Bernard Thomas Gibson Chidzero (1 July 1927
[ – 8 August 2002) was a Zimbabwean economist, politician, and writer. He served as the independent Zimbabwe's second finance minister.
]
Early life and education
Bernard Thomas Gibson Chidzero was the eldest of seven children. His father, a Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
an, James Kangolwa Imfa Idzalero, was originally from Ntchisi, in Malawi who walked to Rhodesia, in 1913, stopping over on tea estates in Southern Malawi as well as performing menial labour on the Beira-Dondo railway line. His mother Agnes Munhumumwe was from the Shona people. Chidzero grew up primarily speaking chiShona, though by adulthood was also fluent in English.
Bernard Chidzero was raised in the Seke area of Chitungwiza
Chitungwiza is an urban centre and town of Harare Province in Zimbabwe.
History
As of the 2022 census, Chitungwiza had a population of 371,244.
There are two main highways which connect the city to Harare namely Seke road and Chitungwiza r ...
. He was schooled at primary school in Seke and then at Kutama College
Kutama College (officially St Francis Xavier College) is a private Catholic independent boarding high school near Norton, Zimbabwe in the Zvimba area, 80 kilometres southwest of Harare. Grown out of a Mission station founded in 1914 and run by t ...
(a prestigious Roman Catholic high school), where he played in the school band alongside fellow pupil Robert Mugabe. Chidzero converted to Catholicism while at Kutama. He then attended St. Francis College in Mariannhill in South Africa.[
Chidzero obtained a degree in ]psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
from Pius XII Catholic University College in Lesotho, an MA in political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
from the University of Ottawa, and in 1958 a PhD in political science from McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
in Montreal,[ where he married a French-Canadian woman.]
He then undertook two years post-graduate study at Nuffield College, Oxford. Early on Chidzero became interested in African politics and as a Pan Africanist he became friends, in the London African circuit, with giants like Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...
, Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...
, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Seretse Khama
Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980) was a Motswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980.
Born into an influential royal fam ...
and others.
Career
In 1957 Chidzero published a Shona novel ''Nzvengamutsvairo'' (the name has been translated from Shona as "Mr Lazy-Bones" or "Broom-Dodger"[) which detailed the condition of workers on Rhodesian farms and set out his vision of an integrated, racially tolerant society.][
Armed with a grant from the Ford Foundation, Chidzero returned to Rhodesia in 1960, intending to teach at the University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; his offer to work there was withdrawn when the segregated university discovered the interracial nature of Chidzero's marriage.]
Chidzero joined the United Nations in 1960. He began in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa as an economic affairs officer in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
and from 1963 to 1968 as an assistant to the UN Technical Assistance Board in Kenya
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. From 1968 to 1980 Chidzero worked for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...
(UNCTAD): from 1968 to 1977 he was the Director of Commodities and between 1977 and 1980 he served as UNCTAD's Deputy Secretary General
After the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Ian Smith, Chidzero played a role in the early liberation struggle negotiations for Zimbabwe. He was part of the advisory team when Joshua Nkomo
Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and Matabeleland politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's ...
leader of Zimbabwe African People's Party visited London. The collapse of those talks, resulting in the split of ZAPU and Zimbabwe African National Union
The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) was a militant organisation that fought against white minority rule in Rhodesia, formed as a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). ZANU split in 1975 into wings loyal to Robert Muga ...
, ZANU also marked a watershed in Chidzero's political allegiances. Increasingly, he teamed up with his former school- and band-mate Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Z ...
.
Aware of an impending war of liberation in Zimbabwe, in 1970, Chidzero bought a farm in Malawi and moved his father and kinsfolk out of Rhodesia. And on 21 December 1972 the first armed attack on a Rhodesian white settler took place in Centenary, Zambezi River escarpment. Meanwhile, during a visit to Malawi in 1972, Chidzero made overtures to his Pan African 'brother' and 'friend' Hastings Kamuzu Banda to settle in Malawi when his United Nations tenure would expire. Hastings Kamuzu Banda's response was an unequivocal refusal. Still, the farm in Malawi continued to serve, with the Malawi Government turning a blind eye, as an active Zimbabwean cell and staging point for many recruits heading for Morogoro training bases, in Tanzania.
Following the Lancaster House Agreement Chidzero returned to Zimbabwe and, in 1980, he became the Minister of Economic Planning and Development. In the 1985 election he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
, representing ZANU-PF. Following the election he was promoted to be the Minister of Finance, succeeding Tichaendepi Masaya.
He was Chairman of the Development Committee of the World Bank from 1986 to 1990. He was a member of the World Commission on Environment and Development. Back home he designed and implemented the Zimbabwean version of the Structural Adjustment Programme; in the process earning himself the wrath of certain ZANU-PF stalwarts who considered his economic programs ill-timed and denying them access to 'rewards of their war effort'.
In 1990, aware of the disaster that the Zimbabwean economy was headed for and vilified and accused for SAP's 'failures' by those within the ruling party, a frustrated Chidzero ran for election to the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations. Chidzero was supported by the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
countries, but was defeated by Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Throughout 1991 and 1992, Chidzero said the only foreign country to really help Zimbabwe financially was the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, Chidzero attributed this to the decision's of Prime Minister John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
, who Chidzero said "Refused to give up on Zimbabwe after most of the west had basically decided to do so." Chidzero went on to say "The British always answered the phone when we called. The Americans mostly did, at least before 1993. The French basically never did, and when they did they never gave a straight answer on anything."[The Foreign Policy of Zimbabwe by Ulf Engel] Chidzero's health began to fail in 1993 and he stepped down as finance minister in 1995. Bernard Chidzero died in the Avenues Clinic in Harare in 2002. He is buried in the Heroes Acre in Harare.
Bibliography
*''Nzvengamutsvairo'', 1957
*''Partnership in practice'', Sword of the Spirit, 1960
*''Tanganyika and international trusteeship'', Oxford University Press, 1961
*''The imperative of international co-operation'', East African Publishing for East African Academy, 1966
*''Education and the challenge of independence'', International University Exchange Fund, 1977
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chidzero, Bernard
1927 births
2002 deaths
McGill University alumni
University of Ottawa alumni
Zimbabwean people of Malawian descent
People from Chitungwiza
Shona people
Alumni of Kutama College
Converts to Roman Catholicism
Zimbabwean Roman Catholics
20th-century Roman Catholics
21st-century Roman Catholics
National University of Lesotho alumni
Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford
ZANU–PF politicians
Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe
Finance Ministers of Zimbabwe