Zimbabwe
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Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Official name: Republic of Zimbabwe
Capital city: Harare
Internet country code: .zw
Flag description: Seven equal horizontal bands of green, yellow, red, black, red, yellow, and green with a white isosceles triangle edged in black with its base on the hoist side; a yellow Zimbabwe bird representing the long history of the country is superimposed on a red five-pointed star in the center of the triangle, which symbolizes peace; green symbolizes agriculture, yellow represents mineral wealth, red symbolizes blood shed to achieve independence, and black stands for the native people
Geographical description: Southern Africa, between South Africa and Zambia
Total area: 150,760 sq. mi. (390,580 sq. km.)
Climate: Tropical; moderated by altitude; rainy season (November to March)
Nationality: noun: Zimbabwean(s); adjective: Zimbabwean
Population: 12,311,143 (July 2007 CIA est.)
Ethnic groups: African 98% (Shona 82%, Ndebele 14%, other 2%), mixed and Asian 1%, white less than 1%
Languages spoken: English (official), Shona, Sindebele (the language of the Ndebele, sometimes called Ndebele), numerous but minor tribal dialects
Religions: Syncretic Christian and indigenous religions 50%, Christian 25%, indigenous religions 24%, Muslim and other 1%
Legal Holidays:
Zimbabwe
(1) An archaeological culture in southern Africa that was widespread in the region between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It existed during the Neolithic period and the Early and Later Iron Age in southern Africa (sixth century to the 18th century). The culture was named after the archaeological complex Great Zimbabwe discovered in 1868. This complex consists of an “acropolis” (surrounded by a wall of natural boulders) on which huts and columns with images of birds and crocodiles were found; an elliptical building (“temple”) with a wall of granite blocks and an interior corridor and a conical tower in the northern portion; and the “valley ruins” with remains of round huts and stone walls. In subsequent years, up to 400 similar remains have been discovered (Dhlo-Dhlo, Inyanga, Ruzape). Characteristic of the Zimbabwe culture are irregularly shaped stone buildings (up to 100 m in diameter) with walls built dry (up to 9 m in height). In the courtyards of these structures, the remains of huts of the usual southern African type have been preserved. Very old agricultural terraces and mines for the extraction of metals have been discovered. Objects found include iron implements and weapons, gold ornaments, and modeled pottery polished with graphite, as well as imported dishes and glass beads. The Zimbabwe culture was created by the ancestors of the contemporary Bantu peoples. The early class kingdom of the Monomotapa Bantus arose on the basis of the Zimbabwe culture in the 14th century.
REFERENCES
Fadeev, L. A. “Problema proiskhozhdeniia kul’tury Zimbabve.” Sovetskaia etnografiia, 1960, no. 2.Wieschhoff, H. A. The Zimbabwe-Monomotapa Culture in South-East Africa. Banta, 1941.
Paver, B. G. Zimbabwe Cavalcade. London, 1957.
(2) The African name of southern Rhodesia, adopted in the 1960’s by activists of the national liberation struggle against the racist regime in that country.
Zimbabwe
(formerly Rhodesia), a country in Southern Africa. Zimbabwe is bordered on the north and northwest by Zambia, on the east by Mozambique, on the southwest by Botswana, and on the south by the Republic of South Africa. Area, 391,000 sq km. Population, 6.74 million (1977). The capital is Salisbury. Zimbabwe is divided into seven provinces.
Constitution and government. In accordance with the constitution of 1979, Zimbabwe is a sovereign republic. The head of state is the president, elected by Parliament for a five-year term. A legislative body whose members have a five-year term of office, Parliament consists of a senate (40 members) and a house of assembly (100 deputies, 80 of whom are elected by black constituencies and 20 by white constituencies).
Natural features, TERRAIN. Most of Zimbabwe is occupied by the Matabele and Mashonaland highlands, which have a uniform, gently rolling surface; they have elevations of 800–1,500 m. The highest peak in Zimbabwe is Mount Inyangani (2,596 m), in the east. In the north the plateau descends in steps to the Zambezi River valley; in the south it slopes gradually toward the Limpopo River valley.
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND MINERAL RESOURCES. Zimbabwe lies on the African Platform, which is actually a craton (see: Geological structure and minerals). Most of the country is occupied by the Zimbabwe (Rhodesian) massif, a basement outcrop between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers that is bounded on the east by the deep-seated Manica fault, along which the Mozambique mobile belt extends, and on the north by the Zambezi mobile belt. The extremely old (ancient Archean) basement rocks are granite-gneisses, schists, quartzites, jaspilites, and volcanic rocks, cut by granites, veins of pegmatite, and basic and ultrabasic rocks. The Zimbabwe massif is dissected by a tension fault, along which the Great Dyke (2.5 billion years old) intruded for a length of more than 500 km and a width of about 10 km. In addition to norites, the Great Dyke is composed of ser-pentinized pyroxenites with chromites, nickel, and platinum. The sedimentary mantle is represented by formations of the Proterozoic (sandstones, shales, and limestones), the Upper Paleozoic and Lower Mesozoic (the Karroo system), and the Cenozoic (latentes, clays, conglomerates, and eolian and other sands). Kim-berlites and carbonatites are also present.
The Great Dyke contains deposits with considerable reserves of chromites (550 million tons at the beginning of 1975), platinum, and magnatites. The large Bikita deposit, with ores containing tantalite and beryl, is associated with lithium pegmatites. Other important mineral resources include asbestos; gold, copper and nickel ores; and the coal deposits of the Karroo system, notably those of the Wankie coalfields
B. M. KRIATOV
CLIMATE. Zimbabwe’s climate is subequatorial in the northern half of the country and tropical in the southern half. Winds from the ocean have only limited access because the eastern margin of the country is elevated; consequently, Zimbabwe exhibits features of a continental climate. In October, the warmest month, the mean temperature is 21°–27°C; in July, the coolest month, the mean temperature is 10°–17°C. In the highest regions, frosts occur in winter. The annual precipitation ranges from 300–750 mm in the southwest to 1,250 mm in the east. The length of the rainy season ranges from three months in the south to five months in the north.
RIVERS AND LAKES. Zimbabwe has a fairly dense network of rivers, which belong to the Zambezi and Limpopo basins; the principal river of the Zambezi basin is the Gwai. The headwaters of the Sabi River, which flows into the Indian Ocean, are in the east. Most of the rivers have rapids and transport little water, especially in the west and southwest; during the dry season, they evaporate almost entirely. Lake Kariba, a large reservoir, lies in the valley of the Zambezi’s middle course; the Kariba Dam is owned jointly by Zimbabwe and Zambia.
SOILS AND FLORA. On the plateau, the predominant type of vegetation is savanna thin forests, in which Brachystegia on cinnamonred soils predominate; the savanna thin forests alternate with tracts of grassland. In the southwest are dry savannas, with a sparse cover of densely matted grasses and an extensive distribution of thickets of thorny shrubs and low trees, primarily acacias. The eastern slopes of the Inyanga Mountains are covered by evergreen rainforests and mountain meadows.
FAUNA. The fauna, which is typical of the savannas and thin forests of Africa, has been considerably reduced by extermination. Antelope, Cape buffalo, giraffes, zebras, leopards, and hyenas are found in the sparsely populated regions. There are many birds, lizards, and snakes, including the African python and several types of poisonous snakes. Various species of ants and termites are common. Many regions are infested by the tsetse fly.
National parks have been established to protect the flora and fauna, the largest of which are the Wankie and Victoria Falls national parks.
Population. According to a 1975 estimate, more than 95 percent of the population is made up of Bantu-speaking African peoples: the Mashona, Matabele, Malawi (Nyanja), Tsonga, Bavenda, Bapedi (Pedi), and Bechuana (Tswana). Persons of European descent account for less than 5 percent of the population. Asians are represented by a small number of Indians. The official language is English. Most Africans adhere to traditional local beliefs; there are also Christians—Protestants and Catholics. Zimbabwe uses the Gregorian calendar.
Between 1970 and 1975 the population grew at an average annual rate of 3.3 percent. As of December 1976, the economically active population totaled 1,043,000; 34.6 percent of that number was employed in agriculture, 6.2 percent in mining, 14.5 percent in manufacturing, 7 percent in construction, and 4 percent in transportation.
In 1977 the average population density was 17 persons per sq km. In 1976 the urban population amounted to 19.4 percent of the total. Zimbabwe’s main cities are Salisbury, which, with its suburbs, had a population of 656,000 in 1976, and Bulawayo, which had a population of 340,000.
Historical survey. Evidence of the first human settlements in Zimbabwe dates from the Paleolithic. The Mwene Matapa state, which developed from the Zimbabwe culture in the 14th century, flourished in the second half of the 15th century; it was destroyed in 1693 by the Rozwi tribes of the Mashona group. The Matabele and Mashona tribes, which began migrating to Zimbabwe from South Africa in the early 19th century, had by the mid-19th century united under the supreme chief Mzilikazi, who ruled from 1823 to 1868.
In the late 19th century the British South Africa Company seized the area between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers—Southern Rhodesia—and the area north of the Zambezi—Northern Rhodesia. Until 1923 the company controlled, by virtue of a royal charter granted in 1889, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, which were named after the company’s founder, C. Rhodes. The Africans put up armed resistance against the colonialists. They fought with particular stubbornness in the war of 1893 and the revolt of the Matabele in 1896 and 1897, both of which ended in victory for the British, who enjoyed an enormous military and technological advantage.
Driven from their lands, the Africans migrated to areas less favorable for agriculture, where reserves were established for them. During the 1890’s, European farms of the capitalist type appeared in Rhodesia, and railroad construction began. In the early 20th century, as the mining industry underwent development, expropriation of the Africans’ lands increased. The social differentiation of the African population accelerated. In increasing numbers, Africans left the farms, and a working class began to form. In 1924 the first African trade union in Rhodesia—the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union—was founded.
In 1923, Southern Rhodesia acquired the status of a self-governing colony. The first constitution was adopted, under which the nominally universal right to elect members to the supreme legislative body was limited to those who met severe property and educational qualifications. For all practical purposes, the African population was deprived of the right to vote: in the voters’ rolls for 1923 there were 26,629 Europeans and 62 Africans; while the constitution was in effect, not one African was elected to the Legislative Assembly.
Between the two world wars, the influx of European immigrants to Southern Rhodesia increased; at the same time, the economic and political oppression of the African population intensified. The white minority governments carried out a policy of racial discrimination against the African population, a policy that was given legal sanction by the Land Apportionment Act (1930) and the Industrial Conciliation Act (1934). The former set aside special regions in which land could be owned and used only by Europeans; the latter established artificially high wage rates for European workers. During World War II there was an increase in the size of the working class; in 1946 the number of African workers reached 363,000. African workers became more active politically, and the number of strikes increased.
In 1953 the British government, seeking to consolidate British colonialism in Central Africa, joined Southern Rhodesia with the protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland to form the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which was dissolved in 1963 (seeZAMBIA and MALAWI). In the mid-1950’s political activity by Africans declined, for two reasons: they were subjected to increased terror, and their campaign to resist the seizure of Africans’ land by whites ended in failure. The leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) in Southern Rhodesia, a mass African political organization that had been formed shortly before World War II, adopted a resolution that provided for its own dissolution. Reestablished in 1957, the ANC advocated the dissolution of the federation and opposed the racist laws; it fought to bring about changes in agrarian legislation and to improve the economic state of African workers. In 1960 the National Democratic Party (NDP) was formed from the ANC, which had been banned the previous year; the NDP was the first organization to call for a universal franchise based on the principle of one man, one vote.
In their struggle against the growing national liberation movement, the colonialists combined the use of terror with deft maneuvering. In 1960 the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act was adopted; it affirmed the government’s right to deprive the African population of the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. In 1961 the government banned the NDP; within a few days the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) was formed from the NDP. In 1962, the ZAPU was banned; it went underground, after announcing that it would seek to overthrow the racist regime by armed force. A similar policy was adopted by the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), founded in 1963 by former members of the ZAPU. At this time, the authorities declared their intention to soften a number of discriminatory laws. Under the constitution of 1961, the African majority was given its first representation in the Legislative Assembly—15 members out of 65.
The elections of 1962, which the ZAPU boycotted, were won by the Rhodesian Front, an extreme right-wing racist party that had been formed in 1961. On Nov. 11, 1965, the government of Ian Smith, leader of the Rhodesian Front, unilaterally declared the country independent of Great Britain. Numerous countries, including Great Britain, refused to recognize Southern Rhodesia’s independence. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing sanctions: a partial embargo was imposed in 1966, and a total embargo in 1968. Many western countries, however, continually violated the Security Council resolutions, and South Africa and the fascist government that held power in Portugal until April 1974 refused to carry out the resolutions.
Great Britain attempted on several occasions to resolve the Southern Rhodesian conflict by means of negotiations with the Smith regime. In 1971, Britain’s Conservative government proposed a constitutional settlement that encountered determined resistance by the organizations representing the African majority. In October 1976 the ZAPU and ZANU agreed to form the Patriotic Front (PF), led by Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe. In 1977 the PF was recognized by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) as the sole organization leading the national liberation struggle in Southern Rhodesia. The PF declared that it would combine political, diplomatic, and military forms of struggle; it regarded armed conflict as crucial to overthrowing the racist regime.
In 1976 an American-British plan, known as the Kissinger plan, was worked out; under the proposal, African majority rule would be established within two years, but the racist regime would, for all intents and purposes, retain the right to decide major questions during the transitional period. The plan was discussed at a conference in Geneva in October 1976, in which African organizations took part; Smith’s policy, however, caused the talks to break down.
In 1977 a new Anglo-American plan for a constitutional settlement was put forward. A general election was to be held, and the government of an independent Zimbabwe was to be formed, by the end of 1978 under the aegis of Great Britain and the supervision of the UN. The PF would not be allowed to take part in the interim administration, but its armed forces were to be put under the control of a British resident commissioner. Although the PF was compelled to accept the plan as the basis for further negotiations, it sought to have the plan radically revised.
In February 1978 an “internal settlement” was reached between Smith and the leaders of the more moderate African organizations: a faction of the ZANU led by N. Sithole; the United African National Council, led by A. Muzorewa; and the Zimbabwe United People’s Organization, led by J. Chirau. Under the agreement a transitional government, headed by an executive council that included Ian Smith and the three leaders named above, was established. All the principal instruments of power—the army, police, and courts—remained completely controlled by the white racists. The UN Security Council and the OAU declared the internal settlement invalid.
Great Britain did not recognize the internal settlement either and suggested a constitutional conference be held. The London conference of 1979 produced documents that made provision for a political settlement of the Zimbabwe problem. For the first time in Zimbabwe’s history, 2.8 million Africans took part in the elections. As a result of the elections, the first Zimbabwean government, headed by ZANU president Robert Mugabe, was formed in March 1980. On Apr. 18, 1980, Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence.
REFERENCES
Davidson, A. B. Matabele i mashona v bor’beprotiv angliiskoi kolonizatsii 1888–1897. Moscow, 1958.Demkina, L. A. Krakh Federatsii Rodezii i N’iasalenda. Moscow, 1965.
Good, R. C. UDI: The Internal Politics of the Rhodesian Rebellion. London, 1973.
Leys, C. European Politics in Southern Rhodesia. Oxford, 1959.
Shamuyarira, N. Crisis in Rhodesia. New York, 1966.
Windrich, E. The Rhodesian Problem: A Documentary Record, 1923–1973. London-Boston, 1975.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions was founded in 1980.
Foreign capital—British, American, and South African controlling 70 percent of the economy—plays an especially important role in the mining industry, where it owns all the leading companies involved in the exploration for and extraction of basic mineral resources. Virtually all the large and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises and some of the largest farms and plantations belong to foreign capitalists. The enterprises owned by state monopoly capital are primarily those of the infrastructure, such as railroad enterprises, domestic airways, and electric power stations. The state also purchases and markets certain types of agricultural commodities. Capital of Zimbabweans of European descent is most evident in agriculture and the retail trade; this group also owns some of the smaller manufacturing enterprises.
AGRICULTURE. As of 1977, plowed land and land in perennial crops accounted for 6 percent of the country’s area, meadows and pastures for 12 percent, and forests and shrubs for 61 percent. European farms comprised half the cultivated land and produced about 80 percent of the agricultural commodities.
In 1961, the 7,064 European farms occupied a total of 13.96 million hectares (ha), an average of 1,975 ha per farm; the 430,500 African farms occupied 15.62 million ha. European agriculture is represented primarily by the large farms of the colonists, which produce grain, meat, and dairy products for the domestic market and tobacco for export. Foreign-owned plantations produce, in addition to the crops mentioned above, sugarcane, tea, and citrus fruits. In 1962 the European farms accounted for 100 percent of the country’s output of sugarcane, tea, potatoes, wheat, and citrus fruits, 99 percent of its tobacco, 90 percent of its maize for the commodity trade, 44 percent of its cattle, 54 percent of its sheep, and 53 percent of its swine.
African agriculture is represented primarily by peasant farms but also by medium-sized capitalist farms that use hired labor and modern machinery. The main types of output are maize, millet, peanuts, legumes, cotton, and livestock products.
The 1976 harvest was 1.4 million tons of maize, 85,000 tons of tobacco, 90,000 tons of wheat, 5,000 tons of rice, 39,000 tons of lint cotton, 120,000 tons of peanuts, 2,716,000 tons of sugarcane, 3,000 tons of tea, and 32,000 tons of citrus fruits. In 1976 there were 5.7 million cattle (3.125 million owned by Africans), 748,000 sheep (518,000 owned by Africans), and 192,000 swine (96,000 owned by Africans).
In 1975, there were 19,000 tractors and 480 combines in use, most of them on European farms. In the forests there are small logging enterprises; about 6 million cu m of roundwood were produced in 1975.
INDUSTRY. Mining is one of the leading branches of the economy. The principal mineral raw materials are intended for export. There are large gold mines in the Gwanda, Bulawayo, Hartley, and Lomagundi areas. Asbestos is mined at Shabani, Mashaba, and Filabusi. Chromites are mined in the Gwelo and Fort Victoria regions, with the deposits of the Selukwe group playing a major role; despite UN sanctions that prohibited the export of chromites from Rhodesia, the USA and certain other Western powers made purchases. Since 1956 copper has been mined in the Sinoia region. Coal is mined at the Wankie coalfields, and nickel in the Salisbury area: north of the city, near Bindura, and southwest of the city, near Gatooma.
In 1975, 3.5 million tons of coal were extracted. Other figures for mining output were as follows: 500,000 tons of iron ore, with an iron content of 60 percent; 165,000 tons of asbestos; 400,000 tons of chrome ores, with a Cr203 content of 45–50 percent; 20 tons of gold; 20,000 tons of magnetite; 32,000 tons of copper, in concentrates (the copper content of the ore is 0.6–2.4 percent); 12,000 tons of nickel, in concentrates (the nickel content of the ore is 0.75–0.95 percent); 200 tons of tungsten, in concentrates (the content of W03 is 0.9–1.5 percent); and 300 tons of antimony, in concentrates. In 1975 the country’s power plants had a total capacity of 1,192 megawatts (MW), of which 705 MW were accounted for by the Kariba Hydroelectric Plant, on the right bank of the Zambezi River. In 1976, 6.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were produced.
Metallurgy, metalworking, and the textile industry underwent development during World War II, the electrical engineering and chemical industries in the postwar years, and machine building—the assembly of motor vehicles and railroad cars—in the late 1950’s. Most enterprises are located in Salisbury, which has enterprises of the machine-building, chemical, textile, and food-processing industries, and in Bulawayo, which has enterprises of the machine-building, textile, and food-processing industries. Other industrial centers are Que Que (ferrous metallurgy), Gatooma (textiles), Umtali (automotive assembly and petrochemistry), Gwelo (production of ferrochrome), and Alaska (copper smelting and refining).
In 1977 the country produced 300,000 tons of pig iron and ferrous alloys, 24,000 tons of copper, 270,000 tons of steel, 541,000 tons of cement, 255,000 tons of coke, 44,500 tons of superphosphate, 255,000 tons of sugar, and 4 billion cigarettes.
TRANSPORTATION. In 1974 the country had 2,564 km of railroad lines. In mid-1977 there were 78,841 km of roads, 8,527 of which were hard-surfaced. In 1974 the country had 180,000 cars and 70,000 other motor vehicles. Zimbabwe is linked by air with the countries of Africa and Europe.
FOREIGN TRADE. In 1980, exports totaled US$1.4 billion and imports USS1.3 billion. The chief exports are tobacco, gold, asbestos, chromites, nickel, ferrochrome, and copper. Zimbabwe’s principal trading partner is South Africa. Great Britain, the USA, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Japan continued to trade with Zimbabwe. In 1976, 140,000 tourists visited the country, primarily from South Africa.
The monetary unit is the Zimbabwe dollar (Z$).
Medicine and public health. According to data of the World Health Organization for 1977, the birthrate among the white population in 1973 was 16 per 1,000 inhabitants, the mortality rate was 7.6 per 1,000, and infant mortality was 21.1 per 1,000 live births. In 1962 the average life expectancy for the colored population was 48 years for men and 49 years for women; for the white population, the corresponding figures for the period 1961–63 were 66.9 and 74. Demographic data on the health of Africans are lacking. Infectious and parasitic diseases, which are widespread, include tuberculosis, trachoma, typhoid fever, and leprosy.
In 1974 there were 253 hospitals, with a total of 19,300 beds (3.1 beds per 1,000 inhabitants), including 106 state hospitals, with a total of 11,000 beds, and 147 private hospitals, with a total of 8,300 beds. In 1973 there were about 1,035 physicians (one physician per 5,700 inhabitants), 2,300 assistant physicians, 162 dentists, 329 pharmacists, and about 10,000 other medical personnel. Physicians are trained at the medical faculty of the University of Zimbabwe; the state central hospital in Salisbury and Bulawayo train registered nurses and midwives. In 1971, expenditures on health care constituted 5.7 percent of the state budget.
Veterinary services. The most serious threat to the country’s animal population is posed by trypanosomiasis of cattle, which is carried by the tsetse fly; diseases carried by ticks; helminthiases (cysticercosis, echinococcosis, fascioliasis, and filariasis); and infectious diseases (foot-and-mouth disease and rabies). Theileriasis, piroplasmosis, and anaplasmosis are widespread. Cases have been registered of such diseases as brucellosis, tuberculosis, blackleg, malignant catarrhal fever, viral diarrhea, fowl pox, distemper, African horse sickness, bluetongue, contagious and nodular dermatitis, leptospirosis, mycoplasmosis, coccidiosis, sal-monellosis, vibrionic dysentery, trichmoniasis, fowl leukosis, botulism, vibriosis, mange, ulcerative lymphangitis, actinomycosis, paratuberculosis, fowl pasteurellosis, spirochetosis, enzootic ovine abortion, and foot rot.
Veterinary services are under the jurisdiction of the government, which has passed a law on animal health care. The government has focused its attention on combating diseases that cause widespread harm. A policy of setting up cordons is being implemented; in addition, free zones and quarantine camps are being established within the country and on the borders. In 1976 the country had 112 veterinarians, who are helped in their work by ranchers’ organizations. Veterinarians are educated abroad. There is a veterinary research laboratory in Salisbury.
Secondary education, which lasts six years and covers the age group 12–18, comprises two stages: a four-year junior stage and a two-year senior stage. On completing the senior stage, the student may enter a higher educational institution. Instruction in the senior secondary schools is divided into three tracks: academic, technical, and agricultural.
In the 1978–79 academic year there were 2,962 primary schools with a total enrollment of more than 838,000; 186 secondary schools with a total enrollment of about 72,000; and 60 evening and part-time schools with a total enrollment of more than 6,500. Vocational-technical education has received little development. Specialized secondary educational institutions accept graduates from the junior stage of the secondary schools. In the 1980–81 academic year there were two colleges of agriculture; the Bulawayo Technical College, with an enrollment of 2,600; two colleges of music; and the Salisbury School of Art.
The main higher educational institution is the University of Zimbabwe in Salisbury; founded in 1955, it had an enrollment of 2,300 in the 1980–81 academic year. The university has faculties of arts, engineering, education, medicine, commerce and law, science, social studies, and agriculture. Attached to the university are the Centre for Applied Social Sciences, the Computer Centre, the Hydrobiology Research Unit, the Institute of Adult Education, the Institute of Education, the Institute of Mining Research, the Institute for Social Research, the Nuffield Lake Kariba Research Station, the Regional and Urban Planning Centre, and the Science Education Centre. The system of higher education also includes Salisbury Polytechnic; founded in 1927, it had an enrollment of 5,000 in the 1980–81 academic year.
Zimbabwe’s libraries include the Library of Parliament (100,000 volumes in 1980), the National Free Library of Zimbabwe (70,000 volumes), the Public Library (65,000 volumes), the Queen Victoria Memorial Library (60,000 volumes), the University of Zimbabwe Library (302,000 volumes), and the National Archives.
The privately-owned Inter-African News Agency, founded in 1964, was a branch of South Africa’s news agency, the South African Press Association.
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, founded in 1964, controls radio and television broadcasts. Programs are carried in English and three indigenous languages: Sindebele, the language of the Matabele, Cishona, the language of the Shona, and Nyanja. Television was introduced in 1960.
Zimbabwe’s leading painters include J. Ndandarika, S. Songo, and T. Mukorombogwo, who have produced realistic works, primarily landscapes and genre studies, imbued with a love for the people and the natural surroundings of their country. Such sculptors as T. Dube, Y. Likoto, and B. Mteki have sought to preserve the images and traditional features of African plastic arts.
Highly developed handicrafts are woodcarving (domestic utensils), pottery (pots and pitchers painted with geometric designs), and basketry.
Music. The musical culture of Zimbabwe includes the music of the southeastern Bantu-speaking peoples, such as the Mashona, Matabele, and Tsonga; the central and western Bantu-speaking peoples; and the population of European descent. The most common musical instrument is the mbira, a linguaphone that is known by various other names, such as njari and nyanja. It is frequently used in ensembles; in a number of cases, performance on the mbira forms part of specific rituals. Among the virtuosos of the mbira are D. A. Mareir and L. C. Sukatai.
Of particular interest is the music of the Mashona, whose choral singing is characterized by a highly developed vocal polyphony that often takes the form of a canon. In the distinctive choral music of the Matabele, who sing in the Nguni language, a major role is played by polyphony and polyrhythm. Since the second half of the 20th century, the wide dissemination of Western mass culture has brought about a decline in the traditions of folk music.
The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (founded 1968) and its division the Salisbury Arts Council deal with questions involving the culture of the white minority. They schedule concerts and arrange appearances by foreign artists on tour. The principal music education institutions are the Zimbabwe College of Music (founded 1948), in Salisbury, and the Kwanongoma College of Music, in Bulawayo.
DZH. K. MIKHAILOV