April 1920 – 14 December 2000) was a distinguished Zimbabwean judge known for defending the independence of that country's judicial branch. He became Zimbabwe's first black judge in 1980 and served as Chief Justice of ...

, which, while not gaining any seats by the time it fizzled out, was the first post-independence multiracial opposition party. Non-conservative whites who had previously been forced to vote for either the nationalist socialist majority or conservative minority parties since independence for convenience purposes, in the meantime, backed non-political, multiracial civil society groups that had pressed against the land reforms and other policies pushed by ZANU-PF. These groups, galvanized by the 2000 referendum, soon organized into a political party, the

Movement for Democratic Change Movement for Democratic Change or MDC may refer to: * Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), the former main opposition party in Zimbabwe ** Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai Congress 2006, the second MDC–T congres ...

. Led by

Morgan Tsvangirai Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (; ; 10 March 1952 – 14 February 2018) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was President of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democratic ...

with a short-lived faction led by

Arthur Mutambara Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara (born 25 May 1966)
New Zimbabwe is a Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is the primary trade union federation in Zimbabwe. The Secretary General of ZCTU is Japhet Moyo and the president is Peter Mutasa. The former General Secretary was Morgan Tsvangirai. Jeffrey Mutandare is ...

and the

Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) is a Southern African organization which "collaborates with other organizations on issues surrounding the rule of law, democracy building, human rights, economic development, education, the media, ...

, soon usurped the opposition position in Parliament against the ZANU-PF. By 2008, it had achieved the majority in both houses of parliament. Liberals in Zimbabwe have experienced persecution from the government during Mugabe's reign.

Introduction

People

References

See also