The plight of teenage male children inside ‘protected’ villages during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, (1973-1978)

Abstract

It is generally considered that male children were better positioned and protected in ‘protected villages’ during Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. However, it is important to note that war spares no one, including male children. In fact, teenage boys faced numerous challenges, most of which were gender specific, during the struggle for independence. Among others, they were recruited into different roles by both the Rhodesian (colonial Zimbabwean) forces and the guerrillas. Thus, they were literally burning from both ends as the two rival camps demanded their unquestionable loyalty and support. To this extent, they were used as informers, messengers, spies and porters. They were forced to commit crimes in the name of the war, exposed to violence and forced to perpetrate violence. Whilst some of these challenges empowered them, on the whole the war dehumanized and traumatized them in many ways. There has been a customary tendency by historians not to give attention to the war time experiences of children in general, and those in inside ‘protected villages’ (PVs) in particular, in the construction of Zimbabwe’s liberation war narratives. This paper is an attempt to capture these overlooked and bitter memories of the liberation struggle. It is an attempt to make them visible in Zimbabwe’s liberation war narratives and also afford them a platform to tell their overlooked but nonetheless significant experiences in PVs. The study largely depends on archival documents, interviews and secondary sources.