Back to Index ,

Reliving the second chimurenga by Fay Chung
Weaver Press
Janaury 03, 2006

Memories of Zimbabwe's liberation struggle
Fay Chung grew up in a Chinese family in Rhodesia in the 1950s and 1960s. She studied education and literature, and became a lecturer at the university of Zambia in the early 1970s.In Zambia she joined the Zimbabwe National Union (ZANU), and took part in the radicalisation of the nationalists rising, which led to Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.

The memoirs of Fay Chung give an inside view of the divisions within ZANU during the late 1970s. She witnessed the change of leadership from Sithole to Mugabe, experienced the tensions between politicians and military leaders, as well as the rise and fall of the vashandi movement, which tried to change the direction of ZANU in a more socialist direction.

Within ZANU, Fay Chung was prominent in preparing educational reform, and after independence worked for the Zimbabwean Ministry of Education and Culture - eventually as Minister. Her memoirs describe the efforts to extend access to education and to bring 'education-with-production' principles into school curricula.

Fay Chung also reflects on the on-going crisis in Zimbabwe. While regretting the violence, she is critical of the new democratic opposition, and supports Robert Mugabe's 'Third Chimurenga' as a return to the objectives of land reform and economic justice, which she sees as the 'heartblood' of the liberation struggle. This is an account, which will be certain to provoke many readers, and which will stimulate discussions both within Zimbabwe and abroad.

This edition includes an introduction by Preben Kaarsholm, which situates Fay Chung's narrative in the context of ongoing debates about Zimbabwe.

Fay Chung in the 1980s worked in various capacities in the Zimbabwean Ministry of Education. She was Chief of the Education Cluster at UNICEF 1993-98, and the first director of the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa 1998-2003.

For more information contact:

Irene Staunton
Weaver Press,
Box 1922,
Avondale,
Harare.
Phone: +263-4-308330
Fax: +263-4-339645
http://www.weaverpresszimbabwe.com

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP