Editing Herbert Chitepo

{{short description|Zimbabwean politician}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo
| honorific-suffix    = 
| image               = 
| imagesize           = 
| smallimage          = 
| caption             = 
| order               = 
| office              = Leader of Zimbabwe African National Union
| term_start          = July 1963
| term_end            = 18 March 1975
| vicepresident       = [[Leopold Takawira]]
| viceprimeminister   = 
| deputy              = 
| lieutenant          = [[Josiah Tongogara]]
| monarch             = 
| president           = [[Ndabaningi Sithole]]
| primeminister       = 
| taoiseach           = 
| chancellor          = 
| governor            = 
| predecessor         = Post established
| successor           = [[Robert Mugabe]]
| constituency        = 
| majority            = 
| birth_date          = 15 June 1923
| birth_place         = [[Watsomba]], [[Nyanga District]], [[Southern Rhodesia]]<br/>(now Zimbabwe)
| death_date          = 18 March 1975 (aged 51)
| death_place         = [[Lusaka]], [[Zambia]]
| restingplace        = [[National Heroes' Acre (Zimbabwe)|National Heroes' Acre]], [[Harare]], [[Zimbabwe]]
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| birth_name          = 
| nationality         = [[Zimbabwean]]
| party               = [[Zimbabwe African National Union|ZANU]]
| otherparty          = <!--For additional political affiliations -->
| spouse              = [[Victoria Chitepo|Victoria Fikile Chitepo]]
| partner             = <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married -->
| relations           = [[Edgar Tekere]]
| children            = 
| alma_mater          = [[University of Fort Hare]]
| occupation          = Barrister; Nationalist politician
| cabinet             = 
| portfolio           = 
| signature           = 
| website             = 
| footnotes           = <!-- Military service -->
| nickname            = 
| allegiance          = [[ZANLA]]
| branch              = 
| serviceyears        = 1962–1975
| rank                = 
| unit                = 
| commands            = ZANLA
| battles             = 
| awards              = [[National Heroes' Acre (Zimbabwe)#National Heroes|Zimbabwe National Hero]]
| military_blank1     = 
| military_data1      = 
| military_blank2     = 
| military_data2      = 
| military_blank3     = 
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}}

'''Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo''' (15 June 1923 – 18 March 1975) was a Zimbabwean politician and nationalist leader who led the [[Zimbabwe African National Union]] (ZANU) until he was assassinated in March 1975. Although his murderer remains unidentified, the [[Rhodesia]]n author Peter Stiff says that a former soldier of the British [[Special Air Service]] (SAS), [[Hugh Hind]], was responsible.<ref name="death">[http://iwpr.net/report-news/mugabe-still-fears-chitepos-legacy Mugabe still fears Chitepo's legacy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031192130/http://iwpr.net/report-news/mugabe-still-fears-chitepos-legacy |date=31 October 2013 }} Institute for War and Peace Reporting</ref>

Chitepo was the first black citizen of Rhodesia to become a [[barrister]].<ref name="firstlawyer">Preston, Matthew. ''Ending Civil War: Rhodesia and Lebanon in Perspective'', 2004. Page 98.</ref>

==Early years==
Chitepo was born in Watsomba village in the Mutasa District of [[Southern Rhodesia]], now [[Zimbabwe]] on 15 June 1923.<ref name="herbertodnb"/> His family came from the [[Manyika people|Manyika clan (Samanyika)]] of the [[Shona people]]. He was educated at St David's Mission School, Bonda, St Augustine's School, Penhalonga and then at [[Adams College]], [[KwaZulu-Natal Province|Natal]], South Africa, where he qualified as a teacher in 1945. This was where he met [[Victoria Chitepo|Victoria Mahamba-Sithole]], a South African whom he married in 1955.<ref name="herbertodnb">Luise White, 'Chitepo, Herbert Wiltshire Tfumaindini (1923–1975)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/76007, accessed 7 Aug 2013]</ref>

==Early career==
After teaching for a year, he resumed his studies to graduate with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] from [[Fort Hare University]] College in 1949. He qualified as a [[Barrister|barrister-at-law]], and was called to the bar by [[Gray's Inn]]. He was a research assistant at the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]]. He was the first African in Southern Rhodesia to qualify as a barrister. In 1954, Chitepo became Rhodesia's second black lawyer after Prince Nguboyenja Khumalo son of King Lobengula (a special law was required to allow him to occupy chambers with white colleagues).<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,879496,00.html |title=Milestones, Mar. 31, 1975 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=31 March 1975}}</ref> On returning to Rhodesia in 1954, he practised as a lawyer and defended African nationalists such as [[Ndabaningi Sithole]] in court. In February 1960, he travelled to the US with support from the African-American Institute.<ref>''[[Ilanga lase Natal]]'', 27 February 1960.</ref> In 1961, he served as legal adviser to [[Joshua Nkomo]], founder of the [[ZAPU|Zimbabwe African Peoples Union]] (ZAPU), at the Southern Rhodesia Constitutional Conference in London. In the same year, he was also appointed to the board of governors of [[Bernard Mizeki College]] along with Sir. [[W. C .R. Honey]] and Sir [[Robert Tredgold]]. The Southern Rhodesian government did not detain him, as he did not come out in the open as an official of the nationalist movement, and the regime also feared that he was too internationally well known to be locked up.

==ZANU==
In May 1962 [[ZAPU]] was banned because of [[militarism]] and Chitepo was persuaded to go into voluntary exile to escape possible detention. He became [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]]'s first African director of public prosecutions. The [[Ndabaningi Sithole]] and [[Joshua Nkomo]] factions of ZAPU split apart in July 1963. Nkomo's supporters founded the PCC-ZAPU (later just called ZAPU again) and favoured a more militaristic approach. As the more moderate faction, Chitepo sided with Sithole and was elected chairman of ZANU (having defeated [[Nathan Shamuyarira]]) from its foundation. He held this post until 7 December 1974, when the [[Lusaka Accord]] was signed.

Both parties vied for domination but in 1964 both were banned and the leaders were all arrested. Both parties chose to leave the country and reorganise and form armies from outside Rhodesian borders, although they chose different countries to make their base. ZAPU based itself in the West and [[Zambia]] where it organised ZIPRA (the [[Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army]].) They allied with the [[Soviet Union]] and organised a vanguard of highly trained soldiers. ZANU, however, moved into [[Tanzania]] and then to [[Mozambique]] and set up ZANLA ([[Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army]]) which concentrated more on mobilising the masses in the countryside in a method pioneered by the Chinese.

In January 1966 Chitepo resigned as director of Public Prosecutions and moved to [[Zambia]] to concentrate on the armed struggle. He toured world capitals canvassing support for [[ZANU]] and for the enforcement of total economic sanctions against Rhodesia. With his friendly disposition, he was very effective and earned for ZANU international recognition and respect.

Sithole and others prepared a comprehensive document giving powers to Chitepo to lead ZANU while Rev. Sithole was in detention and specifically authorising him to carry out the armed struggle. Accordingly, Herbert Chitepo with the military supremo [[Josiah Tongogara]] from the Karanga ethnic community, organised and planned successful military guerilla attacks and underground activities in Rhodesia from 1966 onwards. In 1972, he coordinated war operations with FRELIMO and opened up the northeastern region of Zimbabwe as a new and effective war front.

==Death==
Chitepo died on 18 March 1975 in [[Lusaka]], Zambia, when a car bomb, placed in his [[Volkswagen Beetle]] the night before, exploded. He and Silas Shamiso, one of his bodyguards, were killed instantly. Sadat Kufamadzuba, his other bodyguard, was injured. The explosion sent part of the car onto the roof of his house and uprooted a tree next door. Hours later one of his neighbours died of injuries he sustained in the explosion.<ref name="details">White, Luise. ''The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo: Texts and Politics in Zimbabwe.'' Page 1.</ref> [[ZANU]] at the time blamed the [[Rhodesian Security Forces]].

Zambian president [[Kenneth Kaunda]] commissioned an inquiry into Chitepo's death. Documents released in October 2001, placed the blame on ZANU infighting between the [[Karanga people|Karanga]] and the [[Manyika people|Manyika]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Mnangagwa appoints ‘homeboy’ Lt General Matatu as the new ZNA commander |date=27 March 2025 |publisher=Nehanda Radio |url=https://nehandaradio.com/2025/03/27/mnangagwa-appoints-lt-general-emmanuel-matatu-as-the-new-zna-commander/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/NLaOh?https://nehandaradio.com/2025/03/27/mnangagwa-appoints-lt-general-emmanuel-matatu-as-the-new-zna-commander/ |archive-date=30 March 2025 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, in his biographical account, ''The Legend of the Selous Scouts'', Lt Col [[Ronald Reid-Daly]], officer commanding, [[Selous Scouts|Selous Scouts Regiment]], Rhodesian Security Forces, clearly states that the Rhodesian [[Central Intelligence Organization]] (CIO) under the leadership of Director General [[Ken Flower]], masterminded the assassination of Herbert Chitepo, subsequently planting documentary evidence blaming ZANU members.

"The decision by Ken Flower ... to assassinate Herbert Chitepo, head of the ZANU War Council, now showed how badly Flower has misread the ZANU/ZANLA situation. The death of Chitepo purged ZANU of its many dissenting factions and a new and highly successful leader emerged. Robert Mugabe gave ZANLA the means to consolidate its efforts by providing ZANLA with an indispensable factor – unity." [pg. 173 ''The Legend of The Selous Scouts'']

==See also==
* [[List of unsolved murders (20th century)|List of unsolved murders]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/oct15_2001.html Zimbabwesituation.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040404131153/http://csf.colorado.edu/ipe/zimbabwe_seminar/background.html Zimbabwe seminar]
* [http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/books/0-253-34257-0.pdf The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitepo, Herbert}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of SOAS University of London]]
[[Category:Assassinated Rhodesian politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Zimbabwean politicians]]
[[Category:Rhodesian politicians]]
[[Category:Deaths by car bomb]]
[[Category:People from Manicaland Province]]
[[Category:People murdered in Zambia]]
[[Category:Rhodesian lawyers]]
[[Category:Rhodesian people murdered abroad]]
[[Category:Southern Rhodesian expatriates in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:University of Fort Hare alumni]]
[[Category:Unsolved murders in Africa]]
[[Category:Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army personnel]]
[[Category:African politicians assassinated in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Politicians assassinated in 1975]]