Do you know who Webster Shamu, Josiah Tungamirai, Shadreck Chipanga, Cain Mathema, David Chapfika, Andrew Langa or Ambrose Mutinhiri are?
The United States embassy in Harare produced their biographies when they were appointed to President Robert Mugabe’s cabinet in 2004.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 04HARARE292, NEW CABINET MEMBER BIOS
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
191044Z Feb 04
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HARARE 000292
SIPDIS
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER, TEITELBAUM
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY
PARIS FOR C. NEARY
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2014
SUBJECT: NEW CABINET MEMBER BIOS
REF: HARARE 249
Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER KIMBERLY JEMISON FOR REASONS 1.5 B/D.
¶1. (C) Reftel reported President Mugabe’s February 9
cabinet reshuffle. As promised reftel, we provide below
additional biographic information on the new appointees (we
have not included cabinet members who retained the same
portfolios or were switched to another portfolio):
——————-
MINISTERS OF STATE
——————-
For Policy Implementation
————————-
¶2. (U) Webster Shamu is the Minister of State for Policy
Implementation, a new cabinet position. A war veteran of
Zezeru ethnicity, he is the MP for Chegutu and the Chair of
the Parliament Public Service, Labor, and Social Welfare
Committee. He is also a former Mashonaland West ZANU-PF
provincial chair and former editor of The People,s Voice,
the ZANU-PF mouthpiece. He recently acquired a safari
company, HHK Safaris, in connection with which he traveled to
the U.S. in February 2004 to solicit business.
¶3. (SBU) Shamu,s MP election was a violent affair with
ZANU-PF mobs accused of enforcing no-go areas against MDC
activists. The black commercial farmer defeated by Shamu for
the seat alleged that Shamu had threatened him with the loss
of his farm if he did not withdraw a petition contesting the
election results. After he did not withdraw the petition,
his farm was invaded. Shamu denied any involvement with the
loss of the successful farm, which reportedly was parceled
out to ZANU-PF supporters.
¶4. (U) Shamu on occasion has publicly called for more harmony
between parties and for equal protection of MDC interests
under the law. He spoke out publicly in support of jailed
colleague Philip Chiyangwa in January 2004. Shamu is a key
political figure in Mashonaland West and is understood to be
a supporter of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of Parliament
and aspiring successor to Mugabe.
¶5. (U) Shamu was born June 6, 1945 in Harare. His nom de
guerre during the liberation struggle was Charles Ndhlovu.
For Indigenization and Empowerment
———————————-
¶6. (U) Retired Chief Air Marshal Josiah Tungamirai is the new
Minister of State for Indigenization and Empowerment and the
newly elected MP for Gutu North, the seat left vacant by VP
Simon Muzenda,s death. He is also the ZANU-PF Secretary for
Empowerment and Indigenization.
¶7. (U) After independence, Tungamirai was commissioned into
the army with the rank of Major General as Army Chief of
Staff from 1980-1982. In December 1982, he switched to the
Air Force and became an Air Vice Marshal and from 1983 to
1985 he was the Chief of Staff Operations for Air Force
Zimbabwe. In 1986, he became Air Force Commander with the
rank of Air Marshal, a position he held until he retired in
¶1992.
¶8. (U) Tungamirai received a B.A. in history and a M.A. in
strategic studies from the University of Zimbabwe in 1984 and
1987, respectively. He was born Thomas Mberikwazvo on October
8, 1948 in the Gutu district. Tungamirai is the nom de
guerre he affected during the liberation struggle. He is
married to Pamela and they have three sons.
¶9. (C) Tungamirai has exhibited independent and strong minded
tendencies in the past. He reportedly vied with party elder
Muzenda for the Gutu North seat in an earlier election,
reportedly withdrawing only after direction from the
President’s Office. He has been associated with the Masvingo
faction headed by ailing party intellectual Eddison Zvobgo.
Tungamirai’s latest candidacy was opposed by certain party
provincial leaders, such as provincial chairman Josiah
Hungwe, and it remains unclear whether he has successfully
united Masvingo’s sparring ruling party factions. MDC
figures told emboffs that Tungamirai was somebody they
respected and with whom they could work.
——————————————
SPECIAL AFFAIRS IN THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
——————————————
Anticorruption and Antimonopolies
———————————
¶10. (U) Didymus Noel Edwin Mutasa is the new Minister of
Special Affairs for Anticorruption and Antimonopolies, a new
cabinet position. He is also the ZANU-PF Secretary for
External Relations, a position he has held since July 1992.
Mutasa has held two ministerial positions, once in 1990 as
Senior Minister for the now defunct Ministry of Political
Affairs and again in 1992 as Senior Minister of National
Affairs, Employment Creation, and Cooperatives. Prior to his
post as Minister for Political Affairs, he was the Speaker of
the House of Assembly in Zimbabwe’s First and Second
Parliaments. He was elected to Parliament three times (1980,
1985, and 1990) as the MP for Makoni Central, Manicaland.
¶11. (SBU) Historically a party hard-liner, Mutasa has made
his Rusape hometown a no-go area for the MDC. In November
2002, as a response to the food crisis, Mutasa declared that
the country would be better off without half of its
population (a reference to opposition party MDC supporters).
He reportedly was behind the ouster last year of Oppah
Muchinguri, the moderate ZANU-PF governor of Manicaland.
Mutasa has signaled interest in occupying the
vice-presidential slot vacated on Simon Muzenda,s death in
¶2003.
¶12. (U) Mutasa became active in politics in the early 1950s
during his student years and eventually took up the cause of
the Tangwena people of Manicaland who were resisting forced
removal from their traditional lands in 1959. He was
eventually imprisoned for his involvement with the Tangwena
in 1970 and forced to leave the country upon his release in
¶1972. He attended the Geneva Conference on a settlement of
the Rhodesia Conflict in 1976 and a year later began working
full-time for ZANU in Maputo (which he had joined in 1963).
He served as ZANU-PF Secretary for External Affairs and
Deputy Finance Secretary in the party. In December 1989, he
was elected to the 160-member ZANU-PF Central Committee and
appointed Secretary for Administration in the Politburo.
¶13. (U) Mutasa did his secondary education in Goromonzi.
Mutasa studied social science at Faircraft College in Britain
for one year before reading a joint honors degree in
Sociology and Political Science at the University of
Birmingham. He was born on July 27, 1935 in Rusape,
Manicaland, to a Manyika chieftaincy family. He is married
to Lt. Colonel Gertrude Mutasa and has nine children. He
enjoys watching and playing soccer and playing table tennis.
——————————————–
MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
——————————————–
¶14. (U) David Chapfika is the new Deputy Minister of Finance
and Economic Development. He is also the MP for Mutoko North
and chairs the parliamentary Budget and Finance Portfolio
Committee.
¶15. (U) According to the recently launched Mutoko North
website, Chapfika is a banker by profession and has worked
for many international banks. He also is associated with a
variety of agricultural and commercial enterprises. He
studied international trade and finance but does not hold a
tertiary degree.
¶16. (U) Chapfika was born on April 1, 1957 in Mutoko. He and
his wife, Abby, have four children (Tinase, Komborerai,
Danai, and Anotida). He enjoys traveling, golf, squash, and
jogging.
¶17. (C) Embassy officers have not been particularly impressed
with Chapfika. He is more the businessman looking out for
his own interests than an intellectual heavyweight. Chapfika
reportedly was involved in some of the dealings that brought
down fellow ZANU-PF MP Philip Chiyangwa in early 2004 but
quickly distanced himself from Chiyangwa and publicly denied
any wrongdoing. In his role as Parliament Budget committee
chairman, he has been critical of some of the GOZ,s economic
decisions.
———————————
MINISTRY OF STATE OF HOME AFFAIRS
———————————
¶18. (U) Tongesai Shadreck Chipanga is the Deputy Minister of
State for Home Affairs. He is also the MP for Makoni East
and chairman of the Parliament Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs Committee. Prior to his debut into
politics, Chipanga worked in the Central Intelligence
Organization, which he joined in the early 1980s. Chipanga
was appointed Deputy Director General sometime in 1990s and
held that position until he was appointed Director General in
¶1998. He was fired from that position in either November
1998 or May 1999.
¶19. (SBU) Chipanga,s MP election was a violent affair with
groups of ZANU-PF supporters accused of committing acts of
violence against MDC supporters. Chipanga has denied
knowledge and participation in acts of violence in his
constituency during the run-up period to the election. His
seat is one of several of the 2000 parliamentary seats
challenged in the High Court by the MDC. In October 2003,
the judge ruled in favor of the MDC and Chipanga was
technically removed from his parliamentary seat on the
grounds of violent intimidation during the election but
Chipanga retains the seat because he filed an appeal.
¶20. (U) Chipanga was born on October 10, 1940. He is
married. He holds a B.A. in Politics and International
Studies from a university in the U.K.
——————————————— ————–
MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
——————————————— ————–
21.(U) Andrew Langa is the Deputy Minister of Transport and
Communications and the MP for Insiza, a seat he won in the
violent 2002 by-election. Prior to becoming MP for Insiza,
Langa was the district head for the Ministry of Youth
Development, Gender and Employment Creation, a position he
had held since 1999.
¶22. (U) Langa,s father, who was a ZAPU leader in Filibusi,
got Langa interested in politics. In 1989, Langa was elected
into the Matabeleland South provincial youth league as the
security guru. In 1993, he became secretary for
administration in the youth league. In 1994, he became
secretary for administration for the Filibusi ZANU-PF
SIPDIS
headquarters and in 2000 he was elected to be secretary for
education in Matabeleland South.
¶23. (U) Langa has a diploma in adult education from the
University of Zimbabwe and claims to be studying for a degree
in business administration from the University of South
Africa.
¶24. (U) Langa was born on January 13, 1965 in Filibusi.
Langa and his wife, Clara, have one 15 or 16 year old
daughter and two sons, one aged 13 or 14 the other aged 11 or
¶12.
——————————————— ————–
MINISTRY OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, GENDER AND EMPLOYMENT CREATION
——————————————— ————–
¶25. (U) Retired Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri is the new
Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment
Creation. He is also the MP for Marondera West. He was the
Ambassador to Yugoslavia during the mid-1990s. In 2002,
Mutinhiri forcibly seized a tobacco farm in Marondera.
¶26. (U) Mutinhiri was commissioned into the Zimbabwe National
Army in 1980, after having served 17 years in the liberation
struggle. He became Brigadier in 1987 and retired in May
¶1992.
¶27. (U) Mutinhiri has a B.S. in Public Administration.
Mutinhiri was born in 1944. He is married and has four
children. He enjoys watching soccer, tennis, playing golf
and politics.
——————–
PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS
——————–
¶28. (U) Ndabazekhaya Cain G. Mathema is the new provincial
governor of Bulawayo. Prior to this post he was the
Zimbabwean Ambassador to Zambia. He became the Deputy
Minister of Lands and Water Resources in 1997. Mathema joined
the public service after independence and held many jobs
among them deputy secretary for administration, finance, and
human resources of the defunct parastatals commission and
Vice President Joshua Nkomo,s deputy secretary. He was the
elected MP for Tsholotsho until he was defeated in the 2000
parliamentary election.
¶29. (U) After secondary school in 1968, Mathema trained in
military communications and intelligence in Moscow. He then
studied for an honors degree in public administration and
economics, a diploma in cooperative management and history,
and a diploma in cooperatives in London and the U.S. during
the liberation struggle in the 1970s.
¶30. (U) Mathema was born on January 28, 1949 in Sipepa,
Tsholotsho. He is married and has three children and three
SIPDIS
stepchildren.
¶31. (SBU) Mathema has been very outspoken in his criticism of
Britain, the U.S. and the Breton Woods institutions, blaming
them for ruining Zimbabwe’s economy. He has been combative
and didactic in engagements with American diplomats.
SULLIVAN
(55 VIEWS)
