Daniel Nyamayaro Madzimbamuto (1929–1999) was a Southern Rhodesian activist who became a Zimbabwean politician and administrator.

Early life

Daniel Nyamayaro Madzimbamuto was born in

Murehwa Murewa (also spelled Mrewa or Muhrewa) is a township (and district) in Zimbabwe, 75 kilometers northeast from the capital of Harare, at the road to Tete (Mozambique). It is situated almost 1400 m above sea level. In 2002, the number of inhabitant ...

, on October 8, either 1929 or 1930. This was a rural area north of Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe). He was the son of a Tribal Trust Land farmer, and the eighth child of a family of 10. He was schooled at the Murehwa Mission until 1948, when he won a scholarship to the

Munali Secondary School Munali Secondary School is a state-funded secondary school located on the Great East Road in Lusaka, Zambia. Munali was the first secondary school for black students in Zambia's history. Some of its alumni are notable Zambian politicians and public ...

, in

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

(now Zambia), where he studied until 1952. After graduation he worked as a broadcaster, publicist, and salesman throughout Rhodesia and South Africa.

Marriage

He met Stella Nkolombe, who would become his wife, in Durban, which he was visiting as a publicity officer for

Boswell Wilkie Circus The Boswell Wilkie Circus was in business for close to 75 years in South Africa. Circus origins The Boswell family started the show in 1913 in Vrededorp, a Johannesburg suburb. The family did most of the entertainment. Jim, Walter and Alf did tu ...

. She was a nurse at Ladysmith Provincial Hospital. They quickly married and moved to Rhodesia. She gave birth to the first of their four children, son Farai (

Shona language Shona (; sn, chiShona) is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It was codified by the colonial government in the 1950s. According to ''Ethnologue'', Shona, comprising the Zezuru, Korekore and Karanga dialects, is spoken by about 7 ...

for "Be happy"), in 1956.

Politics and detentions

Upon returning to Rhodesia, Madzimbamuto became active in nationalist politics. First he joined the recently founded

City Youth League The City Youth League, later known as the African Youth League, is a defunct organization that participated in nonviolent resistance against the government in Rhodesia from its founding in August 1955 until it merged with the old SRANC on Septembe ...

. When it merged with the African National Congress in 1957, he became chair of the ANC's

Highfield Highfield may refer to: Places ;Places in England * Highfield, Bolton * Highfield, Derbyshire * Highfield, Gloucestershire *Highfield, Southampton *Highfield, Hertfordshire a neighbourhood in Hemel Hempstead * Highfield, Oxfordshire * Highfield, S ...

branch. He was first detained in 1959 and though occasionally released for short periods, was not fully released until 1963. Then he was soon re-arrested as a member of the Zimbabwe African People's Union Central Committee. Stella Madzimbamuto challenged his continued detention in the landmark legal case

Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke ''Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke and another'' 9691 AC 645 is a decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on United Kingdom constitutional law and the constitutional law of Rhodesia. The case was brought by Stella Madzimbamuto, t ...

on the grounds that Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 was invalid. She lost in Rhodesian court, and though she won in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1968, Madzimbamuto was not released until 1974. They had other children during this period, whose names reflect their parents' growing desperation: Chipo ("Gift"), Tambudzai ("They are troubling us") and Tafirenyika ("We are dying for the country"). During imprisonment, Madzimbamuto earned a law degree via correspondence from the University of London. In 1969, he was declared

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Prisoner of the Year. When Madzimbamuto was released in 1974, he had another romantic relationship, and he and Stella became separated. He went to

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

, Zambia, to participate in the

Zimbabwe War of Liberation The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rh ...

with the ZAPU and ANC. In 1976 he served as the foreign secretary of the Joshua Nkomo branch of the ANC during a meeting in Cairo.

Post independence

After Zimbabwe's independence in 1979–80, Madzimbamuto became Deputy Postmaster General at the Zimbabwe Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. He held this post until retirement in 1998. He died May 2, 1999, and was buried in National Heroes Acre as the 44th National Hero.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madzimbamuto, Daniel 1929 births 1999 deaths Zimbabwean revolutionaries