Eddison Jonasi Mudadirwa Zvobgo (2 October 1935 – 22 August 2004) was a founder of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

's ruling party, ZANU–PF, the Patriotic Front's spokesman at the

Lancaster House Lancaster House (originally known as York House and then Stafford House) is a mansion in the St James's district in the West End of London. It is close to St James's Palace, and much of the site was once part of the palace complex. This ...

in late 1979,"It Seems Like a Miracle"
''Time'' magazine and CNN a Harvard-trained lawyer, a hotelier and a poet. His name is often misspelled by the media, either as "Edson" instead of Eddison or "Zvo''gb''o" instead of Zvo''bg''o. Zvobgo was born in then

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 k ...

in 1935, near Fort Victoria (now Masvingo), where his father was a minister in the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family a ...

. He comes from the Karanga subgroup of the

Shona people The Shona people () are part of the Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily living in Zimbabwe where they form the majority of the population, as well as Mozambique, South Africa, and a worldwide diaspora including g ...

. In 1960, Zvobgo won a scholarship to

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...

in Boston, Massachusetts aged 25. After taking a bachelor's degree there in 1964, he returned home to be arrested and detained for political activism against white rule in

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to th ...

, along with

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 th ...

and Joshua Nkomo. He was freed in 1971, and he spent a period in exile in Canada. He then studied law at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and International Relations at

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The School is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations and is well-ranked in it ...

, followed by a position as associate professor of criminal law at Lewis University College of Law in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. Zvobgo played a key role in international negotiations at

that ended the bitter

Rhodesian Bush War 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 unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three forc ...

and led to British-sponsored all-race elections ahead of Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. He was the Zanu-PF spokesman, and impressed many in the international press with his quick repartee and astute analysis of the negotiations. In the 1980 elections, he won a seat in Parliament for Masvingo, which he continued to hold until his death. An influential member of Zimbabwe's first fully independent cabinet, Zvobgo was Minister of Local Government and Housing until 1982, and Minister of Justice until 1985. In 1987, he had become Zimbabwe's Minister of Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs and it was in this capacity that he made several amendments to Zimbabwe's Constitution. Initially a staunch supporter of Zanu-PF policies, Zvobgo later criticized

's autocratic rule. In 1992, Zvobgo was moved to the less influential post of Minister of Mines. In 1996, Zvobgo survived a car accident, in which both his legs were broken. This accident was considered suspicious by many. Shortly after the accident President Mugabe demoted Dr. Zvobgo further to Minister Without Portfolio, and, in 2000, Dr. Zvobgo was dropped from Zimbabwe's cabinet altogether. In the 2002 presidential elections, Zvobgo refused to campaign for Mugabe, but did not endorse the opposition challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). He also voiced his opposition to the sweeping media law, passed the same year, calling it "the most serious assault on our constitutional liberties since independence". Despite his criticism, Zvobgo eventually voted for the legislation, which was used to close off Zimbabwe's only privately owned daily newspaper, '' The Daily News'', and to arrest at least 31 independent journalists. Zvobgo became the subject of an internal party disciplinary inquiry in 2003 for his refusal to campaign for Mugabe and after describing the laws as a weapon to stifle opposition to the government, but allegations of disloyalty were eventually dropped. He was also accused of holding private talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change as the ruling party abandoned formal dialogue between the two parties. Zvobg
died
on 22 August 2004 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Dr. Zvobgo is survived by his seven children: Jonasi, Kerina, Mudiwa, Tsungirirai, Tendai, Esther and Farai Emily. He was declared a National Hero and laid to rest at Zimbabwe's National Heroes Acre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zvobgo, Edson 1935 births People from Masvingo Province 2004 deaths Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army personnel Harvard Law School alumni Tufts University alumni Prisoners and detainees of Rhodesia Deaths from cancer in Zimbabwe Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe 20th-century Zimbabwean politicians 21st-century Zimbabwean politicians Shona people Zimbabwean Protestants

See also

References