The UK should make an apology and pay reparations for colonizing Zimbabwe, the country's President Emmerson Mnangagwa said during the opening ceremony of the Zimbabwe National Elders Forum.
“We ask, when are the rest of us in the former colonies going to receive similar apologies from these people, the colonizers, the British? We wonder. We need it; they must apologize. It is no secret that colonial violence was brutal and systematic and those of us old enough to tell the tale still bear scars and associated trauma from the violence,” the president said, as quoted by local newspapers.
The president pointed out that the UK and Germany had apologized to the Mau Mau of Kenya and the Mbanderu, Herero, and Nama in Namibia, respectively. He underscored that the time had come for Zimbabwe to achieve justice for the country. Mnangagwa added that the Zimbabwe National Elders Forum was carrying out an investigation into crimes committed by the UK during colonial time.
Rhodesia (the previous name of Zimbabwe in 1964-1979) declared its independence from the UK in 1965 but was not recognized internationally, leading to sanctions against the country as well as a widespread campaign of guerrilla warfare within Rhodesia and the emergence of the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) organization.
The armed struggle of Zimbabweans against the racist regime led to the proclamation and recognition of the independence of the state, the Republic of Zimbabwe, on April 18, 1980.