Zimbabwe blogger, Tafi Mhaka has today provided an account of the assassination of hebert Chitepo which differs dramatically from the official account. According to official accounts:
On the morning of March 18, 1975, in Lusaka, Zambia, Herbert Chitepo, the chairman and a key political architect of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), was killed by a car bomb that exploded outside his home. The blast, which also killed his bodyguard Silas Shamiso and later fatally injured a local boy, Sambwa Chaya, was initially blamed on Rhodesian forces. However, the truth uncovered by a Special International Commission of Inquiry appointed by Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda revealed a far more complex and troubling reality.
Chitepo, from the Manyika ethnic group, was caught in a lethal internal ZANU power struggle marked by ethnic divisions, primarily between the Manyika and the Karanga groups. Since 1973, the Karanga faction, led by military commander Josiah Tongogara, had dominated the ZANU Military High Command, sidelining Manyika officers and exacerbating factional tensions. This culminated in the Nhari Rebellion of late 1974 when frontline fighters accused the military leadership of corruption, neglect, and abuse.
In his efforts to address these issues, Chitepo initiated investigations into corruption, abuses, and internal killings within ZANU, putting him at odds with the Karanga-led military command. The assassination was found to be the result of an internal ZANU power struggle intensified by ethnic rivalry, rather than an external Rhodesian plot.
The Commission’s investigation implicated Josiah Tongogara and other Karanga-aligned leaders in orchestrating Chitepo’s killing. Following the report, several senior ZANU figures were detained in Zambia. The power vacuum left by these events enabled Robert Mugabe to rise as a unifying leader of ZANU, despite the enduring ethnic and factional tensions.
Officially, Herbert Chitepo is honored as a national hero in Zimbabwe, with the state narrative maintaining that Rhodesian agents orchestrated his death, omitting the internal conflicts revealed by the Commission. However, Chitepo’s assassination remains a stark example of how liberation movements can be weakened and destroyed by internal divisions, tribalism, and struggles for power long before achieving political victory. The killing foreshadowed the tribalism and violence that later characterized Zimbabwe’s post-independence politics.
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June 15, 1923: Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo is born in Watsomba, Nyanga District, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
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May 1973: Josiah Tongogara replaces Noel Mukono as Chief of Defence in ZANU, marking the start of Karanga dominance in the military high command.
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Late 1974: The Nhari Rebellion occurs, a mutiny by frontline fighters accusing the high command of corruption, neglect, and abuse.
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Post-Nhari Rebellion 1974: Chitepo orders investigations into killings, corruption, and exploitation within ZANU’s military leadership.
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March 17, 1975: Liberation leaders meet with Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda in State House, Lusaka.
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March 18, 1975, 8:00 AM: Herbert Chitepo is assassinated by a car bomb outside his home at No. 150 Muramba Road, Chilenje South, Lusaka, Zambia. His bodyguard Silas Shamiso is also killed instantly; a local boy, Sambwa Chaya, dies later from injuries.
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1976: Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda appoints a Special International Commission of Inquiry into Chitepo’s assassination.
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Post-1976: The Commission finds that Chitepo’s death resulted from an internal ZANU power struggle, exacerbated by ethnic factionalism. Key figures like Josiah Tongogara are implicated.
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Following the report: Several senior ZANU leaders are detained in Zambia for their alleged roles in the murder and internal purges.
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1980: After Zimbabwe’s independence, Herbert Chitepo is reburied as a national hero at Heroes Acre in Harare.
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Post-independence: The official narrative maintains that Rhodesian agents were responsible for the assassination, omitting the findings about internal factional assassinations within ZANU.
In his tweet, Tafi Mhaka said the following:
1/ 18 March 1975, 8:00 AM. Lusaka, Zambia. A VW Beetle explodes outside No. 150 Muramba Road, Chilenje South. Inside: Herbert Wiltshire Chitepo, ZANU Chairman. Killed instantly alongside his bodyguard Silas Shamiso. A local boy, Sambwa Chaya, later dies from injuries. At first, all fingers pointed at Rhodesia. The truth was far worse.
2/18 Chitepo was ZANU’s political architect — the man holding together a liberation movement already fracturing from within. He was a Manyika. By 1973, Karanga commanders dominated the Military High Command. Factional mistrust was now lethal.
3/18 The shift came in May 1973, when Josiah Tongogara (Karanga) replaced Noel Mukono (Manyika) as Chief of Defence. This was not just a routine appointment — it marked the start of Karanga dominance in the ZANU High Command. Key posts fell to Tongogara’s allies, and Manyika officers began to be sidelined or reassigned. From that point, ZANU’s military leadership was no longer united by strategy — it was split by ethnic allegiance.
4/18 Late 1974 — the Nhari Rebellion erupts. Frontline fighters accuse the High Command of: —Corruption & misusing war funds —Sexual exploitation of female cadres —Neglecting the front —Promoting allies over capable officers The mutiny is crushed. But the mistrust deepens.
5/18 In the aftermath, Chitepo ordered formal investigations into: —Killings of dissenting cadres by the High Command —Allegations of corruption and misappropriation of war funds —Leaders living in comfort while fighters starved at the front —Reports that female guerrillas were being used as domestic servants and sexual partners by senior ZANU men These inquiries put Chitepo on a collision course with the Karanga-led Military High Command — especially Josiah Tongogara and his allies — who saw them as a direct threat to their power, freedom, and survival.
6/18 Zambia’s President Kenneth Kaunda is outraged by the killing on his soil. He appoints a Special International Commission of Inquiry, chaired by Reuben Chitandika Kamanga (Zambia’s former Vice-President). Members come from Botswana, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zaire, and the OAU Liberation Committee.
7/18 Over 100 witnesses testify — from ZANU guerrillas to top commanders. The Commission tours the crime scene at 150 Muramba Road, inspecting the shattered VW Beetle. They visit Chitepo’s Liberation Centre office and graves of others killed in ZANU’s internal purges, including those linked to the Nhari Rebellion. They even examine a shallow grave along Leopard’s Hill Road where the body of Edgar Madekurozwa — an internal purge victim — was found.
8/18 The Commission’s verdict is blunt and devastating: “The death of Mr. Chitepo was the culmination of an internal struggle for power within ZANU, exacerbated by tribal divisions and disputes over control of the military.” It was not the work of Rhodesian agents.
9/ Names surface in testimony: —Josiah Tongogara — ZANLA commander, accused of organising the killing. —Rex Nhongo (later Solomon Mujuru) — implicated in factional violence. —Henry Hamadziripi — linked to internal purges. Chigowe — operative involved in purge killings. —John Mataure — connected to factional operations. —Kumbirai Kangai — political figure accused by witnesses of siding with the Karanga bloc. —Cde Gwitira — security officer mentioned in relation to ZANU detentions and interrogations.
10/ Following the Commission’s report, Zambia acted swiftly. Several senior ZANU leaders were detained at Lusaka’s Mumbwa military camp, including Josiah Tongogara, Henry Hamadziripi, Rex Nhongo, and others named in the inquiry. Some were held for months without trial, interrogated over their role in the killing and the internal purges. With much of the Karanga-aligned High Command neutralised, the balance of power in exile shifted. Robert Mugabe, who had recently emerged from Rhodesian detention, moved to fill the leadership vacuum — positioning himself as the unifying figure, even as the divisions that killed Chitepo remained unresolved.
