Joseph Chinotimba

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Joseph Chinotimba
President Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions
President	Robert Mugabe
Vice Chairman Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA)
Born	23 March 1950 (1950-03-23) (age 58) Southern Rhodesia
Nationality	Zimbabwean
Political party	ZANU-PF
Residence	Zimbabwe
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Security Guard

Zimbabwe

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Joseph Chinotimba rose to prominence during the invasions of white owned commercial farms that started after the 2000 referendum in Zimbabwe. He is widely regarded as a militant ZANU-PF cadre with unquestionable allegiance to the old guard of the ruling party. With Jabulani Sibanda, he led marches across the country in a bid to make sure that Robert Mugabe was endorsed during the ZANU-PF extraordinary congress of December 2007.^[1]

Contents 1 Background 2 Farm invasions 3 Political activities 3.1 The Courts 3.2 2007 Robert Mugabe endorsement 4 2008 parliamentary election 5 References

[edit] Background

Chinotimba worked as a security guard for the Harare City Council before 2000.

[edit] Farm invasions

Joseph Chinotimba is credited with spearhearding the violent invasions of commercial farms in Zimbabwe, in collaboration with his mentor and ally, Dr. Chenjerai Hunzvi.

[edit] Political activities

He has led the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions, a grouping that was formed to counter the influence of the restive Zimbabwe Confederation of Trade Unions, (ZCTU).

During the parliamentary elections of 2005, Chinotimba ran for the Highfield seat. Reports indicated that he tried to buy votes by giving voters money and food. He lost the seat.

[edit] The Courts

At one time, war veterans led by Joseph Chinotimba invaded the Supreme Court to influence decisions regarding the land question. ^{[2] [3]}

[edit] 2007 Robert Mugabe endorsement

Chinotimba, together with his close ally Jabulani Sibanda, led million-men marches across the country in the run-up to the ZANU-PF congress of December 2007 designed to endorse Robert Mugabe as the only candidate suitable to represent the party in the 2008 presidential election. Mugabe was nominated as the ZANU-PF candidate at the congress.^[4]

[edit] 2008 parliamentary election

In late 2007, Chinotimba announced his intention to contest for the Buhera South constituency, a seat that Kumbirai Kangai had held since 1980, in the March 2008 parliamentary election.^[5] Popular musician Alick Macheso was among others who joined Chinotimba to bolster his prospects of winning the seat.

Chinotimba was successful in being nominated by ZANU-PF as its 2008 candidate for the Buhera South constituency.^[6] However, in the election he was defeated by Nemadziva Naison of the Movement for Democratic Change, receiving 7,613 votes against 8,833 for Naison.^[7]

On May 20, SW Radio Africa reported that Chinotimba led a militia group to murder Chokuse Mupango, the election strategist for Nemadziva Naison, who was beaten and stabbed to death.

[edit] References