Christopher Tichaona Kuruneri (4 April 1949 – 28 May 2022) was a Zimbabwean businessman, politician, lawyer, farmer and philanthropist. He was a
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development and member of parliament for
Mount Darwin East. Kuruneri was a member of
Zanu-PF. He owned Ascotvale farm in the
Mazowe valley in Zimbabwe.
Early life and education
Kuruneri was born in the
Mbare
Mbare is a suburb in the south of Harare, Zimbabwe. Founded in 1907 as a township, it includes an informal settlement. Mbare Musika is the largest farm produce market in Zimbabwe.
History
Mbare was the first township, now known as a high dens ...
District of Salisbury,
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kno ...
(now
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 ...
, Zimbabwe), on 4 April 1949. His parents hail from the town of Mount Darwin in the
Mashonaland Central Provincial District of Zimbabwe.
The last born of seven, Kuruneri went to high school at
Goromonzi High School in Zimbabwe, where he obtained his GCSEs, excelling in Mathematics and Economics. He then obtained a scholarship sending him first to New York City, USA then to Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Vancouver where he obtained his first degree. He then completed his studies at York University in Toronto, Ontario, where he obtained a PhD in economics. He then worked for the government of Ontario during the Zimbabwean war for independence.
Career
Following the independence of Zimbabwe he moved back to Zimbabwe to work in the Ministry of Finance as an advisor for the Honourable
Bernard Chidzero
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 ...
. He then transitioned to the Urban Development Corporation of Zimbabwe. He was falsely charged with corruption in the early 1990s when he was general manager of the Urban Development Corporation after he allegedly influenced the corporation to buy a property from Chris Mushonga, who he wanted to enter into business with, for $5 million. He was cleared of this case in November 1994. Mushonga had bought the property for $15 000 in 1984.
After selling his house on 30 Harare drive to the Canadian Embassy he bought Bromley Farm just outside
Marondera
Marondera (known as Marandellas until 1982) is a city in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe, located about 72 km east of Harare.
History
It was first known as Marandella's Kraal, corrupted from Marondera, chief of the ruling VaRozvi people who ...
, Zimbabwe.
In 1996 he sold the farm in Bromley and bought Asctovale farm in the Mazowe Valley, where he also ran as the local MP under Zanu PF. He was eventually elected as Deputy Finance Minister in 1999 then later Finance Minister of Zimbabwe in 2004. He was relieved by the government of his Cabinet position as Finance Minister after it was revealed that he spent millions purchasing two homes in
Llandudno, Cape Town
Llandudno is a seaside suburb of Cape Town on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape, South Africa. There are no street lights, shops or commercial activities, and the town has some of the most expensive residential pro ...
, which is a suburb popular with movie stars and wealthy businessmen. One of the houses, a six-bedroom double-storey overlooking the beach, was auctioned in February 2011. He has since been vindicated of any wrongdoing on his transactions in Cape Town.
From 2003 until 2005, Kuruneri was placed on the
United States sanctions
After the failure of the Embargo Act of 1807, the federal government of the United States took little interest in imposing embargoes and economic sanctions against foreign countries until the 20th century. United States trade policy was entirely ...
list.
On 24 April 2004, Kuruneri was arrested for externalising funds and was reported to have externalised US$1.082 million, 34 471 British pounds and 30 000 Euros.
Kuruneri made headlines in the South African Sunday Times when it broke a story that he was building a
R30 million mansion in the exclusive suburb of Llandudno in Cape Town. It was also alleged that he also owned other properties in the same suburb which he bought for R2.7 million in 2002 and is reported to own shares in a block of apartments at
Sea Point
Sea Point (Afrikaans: ''Seepunt'') is one of Cape Town's most affluent and densely populated suburbs, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). Moving from ...
.
Kuruneri had two passports, one a Canadian one and at the time dual citizenship was prohibited in Zimbabwe. Though Kuruneri argued that what he did was above the law because he earned the money he used to buy the properties from consultancy work for
Mobile Systems International
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ...
and Felipe Solano, the law says if one earns any money while resident in Zimbabwe, that money must be brought into the country. He spent more than a year in remand prison and after 10 appeals for bail; Chief Justice
Godfrey Chidyausiku released him on bail and he was later acquitted by the High Court in 2007.
Despite all the harassment, Kuruneri has remained a loyal Zanu PF member, Kuruneri stood in Mount Darwin East election in the 31 July 2013 polls and his electoral victory made it possible for him to make his way back to the National Assembly, but failed to catapult him into Cabinet after he was overlooked by
Robert 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 ...
.
Personal life
Kuruneri married Dr. Titi Violet Palesa Mohapi in Edmonton, Canada, having one child by her. Dr. Mohapi died in 2014, having the Dr Titi Mohapi Day Care Centre founded in her honour in Maseru, Lesotho. Kuruneri subsequently remarried in Harare, Zimbabwe and had two daughters.
Kuruneri also fathered 4 other children who reside in the UK, Canada and France.
On 19 May 2016, Kuruneri collapsed in Parliament from an undisclosed ailment.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuruneri, Chris
1949 births
2022 deaths
People from Harare
Finance Ministers of Zimbabwe
Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe
20th-century Zimbabwean politicians
21st-century Zimbabwean politicians
ZANU–PF politicians