Edgar Tekere

Edgar "Mukoma" Zivanai Tekere (born April 1, 1937 in Nyang'ombe , Rhodesia ; † June 7, 2011 in Mutare , Manicaland , Zimbabwe ) was a Zimbabwean politician who, because of his efforts to end the supremacy of Great Britain in Rhodesia and its Sovereignty was imprisoned for ten years and later unsuccessfully demanded a restriction of the political supremacy of President Robert Mugabes, who has been in office since 1980, in the now independent Zimbabwe.

Life

Mugabe's follower and independence fighter

In 1963 Tekere helped found the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in Rhodesia. After the party was banned in 1964, Tekere, Leopold Takawira and the then General Secretary of ZANU Robert Mugabe were arrested by the government of the Prime Minister of Rhodesia, Ian Smith , after both of them were accused of building a black majority government. After being released, Mugabe and Tekere went in November 1964 into exile to Mozambique , which at that time to a base for African independence war of guerrillas was. There he was also involved in the struggle for independence under the nickname “Mukoma” and in the mid-1970s appeared more frequently as a guest speaker at events organized by the Communist Federation of West Germany (KBW).

He was part of the delegation led by Robert Mugabe, who signed the Lancaster House Agreement on December 21, 1979 , thus laying the foundations for the sovereignty of Zimbabwe.

After independence from Great Britain on April 18, 1980, Tekere was seen as more militant than Mugabe, who at the time was in favor of reconciliation with the white minority population. For the independence celebrations he organized a concert in Harare with Bob Marley , whose music inspired the liberation fighters according to Tekere, and which was attended by 100,000 people. Tekere was appointed Minister for Labor in the first government of Zimbabwe by Mugabe and was also Secretary General of ZANU. A few months later, he and a bodyguard were accused of murdering a white farm manager . However, he had to be dismissed under a bill passed under the Smith administration to protect cabinet members from criminal prosecution if they acted in faith to prevent terrorist attacks. Still, Tekere was dismissed as minister and became increasingly a critic of the public corruption that ruled Mugabe's rule. However, he later admitted the murder of the white farmer.

Mugabe's critic and national hero

In 1988 he was expelled from the ZANU-PF, the successor to the ZANU after the union with the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) by Joshua Nkomo . Shortly afterwards, he founded his own party and applied for it in the 1990 presidential election, in which, however, he was defeated by Mugabe.

In his 2007 memoir , Tekere accused Mugabe of building a nation whose people “lived largely in fear of their own government, of a state machine that grew out of liberation forces, but is now, unfortunately, more associated with ruthlessness and sheer violence is “('... live mostly in fear of their own government, of a state machinery, born out of the forces of liberation, but now, regrettably, more associated with ruthlessness and naked force'). He himself accepted his share of responsibility for the mistakes of his generation in building institutions to protect democracy .

Tekere, who had been in a private hospital in Harare for treatment since September 2010, died of prostate cancer . After his death, Mugabe and the ZANU-PF recognized Tekere in state press. Mugabe stated that Tekere's death brought back memories "of our flight from Rhodesia to join thousands upon thousands of young Zimbabwean fighters living in numerous camps in Mozambique." Regardless of the bad blood between them, Mugabe described Tekere as "fearless and supreme." spirited". The ruling ZANU-PF posthumously declared Tekere a national hero on June 9, 2011 , after which he was buried in the Heroes Acre cemetery in Harare. This burial was approved by his family, although he himself had declared for many years that he did not want to be buried “among thieves and murderers” on Heroes Acre.

Web links

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME	Tekere, Edgar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Tekere, Edgar Zivanai (full name); Tekere, Mukoma Zivanai (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Zimbabwean politician
DATE OF BIRTH	April 1, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nyang'ombe , Rhodesia
DATE OF DEATH	June 7, 2011
Place of death	Mutare , Monicaland , Zimbabwe

[1] DER SPIEGEL: PERSONNEL: Edgar Tekere (No. 17/1981)

[2] THE ZIMDIASPORA: Edgar Tekere rushed to hospital (September 30, 2010)