Joana Ruvimbo Mamombe (born 18 June 1993) is a Zimbabwean politician, married to Mfundo Mlilo, former student leader and a member of the Citizens Coalition for Change. She is known to be one of the youngest Zimbabwean members of parliament, representing Harare West.

Early years and education

Mamombe was born in

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 ...

on June 18, 1993. She had her secondary education at

Monte Cassino Girls High School Monte Cassino Girls High School is a Catholic boarding-school in the Mashonaland East province of Zimbabwe. History The school was founded as part of the Catholic missions, Catholic Mission at Monte Cassino in 1902, when Trappist monks selecte ...

where she graduated in 2011. She proceeded to

Chinhoyi University of Technology Chinhoyi University of Technology also known as CUT was established by an Act by the Parliament of Zimbabwe on 10 December 2001. It is located in the town of Chinhoyi in Mashonaland West about 120 km from Harare towards Lake Kariba and the Z ...

and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Biotechnology. While at the university, she served as Gender Officer for the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU). After graduating from Chinhoyi University of Technology , she furthered at

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

where she attained a

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Molecular Biology with the program “students at risk”.

Career

Mamombe joined politics after completing her studies in Norway and returning to Zimbabwe in 2018. In that same year, she was elected as the member of parliament representing Harare West under the ticket of the MDC Alliance. After the elections which was held on July 30, 2018, she was sworn into office.

Arrest, treason allegation and abduction

On 2 March 2019, she was arrested and charged with treason. It was alleged that she was attempting to overthrow a constitutional elected government led by president

Emmerson Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa (, American English, US: (); born 15 September 1942) is a Zimbabwean politician who has served as President of Zimbabwe since 24 November 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former President Robert Muga ...

, after she led a protest on 14 January 2018. On 13 May 2020 she and two other women, MDC activists Cecilia Chimbiri and

Netsai Marova Netsai Marova is a Zimbabwean youth campaigner for the Movement for Democratic Change, who was abducted for two days at an anti-government protest in May 2020. As a student at Chinhoyi University of Technology at the age of 15,Marova highlighted ...

, were abducted by masked assailants at a

protest against the government's failure to provide for the poor during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Two days later, the women were found, badly injured and traumatised, by the side of the road sixty miles from Harare. They reported having been tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted. Since May 2020, the three women have been arrested and detained several more times. Despite Mamombe appearing in court 129 times over the last 12 months, she has been repeatedly denied bail. As part of their latest bail conditions, Mamombe and Chimbiri are not allowed to address a gathering of more than 50 people or engage in any activity, which violates Covid-19 regulations.

Early years and education

Career

Arrest, treason allegation and abduction

See also

References

Further reading