1980 in Zimbabwe

← 1979 1978 1977 1980 in Zimbabwe → 1981 1982 1983
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	Other events of 1980 Timeline of Zimbabwean history

The following lists events that happened during 1980 in Zimbabwe.

Incumbents

• President: Canaan Banana (starting 18 April)
• Prime Minister: Robert Mugabe (starting 18 April)

Events

• April 17 - Zimbabwe gains independence from the United Kingdom, recognised internationally.
• April 18 - Canaan Banana, a Methodist minister and theologian, becomes the first President of Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe becomes the first Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
• July 31 - The Zimbabwean field hockey team wins the Gold Medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics celebrated in Moscow (USSR)^[1] (see also Zimbabwe at the 1980 Summer Olympics and Field hockey at the 1980 Summer Olympics).
• August 25 - Zimbabwe joins the United Nations.^[2]
• November 8 - Enos Nkala makes remarks at a rally in Bulawayo, in which he warns ZAPU that ZANU would deliver a few blows against them.^[3] This starts the first Entumbane uprising, in which Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army and Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army fight for two days.

References

1. Caught in Time: Zimbabwe win hockey gold, 1980 Moscow Olympics, The Sunday Times, May 11, 2008.
2. ABC News
3. Stiff, Peter (2000). Cry Zimbabwe: independence-twenty years on. Galago.