Christopher Mutsvangwa

Christopher Hatikure Mutsvangwa (born 24 May 1955) is a Zimbabwean politician, diplomat and businessman. A veteran of the Rhodesian Bush War, Mutsvangwa served the government of independent Zimbabwe and the ZANU-PF party in a number of roles, including as Director-General of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, Ambassador to China, head of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, and Veterans' Welfare Minister.

In March 2016 he was suspended from ZANU-PF for 3 years for "gross misconduct and disloyalty" and fanning factionalism in the party.^[2] He has been accused of being a key figure in the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'etat.

Mutsvangwa and his wife have parroted anti-Ndebele sentiments, with his wife mocking victims of the Gukurahundi Genocide.

Christopher Hatikure Mutsvangwa was born on 24 May 1955 at Salisbury Central Hospital in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare).^[3] He spent his early childhood in the Salisbury suburb of Mbare before returning to his family's home region near Chief Nyamweda, Mashonaland Central. He did his primary education at Masawi and Marirangwe schools, and began his secondary studies at Kutama College before completing his A-Levels at St Augustine's High in Penhalonga .^[3]

Mutsvangwa was among just seven black students selected to enter the Faculty of Law of the then University of Rhodesia in 1975, but left shortly thereafter to join ZIPRA in Mozambique.^[3] He later completed his university education in the United States, receiving a BS in Management and Information Systems from Boston University in 1984 and an MBA from St. John's University in 1990.^[3]

Mutsvangwa entered public life as a diplomat, serving at postings in Brussels under Ambassador Solomom J. Mahaka to the European Union and New York to the United Nations under Stan Mudenge. In 1989, he was part of the UN observer team that monitored Namibia's first general elections, which were won by SWAPO, led by Sam Nujoma. Mutsvangwa left diplomatic service in 1990.^[3]

In 1991, Mutsvangwa was appointed Director-General of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.^[3] He stepped down in 1994 to return to the private sector, serving as an executive in the telecommunications industry. Returning to politics in 2000, he was elected ZANU-PF Party Secretary for Harare Province. In 2002 he was appointed Zimbabwean Ambassador to China, tasked with deepening the country's foreign policy reorientation away from the West towards China. He served for four years until 2006, leaving under a "cloud of controversy" due to party infighting.^[4]

In 2012 he was appointed Chairman of the Mineral Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe. In the 2013 elections he was returned as MP for Norton.^[5] He was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and then the first Minister for Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees. Following his expulsion from ZANU-PF he was recalled from Parliament.

An ally of ousted Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mutsvangwa praised Army General Constantino Chiwenga for "a bloodless correction of gross abuse of power" and hoped that the army would restore a "genuine democracy" and Zimbabwe as a "modern model nation" following the 2017 coup d'état.^[6][7] Mutsvangwa was said to be involved in negotiations for a transitional government with Mnangagwa and Morgan Tsvangirai.^[8]