232 BOOK REVIEWSIt would have been useful to dwell on the broader social problems offilm producing over the period under review. Nell however, chose toconfine his discussion of audience reaction to episodes where receptionswere enthusiastic and audiences were entranced by the magic of the'moving images'. Ultimately CAFU was a White run organization thatsought to promote a limited vision of African development in a segregatedsociety. Nell defends the absence of Africans in CAFU's decision-makingstructures citing the absence of suitably qualified Africans. It is not clearwhy he is motivated to such a defence, when it is patently clear that theracial politics of that era would not have allowed Africans to be trained infilm-making. That there were Africans who could have been co-opted andtrained as film-makers is evidenced by recent oral interviews with formerCAFU 'African assistants', David Hlazo and Samuel Tutani.7 Both hadgood academic qualifications, having received at least four years ofsecondary education. They could have been taken on as trainee director-cameramen or scriptwriters. Indeed there is evidence from interviewswith Stephen Peet8 that African assistants were sometimes asked to docamera work, but this was not officially acknowledged. The bottom line isthat CAFU never considered such positions as open to Africans, whichwas consistent with the politics of the day. The failure to open up film-making for Africans created problems for CAFU that were inherent in thecolonial government's native policy. In the end, as the political tensionsrose, leading to the break-up of the federation and UDI, CAFU lost some ofits staff through emigration, and those who remained were largelyabsorbed by the Rhodesian government as part of its propaganda machine.The shortcomings in Nell's account notwithstanding, his book is animportant account of the history of film-making in Zimbabwe.Faculty of Education, University of Zimbabwe KEDMON N. HUNGWEThe ZAPU and ZANU Guerrilla Warfare and The Evangelical LutheranChurch in Zimbabwe By Ngwabi Bhebe. Mambo Press, 1999.1 read this book on Heroes Day, when the leaders of the liberation strugglewere expecting the masses to gather at Heroes Acre, a monument for thedead built by the Koreans in the outskirts of Harare. Bhebe's book is ofinterest to read today as an important addition to stories about theliberation struggle by Africans. One hears about ZANU, ZAPU and/or7 Interviews with David Hlazo, 1987 and Interview with Samuel Tutani. 1988.8 Inteview with Stephen Peet, 1987.BOOK REVIEWS 233ZIPRA from different angles. Shona religion furthers our understanding ofthe struggle, says Lan; yes, that and the peasants, says Ranger; theCatholic Church too, argues Sr. Janice Macloughlin; the Methodistsmaintains Banana; now the Lutherans; and another book is on the wayshedding some light on the role of women in the struggle.Bhebe accuses the Rhodesian army of using British tactics of goingbehind enemy lines with 'a vast war machine, which apart from performingthe normal military operations against freedom fighters ... caused untoldsuffering through huge losses of lives, physical torture, psychologicalterror and the destruction of property' (p. 114). Bhebe calls ZAPU 'her'who 'affected the south-western part of the country through her massiverecruitment programme rather than her military activities' (p. 116). 1started to wonder if the book which I was reading is also meant to be onthe Evangelical Lutheran Church introduced among the Africans in thecentral and south-eastern part of Zimbabwe by European missionariesfrom Sweden. Apart from the introduction, the first part of Bhebe's bookis on war tactics and accordingly the language is militaristic.Chapter 3 takes the reader back to religious matters with whichBhebe begins the book. This time, he draws attention to the LutheranChurch in Zimbabwe whose participation in the war for independenceBhebhe claims to understand in depth. He calls himself one of the 'radicalpastors' who 'wanted to make sure that people understood that what theEuropeans were trying to agree among themselves was not good for theAfricans' (p. 158). This book will confirm that it was not just an academiccareer, but also a desire to fight oppression as necessary through theteaching of history while others held the guns. Bhebe took his part in therevolution through 'scientific socialism' with a strong religious twist,unlike traditional Leninist-Marxism and Chinese Communism. As Bhebeputs it, the fight against the Smith regime was not anti-religious (p. 280).The meaning of 'scientific socialism' is stretched beyond recognitionin Zimbabwean history. As Bhebe himself knows, the high god Mwari,spirit mediums, Roman Catholics, Methodists, and other churches joinedthe conflict against the Ian Smith regime. As for the Lutheran Church inZimbabwe, it is distinguished in Bhebe's mind by two factors; apredominant African membership and something he calls 'a regionalorientation' (p. 124). Surely, this can be said of all missionary foundedChurches. Following Hallencreutz (misspelled as 'Hallencrautz' at leastthree times, p. 124), Bhebe maintains that the Lutheran Church wasunlike the 'national' Catholic and Anglican churches, 'often dogged byimmense division and disagreements' especially among its leaders. TheLutheran Church is presented as a church which had a large membershipfrom rural areas and, therefore, was quick to adopt 'a critical standagainst the Rhodesian racialist policies'. The Lutherans thus joined the234 BOOK REVIEWSgeneral rubric of 'revolutionary' and 'anti-colonial democratic forces'.Bhebhe does not quite explain why Lutherans were not dogged by theirown divisions and disagreements, since Europeans led that Church likeall other recognized missionary founded churches of the time (p. 130).The first African Bishop in the Lutheran Church was elected as late as1974. Why did the Bishop Strandvik stay on as leader of a church with apredominantly African membership known to have existed since the1920s If the colonial and racist policies for missionary establishments didnot apply to him? Bishop Shiri's rfse to the leadership of the LutheranChurch as late as he did is quite plausible. The seventies was a time ofawakening for the churches established by missionaries, hence the riseof other leaders such as the Methodists, Banana and Muzorewa and theRoman Catholic, Chakaipa in a country being forced to confront racismby an escalating war. Moreover, the Whites constituted such a thin layerof the population of Rhodesia that most, if not all churches in Zimbabwe,can be said to have had a predominantly African membership amongwhom anti-colonial attitudes had gained currency.According to Bhebe, in the midlands 'people were desperate througheconomic hardship' owing to erratic rains, frequent droughts and famine.This is interesting. However, with or without this regional problem, therewere many reasons for people to aspire for independence from a regimewhose illegal status led to widespread sanctions by countries abroad. Asa theologian, I hoped to come across some discussion of the way Lutheranevangelicalism made an impact on ZAPU and ZANU. Instead, Bhebe talksabout how the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA)supported the liberation groups with Swedish Crooners. One learns thatthe Swedes were selective about the use of their money. It was to bespent on refugees after the 'shattering and shocking experience of theabduction of school children' to camps set up by the guerrillas in Zambia,Mozambique and Botswana. Children had become refugees in need ofclothing, food, household utensils, shelter, bedding, medical drugs,equipment and instruments, the things for which SIDA hoped Its fundswould be spent (p. 253). The Crooners were thus meant for the relief ofunjustifiable suffering of children and not for the organization for militarybattle against the Rhodesians, with which Bhebe is preoccupied for mostof the book. Mugabe's statement is useful, 'We cannot ask you for armsbut for humanitarian assistance and we are grateful for that.' In myopinion, such humanitarian assistance would have passed with mostChristian organizations. Bhebe could have discussed this in greater depthto help us appreciate the significance of the Lutheran approach to thestruggle.Finally, Bhebe's book raises the same questions about the 'scientificsocialism' referred to by the leaders of the struggle for independence. NoBOOK REVIEWS 235doubt what he says fits into the general picture of missions in the historyof Zimbabwe. Given the way the Lutherans are made to appear, theChurch whose missionaries were quick to take sides with the freedomfighters, one wishes Bhebhe spent more time on the religious factors inthe European background culture of the Swedes which distinguishedthem.University of Zimbabwe I. MUKONYORAAfrican Earthkeepers, Volume 1, Interfaith Mission in Earth-Care By M.L Daneel. Pretoria, University of South Africa, 1998.This is a remarkable book, about an attempt to save the environment bytraditional religious leaders in Masvingo District of Zimbabwe. A secondvolume is envisaged, which will focus on the role of independent churchesin the same endeavour.The author is central to the endeavour. Although he is descendedfrom White missionaries, he was brought up in Masvingo District and hasmaintained close links with the peoples of the district, recently throughmany years working with Independent Churches and helping them toestablish an organisation for co-operation between them and with otherchurches. Daneel describes the sadness he felt at noticing how the forestshe knew in his childhood had become depleted, and how he observed theland, denuded of trees, going to waste after the war for the independenceof Zimbabwe.The book begins with a brief account of the war, pointing to thedocumented roles of spirit mediums, of the cult of the High God Mwari,and of other traditional leaders. Traditional chiefs and spirit mediumslost influence immediately after the war as the new governing party tookover control. Daneel links the loss of respect for traditional religiousleaders and traditional religious values with indiscriminate ravaging offorests in the land.The author describes how three associated organizations wereestablished by religious leaders to focus on the natural environment, andto revive the woodlands by planting trees. The Association of ZimbabweanTraditional Ecologists involved traditional leaders; the Association ofAfrican Earthkeeping Churches involved independent churches; and theZimbabwean Institute of Religious Research and Ecological Conservationincorporated other churches. Using a narrative style that includes hisown involvement, the author describes how interest arose in these variousgroups and how the organizations developed. Included in his description