George Tawengwa (1902 – 13 April 1982) was a businessman who was engaged in transport, retail, and agriculture industries in Rhodesia.

Early life and prophecy

Tawengwa was born to Chirume and Maria (Mhariya) of the ''Gumbo Madyira'' totem and had an elder brother, Takawira Chirume, who died within the first two years of birth as well as a younger brother, Bernard Chamunorwa Chirume. His mother died in 1919. It is rumoured she was poisoned as a consequence of polygamous rivalry. The true dynamics of the father-son relationship are not fully known, but were chronicled as not the most cordial. According to folklore, as a child, George became very ill, to the point of death. His father called a prophet to identify and possibly cure his son of his affliction. However, the prophet said that the sickness was a sign that he had been chosen by the gods for a mission, to reignite a lost cause and to one day handover the baton to the next generation and that he would become a wealthy and prominent person. Tawengwa's father and the rest of the village dismissed the prophecy as nonsense. When Tawengwa was about 12 years old, he ran away from home after a fight with his father and ended up at Grinham Farm in

Marandellas 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 ...

. There, Tawengwa started working as a

shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

for Robert Grinham, the founder of the

Ruzawi School Ruzawi School is an Anglican church, Anglican, Private school, independent, co-educational, Preparatory school (United Kingdom), preparatory, Boarding school, boarding school for children aged 6 to 12. It is located near the town of Marondera in ...

and

Springvale House Springvale House Preparatory School (commonly known as Springvale or Springvale House) is an independent, preparatory, boarding and day school in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe that was established in 1952. The school shares facilities with Pete ...

Using Tawengwa as surname

Because of his strained relationship with his father, Tawengwa dropped the surname Chirume in favor of his middle name Tavengwa, which was misspelled in some early documents as Tayengwa, and later anglicized to the current Tawengwa by district administrators. Tawengwa left Grinham Farm when he was about 15 years old, and was hired at the Meikles Hotel as a dishwasher before being promoted to waiter. He used the money he earned in tips as a waiter to buy a wood planer, mesh wire and wood off-cuts to make sieves for people to refine their maize mealie-meal and other grain mealie-meals.

Death

George Tawengwa died on 13 April 1982 at Parerenyatwa Hospital in Harare from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

. He was buried at Zimdale Farm (then Rhodesdale Farm), the first farm he purchased in 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tawengwa, George 1982 deaths Rhodesian businesspeople 1902 births