The United African National Council was a party led by Abel Muzorewa, which during the period of Internal Settlement of 1979 (the short-lived span when Rhodesia changed into Zimbabwe Rhodesia), held formal power. Power, however, remained in the hands of the Rhodesian Front who controlled the armed forces.
Muzorewa initially led resistance to the Rhodesian Front regime in his pastoral capacity and formed the UANC to represent African political opinion in opposing the constitutional proposals negotiated by Ian Smith (for the Rhodesian Government) and Sir Alec Douglas Hume (for the British Government) in 1971.
As an internally based African leader, Bishop Muzorewa led the UANC into the "Internal Settlement" with the Rhodesian Government on 03 March 1978 and formed a transitional government with the Rhodesian Front and other political parties, winning the first universal adult suffrage elections held in the country in April 1979 with 67% of the vote.
In the February 1980 elections the UANC won three seats in the first Zimbabwean parliament and remains a small political party with Muzorewa having left politics in 1986.
After ZANU, led by Robert Mugabe after disagreements with Sithole, and ZAPU undertook guerrilla warfare, the UANC was the only legal fl party since it rejected violence.
On the March 3, 1978, Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithole and other non-exiled leaders signed an agreement at Governors Lodge, Salisbury, which paved the way for the interim government, the leadership of which was an Executive Council made up of Muzorewa, Sithole and Chief Jeremiah Chirau, along with Ian Smith.
These new elections resulted in a resounding majority for Robert Mugabe and ZANU, with the UANC only having 3 out of 80 seats reserved for fls in the House of Assembly.
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