Protected Village System
The Protected Village System was a system put in place by the Rhodesian government to prevent the nationalist parties (ZANU and ZAPU) from contacting the African people in rural areas for support and for mobilisation and politicisation. Africans were resettled into consolidated villages surrounded by a perimeter fence. The Protected Villages were guarded by a unit of the Rhodesian Army called the Guard Force.
Reason for the Protected Villages
In addition to depriving the guerrillas of the support of local African population, The Rhodesian government claimed that the protected villages were necessary to protect the rural African population from intimidation and terror by the terrorists.
