Witness Mangwende

Witness Pasichigare Magunda Mangwende (born October 15, 1946 in Buhera , Manicaland , Southern Rhodesia ; † February 26, 2005 in Harare , Zimbabwe ) was a Zimbabwean politician and, among other things, long-time foreign minister who was one of the least controversial ministers in the governments of President Robert Mugabe belonged to.

Life

After attending school, Mangwende studied at the University of Zimbabwe , where he was involved as one of the leaders of the student movement . He later studied international relations at the University of London and graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D. ).

Mangwende succeeded Simon Muzenda as Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister in 1981, just one year after independence from Great Britain on April 18, 1980 . He held this office for seven years until he was replaced by Nathan Shamuyarira in 1988.

He then took over the post of Minister for Information, Post and Telecommunications in 1988 and, after a further reshuffle in the government of President Mugabe, became Minister for Land, Agriculture and Rural Settlement in 1990. In 1992 Mugabe appointed him Minister for Education and Culture in a recent cabinet reshuffle, before he was last Minister for Sport, Recreation and Culture between 1995 and 1997. After Mangwende had not held a ministerial post for several years, he was appointed Minister for Transport and Communications by President Mugabe in 2002 and was a member of the cabinet in this capacity until 2004.

During his eighteen years in government, he was considered one of the least controversial ministers in Mugabe's cabinet.

Most recently, Mangwende became provincial governor of Harare in 2004 and held this post until his death in 2005.

Web links

• Short biography (rulers.org)
• List of Foreign Ministers of Zimbabwe (rulers.org)