Daniel Fortune Molokela

Daniel Fortune Molokela (b. Fortune Mguni on January 31, 1975 in Hwange, Zimbabwe) is a Zimbabwean pro-democracy human rights lawyer well known for his fight for democracy. He currently resides in South Africa.

Early life

Molokela was born at the Wankie Colliery Hospital in the town of Hwange, in the northwestern part of Zimbabwe.

His father's name was Godfrey Majahana Mguni. He was a career trade unionist and a well known community leader in Hwange. Among his accomplishments was being elected as the Workers Committee Chairperson between 1979 and 1994. He was also a key leader of both the Associated Mineworkers Union of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. He died in September 2003. Molokela's mother, Jane Mpofu, was a career educator specializing in pre-school education. She has since retired and is now based at a rural outpost outside Hwange.

Name change

Daniel changed his name from Fortune Mguni to Fortune Daniel Molokela-Tsiye in 2000, after a personal quest to reclaim his original family identity. His father's family only started using the Mguni surname after the death of his grandfather in the early 1970s. The process culminated in him being re-united with his father's original people, the Molokele clan in Mafikeng, South Africa, in September 2004.

Like the former student leader and now Movement for Democratic Change faction President, Professor Arthur Mutambara, Daniel is a former student leader who led the University of Zimbabwe Student Union from 1997 to 1999. He was known for being a visionary and principled leader. Today, he is standing up against the Zimbabwean political crisis as a pro-democracy activist and human rights advocate.

Sources

* [http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/homepage/happybirthday_21feb2005.html Happy Birthday Mr Mugabe!]
* [http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/fortune91.16476.html The Zimbabwe I Don't Want]
* [http://storiesonmalawi.blogspot.com/2007_04_20_archive.html Zimbabwe and Malawi: the eternal bond that binds us]
* [http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/fortune57.13693.html Open Letter to Didymus Mutasa]