Everything about Ndabaningi Sithole totally explained
Ndabaningi Sithole (
31 July 1920 –
12 December 2000) founded the
Zimbabwe African National Union, a militant organization that opposed the government of
Rhodesia, in July 1963. A member of the
Ndau ethnic group, he also worked as a
Methodist minister. He spent 10 years in prison after the government banned ZANU. A rift along tribal lines split ZANU in
1975, and he lost the
1980 elections to
Robert Mugabe.
Early life
Sithole was born in
Nyamandhlovu,
Southern Rhodesia. He studied teaching in the United States from
1955 to
1958, and was ordained a Methodist minister in
1958. The publication of his book "African Nationalism" and its immediate prohibition by the minority government of
Ian Smith, motivated his entry into politics.
ZANU
He founded and was chief architect of
Zimbabwe African National Union party in August
1963 in conjunction with
Herbert Chitepo,
Robert Mugabe,
Edgar Tekere in the Highfields House of
Enos Nkala . In
1964 there was a party Congress at Gwelo, where Sithole was elected president and appointed
Robert Mugabe to be his secretary general. ZANU was banned in
1964 by
Ian Smith's government. He spent 10 years in prison after being arrested, on
June 22, 1964, alongside Mugabe,Tekere,Nyagumbo,Takawira for his political activities. While in prison he specifically authorised Chitepo to continue the struggle from abroad as a representative of ZANU. Sithole was convicted on a charge of plotting to assassinate Ian Smith. The two were released from prison in
1974.
On
March 18,
1975 Chitepo was assassinated in
Lusaka,
Zambia with a car bomb. Mugabe, in Mozambique at the time, unilaterally assumed control of ZANU. Later that year there was a factional split, with many
Ndebele following Joshua Nkomo into the equally militant ZAPU. Sithole eventually founded the moderate
ZANU-Ndonga party, who renounced violent struggle, while the
Shona-dominated ZANU (now called ZANU PF) followed Mugabe with a more militant agenda.
Sithole joined a transitional government of whites and blacks on
July 31, 1979. Later in September
1979 he attended the
Lancaster House Agreement chaired by
Lord Carrington which paved the way for fresh elections, but his small ZANU Party failed to win any seats in independent elections that swept Mugabe to power in
1980.
Exile and return
Declaring that his life was in danger from political enemies, Sithole went into self-imposed exile in
Silver Spring, Maryland in
1983, returning to Zimbabwe in January 1992.
He
was elected to parliament for his tribal stronghold of
Chipinge in southeastern Zimbabwe in
1995, and was a candidate in the
1996 presidential election (though he withdrew shortly before the election after claiming that Mugabe's ZANU-PF was undermining his campaign). In December
1997 a court tried and convicted him of conspiring to assassinate Mugabe and the government disqualified him from attending parliament. Sithole's small opposition group again won the Chipinge seat in the
June 2000 elections.
He was granted the right to appeal, appeal was filed, but the case was never heard by the Supreme Court. He was allowed bail because of his deteriorating health. He died
12 December 2000, in
Philadelphia,
Pa.,
USA. The author of three books on African politics, he's survived by his wife, Vesta, and five adult children.
The farm near Harare that he purchased in 1992 was later confiscated.
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