Simba maconi

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Simbarashe Herbert Stanley Makoni (born March 22, 1950 in Rusape District) is a Zimbabwean politician . As a member of the ruling ZANU-PF party, Makoni was the Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2002. Due to political differences, he was dismissed from Robert Mugabe after 18 months in office . After Makoni's resignation, the Zimbabwean economy began to decline sharply, with an annual inflation rate of over 66,000% in December 2007 and an unemployment rate of 80% (early 2008).

Makoni started a chemistry degree at the University of Rhodesia , however, was for political reasons relegated . He continued his studies at the University of Leeds in the UK , graduating with a B.Sc ; later he also earned his PhD . Between 1977 and 1980 Makoni was ZANU's chief representative in Western Europe.

When Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, at the age of 30, he became Member of Parliament for Manicaland Province in the east of the country and Deputy Minister of Agriculture in Mugabe's first cabinet, then Minister of Energy. He was also Minister for Youth, Sport and Culture throughout his career. In 1984 Makoni became secretary of SADCC . In 1993 he returned to Zimbabwe from Botswana and was head of the trade fair and exhibition company in Bulawayo until 2000 .

At the beginning of February 2008, Makoni announced his candidacy for the Zimbabwean presidential elections on March 29, 2008. Since the ZANU-PF supported Robert Mugabe's renewed candidacy for a sixth term, Makoni ran as an independent candidate against Mugabe. When his candidacy was announced on February 5, he was the only opposing candidate; eventually, however, Morgan Tsvangirai stood for election. On February 12, 2008, a spokesman for ZANU-PF said that Makoni had been officially expelled from the party because of his candidacy. On February 29, 2008, ZANU-PF politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa and former parliamentary speaker Cyril Ndebele declared that they supported Makoni's candidacy.

After the election result announced on May 2, 2008 with a five-week delay, Makoni achieved 8.3% of the vote, behind the winner of the first ballot, Morgan Tsvangirai, and Mugabe in third position.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. BBC News : “Ex-ally to fight Mugabe in poll” , February 5, 2008 (English)
  2. The Irish Times : “Zimbabwe inflation rate over 66,000%” , February 14, 2008 (English)
  3. Al Jazeera : “Ex-minister to run against Mugabe” , February 5, 2008 (English)
  4. Der Standard : "Ex-Finance Minister Makoni takes on Mugabe" , February 5, 2008
  5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7319905.stm
  6. ZimOnline: “ZANU PF expels Makoni” ( Memento of the original from February 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , February 12, 2008 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zimonline.co.za
  7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7272662.stm
  8. BBC News: “Zimbabwe announces poll results” , May 2, 2008 (English)