Joseph Wilfred Msika (6 December 1923 – 4 August 2009), was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Second Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1999 to 2009.Sydney Kawadza "VP Msika dies" , ''The Herald'', 6 August 2009.
Early life
Msika was born in
Mazowe
Mazowe is a village in Mashonaland Central province in Zimbabwe.
Notable people
*John Bredenkamp
*Fortune Chasi
*Chenhanho Chimutengwende
*Paul Tangi Mhova Mkondo
*Auxilia Mnangagwa
*Grace Mugabe
*Joseph Msika
Joseph Wilfred Msika (6 Decembe ...
, in the Chiweshe district of
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 kno ...
. He attended Howard and Mt Selinda institutes, where he trained to become a carpentry teacher. He then moved to
Bulawayo
Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...
, where he worked as a carpenter and ran a fish-and-chip shop.Joseph Msika – Daily Telegraph obituary
Later, Msika was a teacher at Usher Institute and became active in nationalist politics, working with nationalists such as
Masotsha Ndlovu
Masotsha Ndlovu (1890-1982) was a black labour union leader in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. He was active in that country's section of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU).
Early life
He was born at Saba village in Matabelelan ...
and Benjamin Burombo. He joined the Rhodesia Textile and Allied Workers' Union around 1944 or 1945.
Politics
During the Bush War
Msika was elected as National Treasurer of the African National Congress in 1957; it was subsequently banned, at which point Msika became Secretary for Youth in the
Zimbabwe African People's Union
The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) is a Zimbabwean political party. It is a militant organization and political party that campaigned for majority rule in Rhodesia, from its founding in 1961 until 1980. In 1987, it merged with the Zim ...
(ZAPU), its successor organisation. As a result of his political activities, he was detained at Khami Maximum Security, Selukwe and Marandellas prisons from 1959 to 1961. He joined the National Democratic Party in 1961 and was elected a councillor.
In 1963, Msika was elected as ZAPU Secretary for Youth Affairs, and after the NDP was banned he became Secretary for External Affairs of the People's Caretaker Party.
Police arrested Msika in 1964 while he was in the home of Josiah Mushore Chinamano,Robert Cary and Diana Mitchell. ''African Nationalist Leaders in Rhodesia Who's who'', 1977. Page 180. and was detained at Gonakudzingwa Restriction Camp. In 1979, Msika was a member of the delegation to the
Lancaster House Agreement
The Lancaster House Agreement, signed on 21 December 1979, declared a ceasefire, ending the Rhodesian Bush War; and directly led to Rhodesia achieving internationally recognised independence as Zimbabwe. It required the full resumption of di ...
that forged independence for Zimbabwe.
Post-independence
In 1980, Msika was included in the first post-independence government as Minister of Natural Resources and Water Development; he was one of three representatives of ZAPU in the Cabinet, along with
Joshua Nkomo
Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and Matabeleland politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's ...
Zimbabwe African National Union
The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) was a militant organisation that Rhodesian Bush War, fought against White people in Zimbabwe, white minority rule in Rhodesia, formed as a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). ZANU sp ...
(ZANU) of Prime Minister
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 was dismissed from the government in 1982, when ZANU accused ZAPU of plotting to seize power. Msika was Vice-President of ZAPU from 1984 to 1987, and he was elected to the
House of Assembly
House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level.
Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...
in 1985 from
Pelandaba
Pelandaba is a suburb of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. It has nearly 30,000 residents as of 2007. It houses Sizane Secondary School, Induba Primary School and the house of late Joshua Nkomo, the former leader of Zimbabwe's African Peoples Union.
Origins
...
constituency. Following that election, he was appointed as Minister of Public Construction and National Housing.
Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe signed the Unity Accord between ZAPU and ZANU(PF), creating the
Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front
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 ...
(ZANU-PF), on 22 December 1987. Joshua Nkomo, the leader of ZAPU, was appointed to the post of Senior Minister in January 1988.Msika served as Senior Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development in the President's Office from 1988 to 1995, then as Minister without Portfolio from 1995 to 1999. He also served for a time as National Chairman of ZANU-PF from 1989 to 1999. Following Nkomo's death, Msika succeeded him as Vice-President on 23 December 1999. He was not a candidate in the June 2000 parliamentary election.
Msika was placed on the
United States sanctions
After the failure of the Embargo Act of 1807, the federal government of the United States took little interest in imposing embargoes and economic sanctions against foreign countries until the 20th century. United States trade policy was entirely ...
list in 2003 and remained there until his death.
On 5 March 2005, Msika was taken into hospital after collapsing at home, apparently having suffered a stroke and a blood clot in his head. He did not run in the March 2005 parliamentary election, but Mugabe appointed him to one of the thirty unelected seats in the House of Assembly. He also did not run in the March 2008 parliamentary election, but was appointed to the Senate by Mugabe on 25 August 2008. He was then sworn in again as Vice-President by Mugabe on 13 October 2008, together with Joyce Mujuru. In January 2009, when Mugabe went on his customary annual leave, Msika became Acting President.
Msika became ill while attending a regional summit in June 2009, reportedly due to a stroke, and was treated at a South African hospital. He subsequently died at the West End Hospital 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 4 August 2009 due to hypertension; he had been hospitalised there for 46 days.Violet Gonda "Zimbabwe: Thousands Commemorate Heroes Day & Burial of Msika" SW Radio Africa (allAfrica.com), 10 August 2009. Later in the day, the ZANU-PF Politburo met and agreed to confer upon Msika the status of national hero; it also agreed that he would be buried at National Heroes Acre. At the time of his death, Msika was the Second Secretary of ZANU-PF.
After his death, Mugabe stated that Msika, together with nationalists like
George Nyandoro George Bodzo Nyandoro (8 July 1926 – 24 June 1994) was a Zimbabwean politician and activist in the struggle to end white minority rule in Rhodesia. Nyandoro was one of the founders of the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress (SRANC) and se ...
,
James Chikerema
James Robert Dambaza Chikerema (2 April 1925 – 22 March 2006) served as the President of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe.Nyangoni, Wellington Winter. ''Africa in the United Nations System.'' Page 141. He changed his views on militant s ...
,
Maurice Nyagumbo
Tapfumaneyi Maurice Nyagumbo (12 December 1924 – 20 April 1989) was a Zimbabwean politician, who spent almost two decades in prison as a consequence of his political activities.
Life and career
Nyagumbo was born in 1924, in Makoni, near Rusap ...
and Daniel Madzimbamuto, stood out as part of a generation of "fearless founder nationalists to taste arrest and incarceration under the notorious Federal Preventive Detention Laws of February 1959" following the banning of the African National Congress. Msika's funeral was held on 10 August, thereby coinciding with National Heroes Day. President Mugabe, Prime Minister
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 ...
Arthur Mutambara
Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara (born 25 May 1966) New Zimbabwe is a Kgalema Motlanthe, were also present. Speaking at the funeral, Mugabe sharply criticised the attitude of Western countries toward Zimbabwe and declared that "our nation will never prosper through foreign handouts"."Mugabe slams the West as 'racist colonisers'" AFP, 10 August 2009.
Disagreements with Mugabe
"Samkange insulted us, saying he could not work with unschooled people. Dumbutshena also insulted us saying we were unemployable and violent people against the whites. Mwanaka never responded. But Nkomo said what we were planning to do, the road that we would walk, would be a thorny one and said if we were prepared to face it he would join us, which he did," said Msika. He said it was then that Nkomo became the leader of the black nationalist movement in Rhodesia. Msika accused the ZANU-PF of "lying" to the world about being the pioneers in the nationalist movement: "The true history of the liberation struggle should be told. I feel I have a duty to correct this blatant lie..."
Msika questioned Mugabe's past apology for the 1987
Gukurahundi
The ''Gukurahundi'' was a genocide in Zimbabwe which arose in 1982 until the Unity Accord in 1987. It derives from a Shona language term which loosely translates to "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains".
Duri ...
killings, which was condemned internationally for the violence it unleashed on mainly rural
Ndebele
Ndebele may refer to:
*Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa
*Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe and Botswana
Languages
* Southern Ndebele language, the language of the South Ndebele
*Northern Ndebele language
Northern ...
, at a rally in October 2006 in
Bulawayo
Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...