ZANU–PF

The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) is a political organisation which has been the ruling party of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was led for many years by Robert Mugabe, first as prime minister with the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and then as president from 1987 after the merger with the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and retaining the name ZANU–PF.

At the 2008 parliamentary election, the ZANU–PF lost sole control of parliament for the first time in party history and brokered a difficult power-sharing deal with the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC). ZANU-PF then won the 2013 election, gaining a two-thirds majority. The party narrowly held their super-majority in the 2018 election.

On 19 November 2017, following a coup d'état, ZANU–PF removed Robert Mugabe as party leader, who resigned two days later, and appointed former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa in his place.

History

Predecessors (1955–1963)

The first militant African nationalist organisation in Southern Rhodesia was the City Youth League (CYL), formed in the colony's capital, Salisbury, in August 1955 by James Chikerema, Dunduzu Chisiza, George Nyandoro, and Edson Sithole. On 12 September 1957, the CYL merged with the long-established but largely dormant Southern Rhodesia chapter of the African National Congress to form the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC). The new organisation adopted the CYL's principle of "one man, one vote" and elected Joshua Nkomo as its president. The SRANC, which demanded African majority rule, gained substantial support across the country, but was banned by the Southern Rhodesian government in February 1959. In turn, on 1 January 1960, the National Democratic Party (NDP) was formed.