Leopold Takawira
Leopold Takawira (* 1916 in Chirumanzi, Victoria District, South Rhodesia , † 1970 in Salisbury prison, today Harare , Rhodesia , today Zimbabwe ) was one of the champions of Zimbabwe's independence. He was also known as Shumba yeChirumanzi .
Life
Takawira went to school in Chirumanzi and later received teacher training in Mariannhill in Natal Province in the Union of South Africa . He was first assistant teacher and later head of the Chipembere Government School in Highfield (Rhodesia) , one of the first townships in Salisbury, now Harare. In the 1950s he became an employee of Colonel David Stirling's Capricorn Africa Society and gave up teaching.
Political career
After the Rhodesian African National Congress had been banned by the British colonial authorities in Southern Rhodesia, the National Democratic Party (NDP) was founded in 1959 . Takawira was elected chairman of the party's Salisbury district in 1960 and was a member of the party's central executive committee. On July 19, 1960, he was arrested along with other leading fighters on charges of belonging to the banned National Congress. After the arrest of the party members, riots broke out in Salisbury.
On September 21, 1960, Takawira was elected interim chairman of the party, but lost the November 1960 presidential election to Joshua Nkomo . Nkomo then sent Takawira to London as head of the party's international relations . In 1961 Takawira protested against the policies of the NDP leadership from London. This led to a policy change in the party. In 1961 Takawira became a founding member of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), the successor to the NDP. He was also the board member responsible for foreign policy at ZAPU.
Takawira's dissatisfaction with Nkomo's politics led to his expulsion from the party in July 1963. He then joined the apostate faction under Ndabaningi Sithole . He became vice chairman of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in August 1963 .
Arrest and death
At the end of 1964 Takawira was arrested and imprisoned in Sikombele with Joshua Nkomo, Ndabaningi Sithole, Robert Mugabe and Edgar Tekere . After Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 by the Ian Smith regime , he was transferred to Salisbury Prison. He died there in 1970, presumably as a result of the prison authorities ignoring his diabetes.
Takawira was first buried in his home village. Since August 11, 1982 it has been on the Heroes Acre near the Zimbabwe National Monument outside Harare.
literature
- Fay King Chung: Re-Living the Second Chimurenga. Memories from the Zimbabwean Liberation Struggle . Nordiska Afrikainstitutet , Stockholm 2006.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Takawira, Leopold |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Shumba yeChirumanzi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | African freedom fighter in today's Zimbabwe |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1916 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chirumanzi , Victoria District , Southern Rhodesia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1970 |
| Place of death | Salisbury , Rhodesia |