BOOK REVIEWS 189same company. Consequently, much freight has been sent through theSouth African ports, negating the objective of reducing dependence onthat country.Throughout, the authors have argued that the regional transport andcommunications programme is heavily dependent on foreign funding andtechnical assistance and clearly not sustainable in the long term.The last three sections make important observations on new directionsand issues to be addressed. These include; the need to establish a commonpolicy in the transport and communications sector, removal of non physicalbarriers and maximum mobilization of financial resources from within theregion rather than relying on external assistance. The authors alsoconclude that the strategy to remove links with South Africa was not touse the South African routes and ports.The book is undoubtedly an important contribution to theunderstanding of transport and communications in the region, being thefirst to bring together so many issues. The book is well supported bystatistical appendices. It is free of jargon and easily read by a wide cross-section of people in different professions.Although the book is analytical, it would have been more useful insome instances to discuss issues in the context of what is taking place inthe region rather than generalising. For instance, the harmonization ofroad user charges should have included specific examples on countrydisparities.The authors rightly conclude that the strategy to break links withSouth Africa failed. However, the book was written and published at atime when the political environment in South Africa was changing rapidly.There is little discussion of changes that are likely to take place after thedissolution of apartheid.On a minor point, a map showing the major corridors and ports wouldhave been useful. The book remains an important text for those involvedin transport, in its administration, in its planning and for various studentsof transport systems.University of Zimbabwe T. C . MBARAThe Wesleyan Methodist Missions in Zimbabwe, 1891-1945 By C. J. M.Zvobgo. Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications, 1991, ix, 169 pp.,ISBN 0-908307-18-7, Z$22,50.Chengetai Zvobgo has produced a stimulating study of the planting andgrowth of Wesleyan Methodism in Zimbabwe from 1891 up to 1945. Thepublication arises from a Ph.D thesis in 1974, which has to some extentbeen updated in line with current scholarship.The book was published as a contribution to the celebration of thecentenary of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Zimbabwe which tookplace in September 1991. The author decribes how Methodism came to190 BOOK REVIEWSZimbabwe, the alliances that Methodist missionaries sought with colonialsettlers, the ministerial, educational and the medical and social programmesand institutions they put in place.In Zvobgo's view the history of Methodism in Zimbabwe is not completewithout the significant contributions by Black South African, and localevangelists and teachers, the lay organizations of men, women and youth,as well as the independence movements that came about as a response tothe gospel.Zvobgo also tackles the change brought about by events like thecolonization of Mashonaland by the Pioneer Column in 1890, the Ndebelewar of 1893, the 1896-7 Ndebele and Shona risings, the setting up of theResponsible Government in 1923, the Land Apportionment Act of 1930 andthe Second World War (1939-45).This reviewer is impressed by Zvobgo's argument that the traditionalShona and Ndebele religious world views played a key role not only inproviding a bulwark against the Christian gospel between 1891 and 1897but also in shaping the ways the Christian gospel was received in laterperiods. These world views provided the hermeneutic loci upon whichAfrican Methodists resisted the missionary teachings against bridewealth,polygamy, 'heathen' dancing, beer-drinking, etc. This resistance disprovedthe missionaries' belief that the defeat of the Ndebele in 1893 and in 1896and of the Shona in 1897 resulted in loss of confidence in their traditionalreligion and gods. Moreover, the founding of the Original Church of theWhite Bird (Shiri Chena), a church which made martyrs and saints out ofall those who had been killed in the Zvimba Reserve in 1896-7, was furtherevidence of the pride and confidence in the traditional past.The author views the educational and medical programmes of theChurch as having tremendously changed the lives of the African people inZimbabwe. Through these programmes the Methodist Church not onlyachieved its evangelist goals but also paved the way for the Shona andNdebele to cope with the fast changing conditions on the African continentand on the globe. The author, however, feels that the church failed in itsbid to champion the African cause on the land and the franchise questions.'When the outcome proved disastrous to African interests, missionariescould not face up to the consequences of their own actions' (p. 148).A major historiographical problem, however, arises from this work.While the author highlights the African contribution to the evangelistic,ministerial, educational and medical work of the church, he completelyignores the African input in the debates focussing on the land and franchisequestions. Although the African discourse would have been given littleleeway by either the colonial settlers or the paternalistic missionaries, topretend that the African Wesleyan Methodists remained a-politicalthroughout the period from 1897 to 1945 is at best misleading. WereCripps and White really accurate in their perception of the Africans as the'dumb multitude' or 'dumb proletariat'? Did the African Methodists remaindumb when the colonial governments removed them from their ancestralhomes to Reserves? These are pertinent questions that a serious historyof African Wesleyan Methodism should have grappled with.BOOK REVIEWS 191The book is silent on the contributions of people like Aaron RusikeJacha (a former Methodist teacher, and later smallhold farmer inMarirangwe), Jan Nemapare and Thompson Samkange, to early nationalismin Zimbabwe. That Nemapare and Jacha founded the old Southern RhodesiaAfrican National Council in 1934,1 which Samkange later chaired, shouldbe significant. Moreover, a Bantu Voters Association came into existencein 1923, and provided a forum for African ministers to air their politicalthinking to the Southern Rhodesia Missionary Conference. Samkange andother Methodist ministers had played roles in the association's existence.It would have been interesting to hear also their thinking regarding landsegregation.2The author's account of the position of Arthur Cripps regarding landallocation to the Africans (p. 145) conflicts with that presented by J.Weller and J. Linden.3 The author might have said more on whether Crippswas content with the allocation of only 27:/2 % of the unutilized land to theAfricans. Some discussion on 'Molimile Molele' as the 'most celebratedmartyr of the Shona rising among the Methodists' could have beenimproved by reference to B. Graaff's work.4On presentation, although chronology and numbers are an importantpart of history, the author could have avoided the unnecessary tediumand pedantry that goes with the numbers that litter the book. Statisticaltables should have been made use of. Furthermore, a subject and nameindex would have been very useful in such a book.In spite of these criticisms, this volume is the best available study ofWesleyan Methodism on this period. It is a book that students who studyboth secular and Church History will find useful.1 D. B. C. M'gabe, 'The nationalist movement in Dzimbabwe', in G. M. Daniels (ed.),Drums of War (New York, The Third Press, Joseph Okpaki Publishing Co. Inc., 1974), 24.2 J. Weller and J. Linden, (eds.). Mainstream Christianity to 1980 in Malawi, Zambia andZimbabwe (Gwelo, Mambo Press, 1984), 206.3 Ibid.4 B. Graaf, Modumedi Moleli, Teacher Evangelist and Martyr to Charity, Mashonaland,1892-96 (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1988).University of Zimbabwe PAUL H. GUNDANl