Edgar Tekere

Edgar Zivanai Tekere (born April 1 1937) is a Zimbabwean politician. He was a president of the Zimbabwe African National Union who organised the party during the Lancaster House talks and served briefly in government before his popularity as a potential rival to Robert Mugabe caused their estrangement. He ran against President Robert Mugabe in the 1990 presidential election which was strongly believed through demonstrable evidence to have been heavily rigged, with some ballot boxes having been inexplainably discovered at the state house.

Pre-Independence

During the war, Tekere served on the ZANU high command, or Dare reChimurenga. He was detained by the Rhodesian government at Gonakudzingwa. [Martin, D and Johnson, P. 1981. [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0571110665 |The Struggle for Zimbabwe] . Faber & Faber.]

Early life

Edgar Zivanai "2-Boy" ("nome de guerre") Tekere was an early ally of Robert Mugabe within the Zimbabwe African National Union (of which he was a founder member in 1964) during the fight for independence and against the Rhodesian Front government of Ian Smith. Mugabe and Tekere, having served ten years in Hwa-Hwa State Prison as political prisoners of Smith's government, immediately left upon release and crossed the Eastern Highlands Border in Mutare through the mountains by foot, following the Gairezi river trail to Seguranza military camp in Mozambique, to mastermind and kickstart guerilla warfare, aided by Samora Machel, in 1975.The "Bush War" or else known as "Second Chimurenga" raged on strongly resulting in never-ending intensive searches and information gathering on Edgar Tekere. This was carried out on close family members and relatives by the platoon of Rhodesian Front Soldiers,Selous Scouts, Police Special Branch and Central Intelligence Organisation,under the auspices of Ian Smith,which resulted in harassment, torture and unlawful killing.During these trying times Edgar Tekere received the code name/nickname ("Mukoma") by close family members and relatives, and this is the name until today he is affectionately known and referred to, by the family.Tekere was elected by a democratic process to be the first ZANU-PF Secretary-General following Zimbabwe's independence.

Independence Celebration & Bob Marley

Edgar 2-Boy Tekere being the ZANU -PF Secretary General ,personally invited The Legendary Reggae Musician Robert Nesta 'Bob' Marley, to perform at Rufaro Stadium,for the official Zimbabwean Independence Celebration. Bob Marley and Prince Charles Of United Kingdom ,were the two official guests for the Zimbabwean Independence Celebration. Bob Marleys music was the inspiration for the guerilla freedom fighters whilst they were in the bush fighting.More than 100 000 Zimbabweans attended the concert,and went into a frency,when Bob Marley performed the song " Zimbabwe" which was an unofficial Zimbabwean anthem.He also stayed with Edgar Tekere,during this tour date. [Moskowitz,D.(2007)"BlackMan Redemption" pub. Greenwood , page 109 ]

Murder charge

When ZANU won the 1980 elections, Tekere was appointed as Minister of Manpower Planning in Mugabe's Cabinet. He followed his appointment by making a series of outspoken speeches which went far beyond government policy. Shortly after his appointment, on August 4, 1980 he greeted then-Prime Minister Mugabe and visiting President of Mozambique Samora Machel in combat fatigues and announced that he was going "to fight a battle." Tekere and his bodyguards went looking for supporters of Joshua Nkomo's ZAPU outside Harare, but failing to find them, went onto a neighboring farm and shot white farm manager Gerald Adams.

Tekere retained his government post when he went on trial together with seven bodyguards who were all former guerilla fighters in the independence war. On December 8 the High Court, on a majority decision, found him not guilty of murder. Two out of the three assessors held that while Tekere had killed Adams, he was acting in connection with the suppression of terrorism. [State v. Tekere and others, Zimbabwe Law Reports 1980. Page 489]

Rivalry with Mugabe

Tekere was dismissed from the government on January 11, 1981, a decision he was reported to be happy with; he retained the Secretary-Generalship of ZANU. In April 1981 he was detained by Kenyan security forces to prevent him from speaking to students after giving a newspaper interview in which he said he was proud of the killing of Gerald Adams. In July, Tekere referred to some ZANU representatives as having "inherited the colonial mentality," which was straining relations between them and the party's supporters. Mugabe hit back by saying "Those who are complaining that the revolution is not continuing... are the most immoral and laziest in the party." Tekere was increasingly seen as a leader of a rival faction to Mugabe, and was dismissed as Secretary-General on August 9 with Mugabe taking the post himself.

After criticising corruption in the party, in August 1984 Tekere was elected to the Central Committee of ZANU-PF and carried shoulder-high from the Congress; he was also being supported by the Whites in Zimbabwe after opposing the farm squattings by ZANU-PF) supporters which he described as "donga watonga" (chaotic government). He was provincial chairman of ZANU-PF in Mutare.

Zimbabwe Unity Movement

Tekere supported Mugabe at the 1985 elections but by October 1988 his consistent criticism of corruption resulted in his expulsion from the party. When Mugabe voiced his belief that Zimbabwe would be better governed as a one party state, Tekere strongly disagreed, saying "A one-party state was never one of the founding principles of ZANU-PF and experience in Africa has shown that it brought the evils of nepotism, corruption and inefficiency."

He ran against Robert Mugabe in the 1990 Presidential race as the candidate of the Zimbabwe Unity Movement, offering a broadly free market platform against Mugabe's communist-style economic planning. Edgar Tekere received unprecedented support for his opposition to Mugabe which led to massive election rigging by ZANU http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/page533.htm] in order for Mugabe to win the election on April 1, 1990 receiving 2,026,976 votes while Tekere only got 413,840 (16% of the vote). At the simultaneous Parliamentary elections the ZUM won 20% of the vote but only two seats in the House of Assembly. Zimbabwe Unity Movement supporters were the targets of violent attacks from supporters of ZANU (PF) and five candidates were murdered. A student representative Israel Mutanhaurwa of ZUM was abducted in broad daylight by suspected state agents at the local cinemas in Gweru to be dumped unharmed on the outskirts of Mkoba a local surbub. No-one was arrested or convicted of the crime. Those convicted of the attempted murder of former Gweru Mayor Patrick Kombayi who was shot in lower abdomen but survived the shooting, were pardoned immediately afterwards.

Politics after 1990

Tekere dropped out of sight after the election, fuelling rumours that he was planted as an opposition figure. In 2005 he voiced his wish to stand as a ZANU (PF) candidate for the Senate of Zimbabwe but was rebuffed. In 2006 it was reported that he had rejoined ZANU (PF). A letter sent to him by ZANU (PF) national chairman John Nkomo dated April 7, 2006 said "You will not exercise your right to be elected to any office in the party for a period of five years. You will be required to uphold all the duties of a member listed in Article 3, Section 18 of the amended Zanu PF constitution".

2008 Makoni presidential campaign

At a rally on 2 March 2008 in Highfield, a suburb of Harare, Tekere endorsed Simba Makoni, an independent candidate who was running against Mugabe in the March 2008 presidential election. Tekere said that he was "appointing [him] self principal campaigner for Mugabe's downfall".

References