Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years

Mugabe in 1980. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Date: 27 Jan 1980
Updated: 27 Jan 2020

On 27 January 1980, the Rhodesian nationalist leader Robert Mugabe returned to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years. Mugabe had been trying to gather support for his party the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) in Mozambique and had managed to spearhead a guerrilla war against the Salisbury (now Harare) government. A cheering crowd of approximately 200,000 greeted Mugabe's arrival at the grounds in the Highfield black township of Salisbury. Mugabe told the riotous rally of supporters there would be no more injustice based on race and colour.

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How we know this

01ThePeopleHistory,What happened on this day, from ThePeopleHistory, [online], Available at thepeoplehistory.com [Accessed: 20 January 2010]
02BBC News, Robert Mugabe:The Survivor, from BBC News, [online], Available at news.bbc.co.uk [Accessed: 08 January, 2014]

Last updated · 27 Jan 2020

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0012403

South African History Online (2011) 'Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0012403 (Accessed: 24 July 2026).

South African History Online, Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years [website], https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0012403, (accessed 24 July 2026).

"Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0012403. Accessed 24 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after being in exile for five years." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/E-0012403.