Joice Mujuru

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Joice Mujuru
Joice Mujuru

Joice Mujuru
Incumbent
Assumed office 
6 December 2004
President Robert Mugabe
Vice President Joseph Msika
Preceded by Simon Muzenda
Minister of Rural Resources & Water Development
In office
1997 – 2004
President Robert Mugabe
Minister of Information, Post and Telecommunication
In office
1996 – 1997
President Robert Mugabe
Resident Minister and Governor for Mashonaland Central
In office
1992 – 1996
President Robert Mugabe
Minister of Community Development, Cooperatives and Women’s Affairs
In office
1988 – 1992
President Robert Mugabe
Minister of State by the Prime Minister
In office
1985 – 1988
President Canaan Banana
Robert Mugabe
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe
Minister of Community Development and Women’s Affairs
In office
1980 – 1985
President Canaan Banana
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe
Born 15 April 1955 (1955-04-15) (age 53)
Mt. Darwin, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Nationality Flag of Zimbabwe Zimbabwean
Political party Zanu PF
Spouse Solomon Mujuru
Children 4
Residence Flag of ZimbabweAlamein Farm, Harare, Zimbabwe
Alma mater Women's University, Africa
Occupation Vice President of Zimbabwe
Website http://www.vpmujuruoffice.gov.zw/
Military service
Nickname(s) Teurai Ropa
Allegiance ZANLA
Years of service 1972 - 1980
Rank Commissar
Commands Second in Command of Zhunta Camp
Zimbabwe

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Joice "Teurai Ropa" Mujuru (born 1956 as Joice Mugari) is a Zimbabwean politician, currently serving as one of two Vice-Presidents of Zimbabwe, along with Joseph Msika. She has held this post since December 2004, and is also a Vice-President of ZANU-PF. She is married to Solomon Mujuru and is considered a potential successor to President Robert Mugabe.

Mujuru was born in Zimbabwe's northeastern district of Mt. Darwin, a Shona from the Zezeru language group. (Many Zanu-PF party leaders, including Mugabe and Msika, are also from this area.) After completing two years of secondary education, she decided to join Zimbabwe's war of liberation. She downed a helicopter with a machine gun on February 17, 1974 after refusing to flee.

"Incredibly, I hit the machine and there was a lot of black smoke and it crashed. A big explosion followed," she was quoted as saying of the incident in which all the occupants of the helicopter perished.

However, there is little evidence of this claim made by Mujuru.

She took the nom-de-guerre Teurai Ropa (spill blood), and then rose to become one of the first women commanders in Mugabe's ZANLA forces. In 1977 she married Solomon Mujuru, known then as Rex Nhongo, deputy commander-in-chief of ZANLA.

The Mujurus now live on a 3,500-acre requisitioned farm, Alamein, 45 miles south of Harare, which has been found by the Supreme Court in Zimbabwe to have been illegally requisitioned from the farm owner. [1]

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[edit] Government career

At independence in 1980, Mujuru became the youngest cabinet minister in Mugabe's cabinet, taking the portfolio of sports, youth and recreation. She fitted secondary school in between her busy schedule after she was appointed minister.

As minister of telecommunications, she tried to stop Strive Masiyiwa from establishing his independent cellphone network Econet [2]. Masiyiwa had been given an ultimatum by the cabinet to sell his imported equipment to his rivals. On March 24, 1997, Mujuru decided to issue Zimbabwe's second cellular telephone license to the previously unknown Zairois consortium Telecel [3], cutting out Masiyiwa. The Zairois consortium included her husband Solomon and President Robert Mugabe's nephew Leo. After many legal fights, Masiyiwa won his licence in December 1997.

In 1998 Mujuru was named among senior officials who looted the Zimbabwe War Victims Compensation Fund.[citation needed]

[edit] Vice-presidency

The ZANU-PF Women's League resolved at its annual conference held in September 2004 to put forward a female candidate for the party's vice-presidency, a position left vacant following the death of Simon Muzenda.

Mugabe bowed to pressure from a ZANU-PF faction led by Mujuru's husband, General Solomon Mujuru, to give a woman the second vice-presidency post -- effectively sidelining speaker of parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, widely seen as his favoured heir. This Zanu-PF reshuffle was dubbed “the night of the long knives” by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. [1]

Mujuru was sworn in as Vice-President of Zimbabwe on December 6, 2004.[4]

Mujuru was nominated as ZANU-PF's candidate for the House of Assembly seat from Mt. Darwin West in the March 2008 parliamentary election.[5] According to official results she won the seat by an overwhelming margin, receiving 13,236 votes against 1,792 for Gora Madzudzo, the candidate of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai. This ran contrary to earlier claims from the MDC that Mujuru had lost the seat.[6]

She is the subject of personal sanctions imposed by the United States.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Mugabe’s successor could be Spill Blood, the rabid girl guerrilla Timesonline
  2. ^ Zim government leaves out cellphone pioneer ZA*NOW
  3. ^ How a man called Strive beat off the corrupt cronies Business Times
  4. ^ "ZIMBABWE: Mujuru sworn in as vice president", IRIN, December 6, 2004.
  5. ^ "Zimbabwe: Zanu-PF Names Poll Candidates", The Herald (allAfrica.com), February 15, 2008.
  6. ^ Mutongi Gava, "VP Mujuru not defeated", newzimbabwe.com, March 31, 2008.
  7. ^ US Personal Sanctions ZWNews

[edit] External links


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