Tendai Laxton Biti (born 6 August 1966) is a

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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who served as Finance Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He is the current Member of Parliament for Harare East Constituency and the second Vice President of Citizens Coalition for Change. He was the Secretary-General of 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 ...

and the subsequent

Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai The Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T) is a centre-left political party and was the main opposition party in the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe ahead of the 2018 elections. After the split of the original Movement for Democ ...

(MDC-T) political parties and a Member of Parliament for Harare East until he was expelled from the party and recalled from parliament in mid-2014,before winning the seat again in 2018.

Early life

Biti was born in Dzivarasekwa,

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 ...

, and he is the eldest in a family of 6 children. From 1980 to 1985 he attended Goromonzi High School, where he was appointed deputy

head boy Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

in 1985. He enrolled in 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 o ...

law school as a freshman in 1986. In 1988 and 1989, Biti was Secretary General of the

Student Representative Council, with Terry Mhungu as SRC President, which led student protests against government censorship in academia. After school, he joined the Law firm Honey and Blackenberg, where he became the youngest partner by the age of 26. Biti lost his father in his early 30s.

Political career

In 1999 he helped found the MDC. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Harare East constituency in 2000. During the Fifth Parliament he served as a member of the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water Development, Rural Resources and Resettlement and that on Defence and Home Affairs. In March 2005 he retained the constituency. He serves in the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development and is currently the MDC's Secretary General. In his legal career Biti has handled labour and human rights litigation representing large trade unions such as the Post and Telecommunications Trade Union. He was arrested in 2007 with many others, including MDC leader

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 C ...

, after a prayer rally in the Harare township of Highfield. On 16 June 2007, Biti and

Welshman Ncube Welshman Ncube (born 7 July 1961) is a Zimbabwean lawyer, businessman and politician. He is the founding MDC leader and former President of Zimbabwean political party Movement for Democratic Change – Ncube. He currently serves within the Cit ...

met with Justice Minister

Patrick Chinamasa Patrick Antony Chinamasa (born 25 January 1947) is a Zimbabwean politician who served in the government of Zimbabwe as the minister of various cabinet ministries. Previously he served as the Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion and the ...

and Labor Minister

Nicholas Goche Nicholas Tasunungurwa Goche (born 1 August 1946) is a Zimbabwean politician. He is the former Minister of Transport. Previously he was Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.

, in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

, South Africa. South African President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

, appointed by the

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security coopera ...

, presided over the negotiations which sought to end sanctions on Zimbabwe top ZANU-PF leaders or top government officials.Zimbabwe police seize opposition leader's passport
, VOA News, 16 June 2007.

2008 elections

Biti was re-elected to the House of Assembly from Harare East in the March 2008 parliamentary election. According to official results, he received 8,377 votes against 2,587 for the ZANU-PF candidate. In the period following the election, he stayed outside of Zimbabwe (mainly in South Africa), along with Tsvangirai, amidst a post-electoral situation that was marked by serious violence against MDC supporters.

Arrest

Biti returned to Zimbabwe on 12 June 2008 and was immediately arrested at the airport in Harare. Before his departure from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, Biti said that he had already learned that he would be arrested, but maintained that his only crime was "fighting for democracy" and said that it was necessary for him to return to participate in the MDC's struggle. Following Biti's arrest, police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said that he would be charged with treason, based on an MDC document about changing the government."MDC's Biti 'will face treason charges'"
Sapa-Associated Press (''IOL''), 12 June 2008. This document, which was called "The Transition Strategy" and was said to have been written by Biti on 25 March,
''The Herald'' (allAfrica.com), 19 June 2008. included purported plans to rig the election in favour of the MDC. Bvudzijena said that Biti would additionally be charged with making false statements "prejudicial to the state" due to his announcement of election results prior to their release by the Electoral Commission. United States Ambassador James McGee expressed deep concern on behalf of the US government, saying that the document in question was an unobjectionable statement of the MDC's plans and goals; according to McGee, another, more extreme version of the document existed, but it was forged. Biti's lawyer also claimed that the material in question was forged."No election for Zim's Biti"
Sapa-AFP (''IOL''), 20 June 2008. On 13 June, Biti's lawyers said that they had not been allowed to meet with him, and they filed an urgent application with the High Court on the same day. The MDC said that it was "deeply worried" about Biti's welfare and that it had sent a team to police stations across Harare, hoping to determine where he was being held. He appeared in court on 14 June. Biti's home was searched by the police on 16 June, although the police did not take anything out of the home."Zim police seeks 'evidence' against Biti"
''The Star'' (''IOL''), 17 June 2008, page 5. His lawyer, Lewis Uriri, said that Biti had been interrogated for a full 24 hours after his arrest; Uriri also said that he would seek an order from the High Court to release Biti on the grounds that he had been held without charge for more than the allowed 48-hour period. Biti again appeared in court on 18 June; however, this hearing was postponed to the next day because the power failed, meaning that the hearing could not be recorded. He was charged on 19 June. He faced four charges: "treason, communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the State, insulting President Mugabe and causing disaffection among the defence forces".. Prosecutors argued against granting bail to Biti, noting that the charges against him were so serious that he could be executed. The defence submitted an application to have the charges thrown out, but on 20 June magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe dismissed this application, saying that he believed there was "reasonable suspicion that the accused committed the said offence". Biti's next court appearance was set for 7 July, and Guvamombe ordered that he remain in custody until then. On 26 June, Biti was granted bail at one trillion

Zimbabwean dollar The Zimbabwean dollar (sign: $, or Z$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies) was the name of four official currencies of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 12 April 2009. During this time, it was subject to periods of extreme inflat ...

s; he was also required to surrender his home's title deeds and to report to the police on a weekly basis. Biti's lawyers later filed a petition asking for the return of his passport so that he could attend talks between the parties in South Africa, and as a result his passport was returned to him on 9 July, enabling him to go. He led the MDC-Tsvangirai delegation to the talks, which began in

on 10 July, although according to Tsvangirai the purpose of this was only to set the MDC-Tsvangirai's conditions for participating in the talks, not to actually participate in them. Uriri applied for the removal of Biti's remand on the grounds that a trial date should have been set and the police investigation should have been completed. On 27 August 2008, Chioniso Mutongi, a magistrate in Harare, rejected this request, saying that Biti had not been on remand long enough for its removal to be appropriate. In 2018 following Zimbabwe's disputed elections, he was arrested and denied asylum in Zambia.

Appointment to Government of National Unity

On 10 February 2009, MDC leader and Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai announced the appointment of Biti as

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

in the

Government of National Unity A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

. Though he has no known history in financial and economic matters, analysts suggest that Tsvangirai really had no other option considering Biti's position in the MDC. In addition, he is known to drive a hard bargain and could be the best person to deal with the Zanu-PF controlled public service. He was sworn in alongside other Ministers on 13 February 2009 in Harare.

Return to legal career

On 20 November 2013, Biti announced he would be opening a new law firm. The firm was to specialize in international finance law as well as domestic constitutional issues.

Return to politics

Biti fell out with Tsvangirai in 2014, resulting in Tsvangirai announcing Biti's expulsion in April 2014. In 2015 Biti joined other disaffected MDC-T members in a breakaway group, MDC-Renewal, becoming its secretary-general. In September 2015, MDC-Renewal launched as a separate party, the

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) *People's Democratic Party (Chile) * People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

, and Biti was elected president of the new party. In 2020, Biti criticized a three-member delegation from South African which was sent to investigate human rights abuses when they returned to their country without speaking to opposition groups. In February 2019 he was convicted of contravening the Electoral Act for illegally announcing purported results for the 2018 presidential election in Zimbabwe. He was fined $200. In February 2022, Tendai Biti, was detained by police for several hours while campaigning for the by-elections in Harare, a spokeswoman for his party said.