- Arthur Mutambara
Infobox Officeholder
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name = Arthur Mutambara
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office = President of the Movement for Democratic Change (Mutambara faction)
term_start = 2006
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birth_date = Birth date and age|1966|05|25|df=yes
birth_place =Rhodesia
nationality =Zimbabwean
party =Movement for Democratic Change
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alma_mater =University of Zimbabwe ,University of Oxford
occupation =Politician
profession =Roboticist
religion =Catholic
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footnotes =Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara (born 25 May 1966 [http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/senate141.13789.html All you need to know about Arthur Mutambara] New Zimbabwe] ) is a
Zimbabwe an politician. He became the President of the Movement for Democratic Change-Mutambara faction (MDC) in February 2006. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4756424.stm Zimbabwe's 'outsider' faction leader] BBC News] He has worked as the Managing Director and CEO of Africa Technology and Business Institute since September 2003. Under a September 2008 power-sharing agreement, Mutambara is designated to become Deputy Prime Minister.Education
University of Zimbabwe ,Harare 1987-1990,BSc(Hon)-Electrical and Electronic Engineering.Oxford University ,U.K,1991-1995,MSc Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering& Doctor of Philosophy,Robotics and MechatronicsEarly activism
Mutambara was a noted leader of the student movement within Zimbabwe in 1988 and 1989, leading anti-government protests at the
University of Zimbabwe which led to his arrest and imprisonment. He was later educated on aRhodes Scholarship at Merton College, Oxford in theUnited Kingdom where he obtained aPhD inRobotics and Mechatronics, and in theUnited States where he spent time as a visiting Fellow [MLK Visiting Professors welcomed",http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2000/mlk-1213.html ] in the same field, including bothCalifornia Institute of Technology ,Massachusetts Institute of Technology andFAMU/FSU College of Engineering . He also worked as a Professor of Business Strategy and as a consultant forMcKinsey & Company .Mutambara criticized government ministers for abusing Zimbabwe's land reform program, engaging in: "monopolistic politics of domination, corruption, and petty bourgeois accumulation."Bond, Patrick. "Uneven Zimbabwe: A Study of Finance, Development, and Underdevelopment", 1998. Page 206.]
Movement for Democratic Change
In 2005 the MDC split into two factions following a dispute over whether or not to participate in the March 2005 parliamentary election. While MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai , Mutambara, and others opposed participation,Welshman Ncube andGibson Sibanda led a faction that favored participation. Those supporting the senate elections won narrowly against the leader Morgan Tsvangirai's vote.Mr Tsvangirai later overruled & overturned the decision of the plebiscite citing two absent members had sent in postal votes that canceled the slender margin. [http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-07-15-voa21.cfm Zimbabwe Opposition: Mugabe's Price Cuts Mask Deeper Economic Problems ] ]In February 2006 at a Congress of the breakaway faction Movement for Democratic Change Mutambara was elected as President of the party. Commenting on the election, Mutambara said, "My position was that the MDC should have boycotted those Senate elections. I guess then that makes me the anti-Senate leader of the pro-Senate MDC faction. How ridiculous can we get? That debate is now in the past, let us move on and unite our people."
The choice of Mutambara as leader was said to have been inspired by the fact that he is a Shona whereas Sibanda and Ncube are both Ndebele, but realized that only a Shona candidate could win an election across the whole of Zimbabwe. Mutambara is not a member of the House of Assembly and is therefore untainted by struggles within it.
The faction led by Tsvangirai described Mutambara's election as a nullity. In his MDC faction presidential acceptance speech, [http://amadlandawonye.wikispaces.com/MDC,+Presidential+acceptance+speech,+A+Mutambara MDC faction presidential acceptance speech] Communist University of Johannesburg] Mutambara stated, "We believe that our views on land reform in Zimbabwe are different from those of Western governments. Our approach is not driven by the interests of white farmers, but by those of all Zimbabweans, white and black. While we put the failure of the land reform program squarely on the Zanu(PF) government, we also acknowledge the complicity of some Western governments which reneged on agreements, and the inertia of white farmers in seeking pre-emptive solutions." However,
David Karimanzira , a leading member of ZANU - PF, alleged that Mutambara was promoted by the West after Western governments decided not to continue backingMorgan Tsvangirai because the Zimbabwean people had allegedly rejected his party manifesto. He once called theAfrican Union a "club of dictators." [http://allafrica.com/stories/200706111569.html Zimbabwe: Era of Puppet Politics Over] AllAfrica]Mutambara was arrested by the Zimbabwe police on 19 May 2006 while leading a march in support of his faction's candidate on the eve of the Budiriro by-election. He was also arrested on the 11 March together with the other MDC leaders from the other faction. He was released without charge two days later, only to be re-arrested on 18 March at Harare Airport enroute to South Africa, where his family is still based, and where he is also a leading consultant. He was also released without charge after three days in custody.
2008 presidential election
After Mutambara and Tsvangirai failed to unite on a single MDC candidate for the March 2008 presidential election, Mutambara said on 15 February that he would not run for President and that his faction would instead back
Simba Makoni . [Fikile Mapala, [http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/electoral155.17759.html "Mutambara withdraws from race, backs Makoni"] , newzimbabwe.com, 15 February 2008.] Mutambara instead ran in the concurrent parliamentary election for a seat from the Zengeza East constituency, but he was placed third, with 1,322 votes, according to official results, behind the candidate of the Tsvangirai faction, who won 7,570 votes, and the ZANU-PF candidate, who won 3,042 votes. [ [http://www.sokwanele.com/election2008/constituency Results page for Zengeza East] at sokwanele.com.]
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