Lovemore Madhuku is a Zimbabwean politician and democracy activist who is best known for being one of the founding members of the National Constituent Assembly or NCA, a pro-democracy group. An active civil society worker, Madhuku served as NCA's President from 2001 to 2011. During his tenure as the President, he aimed at bringing forth a new autonomous constitution in Zimbabwe that would get rid of the one-party rule of Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe since 1987. The highlight of his career came when the NCA successfully defeated a constitution introduced by Mugabe in the national referendum in 2000. Ever since Madhuku has been trying to bring to an end the autocratic rule and establish a democratic constitution in Zimbabwe. He attained his degree in law from the University of Zimbabwe and later did his doctorate degree from the University of Cambridge. He has been appointed as a full-time professor at the University of Zimbabwe since 2011. Madhuku penned the famous textbook, 'An Introduction to Zimbabwean Law' which gives an insight into Zimbabwean legal system

Background and academic career

Madhuku was born on 20 July 1966 in Chipinge, Zimbabwe. He attended the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University ...

(UZ), receiving a Bachelor of Law degree in 1990. He then travelled to the UK to study at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, receiving a Master of Law in 1994 and a doctorate in 1999. In 2010, he published a book titled ''An Introduction to Zimbabwean Law''. He was made a full professor at UZ in 2011.

Activism

Madhuku is a founding member of the

National Constitutional Assembly The National Constitutional Assembly was a non-governmental organisation formed in 1997 as a grouping of individual Zimbabwean citizens and civic organisations including, labour movements, student and youth groups, women groups, churches, business ...

(NCA), a pro-democracy group allied with the Movement for Democratic Change led by

Morgan Tsvangirai Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (; ; 10 March 1952 – 14 February 2018) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was President of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democratic ...

. The group opposes the one-party rule of 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 ...

and seeks to establish a democratic constitution. Madhuku served as its vice president from 1997 to 2001 and its president from 2001 to 2011. In 2000, he helped to defeat a constitution introduced by Mugabe in a national referendum. Mugabe described Madhuku's activities as "opportunism", stating: "There are some fraudulent human rights campaigners like Lovemore Madhuku and his NCA who, when broke, intentionally provoke the police in order to get arrested and raise money from the donors. As such, they easily attract the attention international media line CNN, BBC over nothing. That's the Madhuku survival strategy for you". In November 2001, Madhuku was detained without charge for leading a demonstration after soldiers allegedly strangled a student and threw him from a train. According to journalist

Geoffrey Nyarota Geoffrey Nyarota (born c. 1951) is a Zimbabwean journalist and human rights activist. Born in colonial Southern Rhodesia, he trained as a teacher before beginning his career with a Zimbabwean state-owned newspaper, '' The Herald''. As editor of t ...

, Madhuku was also subject to a smear campaign by state-owned media. Madhuku has stated that his country home was burned down and his house 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 ...

badly damaged by attacks. In February 2004, he was arrested during a protest, beaten, and left for dead outside Harare. On recovering, he stated, "We will not be deterred by the beatings and the cruelty of this regime. They can only stop us by killing us." In October of the same year, Mugabe's government introduced a bill into parliament seeking to ban nongovernmental organizations, including the NCA. In November 2006, he was charged with organizing an illegal protest, but a magistrate later dismissed the charges. Police assaulted him again in March 2007, breaking his arm and leaving him with cuts to the head and body. He was summoned to court again in 2011 for his leadership of 2004 protests, drawing international criticism. Madhuku was re-elected as the NCA's chair in 2006 under controversial circumstances, as he had amended its constitution to extend his term of office. According to

Radio Netherlands Radio Netherlands (RNW; nl, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep) was a public radio and television network based in Hilversum, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the Netherlands from 1947 to 2012. Its services i ...

, Madhuku was particularly criticized for serving several terms after having himself criticized Mugabe for serving more than two terms in office. He completed his final term as the group's chair in 2011. Madhuku was awarded the 2004 Civil Courage Prize by the US-based Train Foundation, sharing it with Iranian activist

Emadeddin Baghi Emadeddin Baghi (born 25 April 1962) is an Iranian Journalist, human rights activist, prisoners' rights advocate, investigative journalist, theologian and writer. He is the founder and head of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights an ...

. He was unable to attend the ceremony due to the proposing banning of the NCA, and sending Nyarota to accept it on his behalf. together with Godfrey Nyamukuwa

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madhuku, Lovemore Living people 1966 births People from Manicaland Province Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Zimbabwe alumni Academic staff of the University of Zimbabwe Zimbabwean democracy activists Zimbabwean politicians