Perrance Shiri (born Bigboy Samson Chikerema; 11 January 1955US Code Collection - Executive Order No. 13288
''

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

''. Retrieved on 31 March 2007.29 July 2020) was a retired

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 ...

air officer An air officer is an air force officer of the rank of air commodore or higher. Such officers may be termed "officers of air rank". While the term originated in the Royal Air Force, air officers are also to be found in many Commonwealth nations ...

and government official who served as Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement in the

Cabinet of Zimbabwe The Cabinet of Zimbabwe is the executive body that forms the government of Zimbabwe together with the President of Zimbabwe. The Cabinet is composed of the President, the Vice-Presidents, and ministers appointed by the President. Until 1987, the Ca ...

from 1 December 2017 until his death on 29 July 2020. He was the commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe and member of the Joint Operations Command which exerts day-by-day control over Zimbabwe's government.Air Force of Zimbabwe
''Zimbabwe Ministry of Defence''. Retrieved on 31 March 2007. Perrance Shiri was a cousin of former President

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 ...

. He called himself "Black

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

", because according to an anonymous claim on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Josiah Tungamirai Air Chief Marshal Josiah Tungamirai (8 October 1948 Shiri was in command of the Zimbabwean troops at the start of the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War,, group=lower-alpha also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War and sometimes referred to as the African World War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year a ...

. It was Shiri who decided that the Zimbabwean contingent would defend N'Djili and its airport. This was in order to maintain an air route for resupply and reinforcements if needed. In the late-1990s and early-2000s, Shiri was reported to have organised farm invasions by war veterans. In 2002, in response to the subsequent food shortage, Mugabe dispatched Shiri to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

to purchase maize. This undertaking was backed by a credit note for the equivalent of £17 million from the

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

n leader,

Colonel Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

. With the Mugabe government facing increasing problems, the Zimbabwean press reported in February 2007 that Shiri was regularly attending General

Solomon Mujuru Solomon Mujuru (born Solomon Tapfumaneyi Mutusva; 5 May 1945 – 15 August 2011), also known by his nom-de-guerre, Rex Nhongo, was a Zimbabwean military officer and politician who led Robert Mugabe's guerrilla forces during the Rhodesian Bush Wa ...

’s unofficial meetings with other senior military commanders and some political leaders. These meetings had discussed forcing Mugabe to the polls in 2008 with a view to his replacement as president. In 2008 some Zimbabwean lawyers and opposition politicians from

Mutare Mutare (formerly Umtali) is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe, having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban area, urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 ...

claimed that Shiri managed military assaults on illegal diggers in the diamond mines in the east of Zimbabwe.

2008 election

In the days before the

2008 Zimbabwean presidential election General elections were held in Zimbabwe on 29 March 2008 to elect the President and Parliament. Because of Zimbabwe's dire economic situation, the elections were expected to provide incumbent President Robert Mugabe with his toughest electoral ...

Shiri, along with other Zimbabwean Defence chiefs, held a press conference where they stated that defence and security forces had been deployed across the country to maintain order. In a remark aimed against the

Movement for Democratic Change Movement for Democratic Change or MDC may refer to: * Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), the former main opposition party in Zimbabwe ** Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai Congress 2006, the second MDC–T congress ...

, the defence chiefs stated that it would be a criminal act for anyone to declare himself the winner of the election. They maintained that such a statement must only be made by the

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is an independent Chapter 12 institution established in terms of Section 238 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe; which is responsible for the management and administration of Zimbabwe's electoral processes. It was ...

Sanctions against Shiri

In 2002 the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

barred then Air Marshal Shiri from entering the EU and on 6 March 2003,

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

ordered the blocking of any of Shiri's property in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Assassination attempt

Shiri was ambushed on 13 December 2008 while driving to his farm. According to police, he was accosted by unknown people who shot at his car. Thinking one of his tyres had burst, he got out and was shot in the arm. It has been speculated that the assassination attempt was a response to Shiri's attacks on illegal diamond miners in 2008 or because of his role in Matabeleland in the 1980s. In October 2013, Shiri's son, Titus Takudzwa Chikerema, died at the age of 21.

2017 coup and ministerial appointment

Shiri was influential in orchestrating the

2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état In November 2017, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was removed as president and party leader of ZANU-PF and was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa. On the evening of 14 November 2017, elements of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) gathered arou ...

which removed Mugabe from power. On 30 November 2017, Shiri was appointed

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

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 ...

. On 18 December he was promoted from Air Marshal to

Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...

upon retirement.

Death

Shiri died on 29 July 2020, after being hospitalized the day before. He was 65; local news sources say his death was due to complications from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe. Mnangagwa described Shiri as a “longtime friend and colleague” and “a true patriot.” Shiri was subsequently succeeded by Anxious Jongwe Masuka as the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, and Rural Resettlement.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Shiri, Perrance 1955 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Zimbabwean politicians 21st-century Zimbabwean politicians Air Force of Zimbabwe air marshals Alumni of the Royal College of Defence Studies Agriculture ministers of Zimbabwe Members of the Senate of Zimbabwe People from Gweru ZANU–PF politicians Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army personnel Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe