In this chapter, the analysis focusses on a very specific instance of political and legal heterogeneity, with reference to the northern town of Angoche in the newly independent Mozambique. It will show that the heterogeneous state and legal pluralism underwent a significant transformation when the central governing political force (the Frelimo party) was confronted in democratic elections with another, rival political force (Renamo). Even after a multiparty system had been introduced in 1990, the authoritarian political structures that dominated the country in the first period of independence in Mozambique under the one-party system (from 1975 to 1990) still prevailed in central government policies for local authorities. The result of this disjuncture at municipal level and its potential political implications is the object of analysis in this chapter. In the first period of independence, interrupting the state and the law meant a radical and wholesale refusal of the colonial political and legal structures. The assumption was that colonialism had absorbed, cannibalised or disfigured the entire political and legal experience in the colony. The envisaged transformation would be brought about by a top-down, vanguardist, authoritarian process. This experience showed that both the nature and the scale of the planned state and legal transformation were misconceived and were subsequently reformulated as a result of internal conflicts and external pressures.

Dar es Salaam was a mecca for Third World liberation movements, whose presence in the city was fundamental to its emergence as a ‘Cold War city’. This chapter shows how their activities became embedded in the capital’s political life through the case of the assassination of the president of the Mozambican anticolonial movement FRELIMO. Eduardo Mondlane was a skilful politician who used the city’s international connections to publicise his movement’s cause and canvass for foreign support. However, as FRELIMO sought to draw on Cold War patronage to wage war against the Portuguese, it was gripped by an internal crisis that split the movement’s leadership along ethno-racial and ideological lines. Powerful gatekeepers within the Tanzanian political establishment aligned with Mondlane’s enemies to challenge him in public and undermine his security in private. These schisms facilitated the assassination of Mondlane in 1969 and clouded the waters of subsequent inquiries into the crime’s perpetrators.

Chapter 6 assesses why ‒ though facing similar stalemates and other structural challenges ‒ two adjacent districts in Zambézia province experienced the diffusion of militias so differently. The chapter shows that communities learned from neighboring communities about how militias formed and “diffusion agents” migrated to spread the message of militia success, which helped initiate militia diffusion. However, “sustained diffusion” ‒ the persistence of militia activity in a district and integration of the militia into the local security apparatus ‒ depended on the cohesion of elites. The chapter explores the validity of the argument by analyzing the diffusion of the Naparama to a district in Nampula province.

Chapter 5 shows that, while community responses to the violence were widespread, the Naparama militia formed at a strategic moment in time, when “community-empowering military stalemates” emerged. Tracing the process of how Naparama formed over time, the chapter shows that local stalemates shaped community residents’ and local elites preferences and gave rise to windows of opportunity for militia formation. Community residents were willing to engage in armed responses to insurgent violence, as other options appeared inviable. Local administrative elites complained about insufficient support from the provincial government and supported alternative military solutions such as the Naparama. This chapter draws on evidence from an over-time analysis of Naparama’s formation in Zambézia province in Mozambique.

Chapter 4 shows that the warring parties’ strategic aim of controlling the population provided the background for the formation of militias in Mozambique. The control of the population became an end in itself rather than a strategy to control territory. As a consequence, the population's forced resettlement became a major weapon of war. The war’s focus on the people contributed to the rising level of community responses to the violence, which culminated in Naparama's formation.

Dar es Salaam was a mecca for Third World liberation movements, whose presence in the city was fundamental to its emergence as a ‘Cold War city’. This chapter shows how their activities became embedded in the capital’s political life through the case of the assassination of the president of the Mozambican anticolonial movement FRELIMO. Eduardo Mondlane was a skilful politician who used the city’s international connections to publicise his movement’s cause and canvass for foreign support. However, as FRELIMO sought to draw on Cold War patronage to wage war against the Portuguese, it was gripped by an internal crisis that split the movement’s leadership along ethno-racial and ideological lines. Powerful gatekeepers within the Tanzanian political establishment aligned with Mondlane’s enemies to challenge him in public and undermine his security in private. These schisms facilitated the assassination of Mondlane in 1969 and clouded the waters of subsequent inquiries into the crime’s perpetrators.

Mujuru died suddenly, in a mysterious house fire on 15 August 2011. News of his death captured Zimbabwean and international popular and scholarly attention. There were multiple attempts to make sense of the implications of Mujuru’s death and to uncover the cause of his demise. Drawing on rare access to Mujuru’s inner circle and family, the chapter reconstructs -to an unprecedented degree - events prior his death and argues that there are serious shortcomings in the state’s contention that Mujuru’s demise did not involve foul play.

This chapter focuses on Mujuru’s contribution to the creation of ZIPA, which was a union of ZANLA and ZIPRA. It describes Mujuru’s role in securing a new primary host (Mozambique’s FRELIMO government), from where ZIPA launched guerrilla incursions into Rhodesia. The chapter deepens the book’s exploration of the intricate relations between host governments and liberation movements and contributes to the limited scholarship on the workings of transnational political partnerships, through its examination of the relationship between the FRELIMO government, Tanzania (subsidiary host) and ZIPA. The chapter also explains why ZIPA eventually collapsed. Many scholars have debated, in inconclusive terms, Robert Mugabe’s 1977 rise to power in Mozambique. The chapter argues Mujuru played a pivotal part in convincing FRELIMO leader Samora Machel to back Mugabe’s leadership bid. Mujuru played the role of kingmaker in Mugabe’s rise to the helm of ZANU PF because of his respect for party and military hierarchy and for the secret reason that Mugabe was his nephew.

Chapter 2 relies on unique access to Mujuru’s family members to make known his traumatic and nomadic upbringing. The chapter traces the roots of Mujuru’s nationalist political consciousness, which saw him leave Rhodesia for Zambia in 1967 to join the liberation struggle with ZAPU. It argues that some of Mujuru’s character and political perceptions were shaped by his time in 1960s Bulawayo, an urban site of colonial oppression and home to a vibrant cultural life. The chapter also argues that there are some pointers to the future from Mujuru’s upbringing, namely his great courage, proximity to violence and continual displacement. Lastly, the chapter details Mujuru’s military training in ZAPU and the reasons for and nature of his defection to ZANLA in 1971.