Zimbabwe’s recent history has been marked by much controversy
and, unfortunately, massive abuses of power and infringements
against human rights. The problems experienced by the people
living in Zimbabwe do, however, go back many years, perhaps even
to before the colonial era when Cecil John Rhodes and the
British South Africa Company (BSAC) were granted concessions to
mine in the area. Contemporary day Zimbabwe lies to the north of
South Africa, and is bordered by Mozambique, South Africa,
Botswana, and Zambia. The country is more or less delimited by
the Limpopo River to the South and the Zambezi River to the
North, and after the arrival of colonial powers in the 1880s,
the area was named Southern Rhodesia. Northern Rhodesia
constituted the present day Zambia, Zimbabwe’s northern
neighbour. The exact date of Zimbabwe’s independence from
British rule is the subject of some dispute as in 1965 the
white, minority-rule government of Rhodesia declared
independence from Britain. The British government and the res