George Tawengwa

George Tawengwa Snr (6 March 1915 – 13 April 1982) was the first black millionaire (in US dollars) and a very prominent Zimbabwe businessman who was engaged in transport, retail, hotel and agriculture industries. He was the owner of Mushandirapamwe Hotel at Machipisa shopping centre in Highfield, Harare and others. In 1960 he was the first black person to purchase a 1,872.0-hectare commercial farm (Zimdale farm in Marondera) from a white farmer, in the then colonial system by a racist white minority of Southern Rhodesia. To mark a historic milestone Tawengwa and his wife Mabel Tawengwa were featured in a 1977 edition of The Rhodesia Herald newspaper (currently The Herald Zimbabwe), when they purchased five farms for cash. Farms are Shaka Hills, Sheba amongst others in the Hwedza district.

Early life

George Tawengwa Snr was born to Chirume and Maria (Mhariya) and had a younger brother Bernard Chirume, his only sibling. His mother died when he was only 4 years old. In 1927 at age 12 he was chased by his short-tempered father from their Mwanza Village home in Goromonzi and wandered towards Marondera. where he finally settled in Ruzawi. He got his first job as a shepherd, herding goats and sheep for a white couple. Because of the disgruntlement with his father he later dropped the surname Chirume in favour of his middle name Tavengwa, which was misspelt in some early documents as Tayengwa, and later anglicised to the current Tawengwa.

Successful businessman

From Ruzawi he moved to Hwedza, where he set up his rural home. In November 1953 aged 38, The African Parade Magazine (now called The Parade) wrote an article titled "Successful Man of Business" about his early accomplishments in business.

Here is an extract from that article:-

Mr Tayengwa of Wedza (Hwedza) Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), one of many Africans who have become successful business man. He never saw the door of a school. In 1936 he took up wood work in Salisbury (Harare) and early in 1941 he tried his hand at hawking, which was such a success that the same year he had enough capital to open a store in Wedza at Chiwengwa Village Hall. His means of transport at first were donkeys until 1947 when he bought a lorry, which he later converted into a bus. By 1951 he was running a fleet of four buses and this year (1953) he has opened a new store.

He died from diabetes at age 67.

Business accomplishments

He later established Mushandira Pamwe Buses with a fleet of over 150 buses, had several retail outlets throughout Zimbabwe, including his first major building project Mushandira Pamwe Centre in Dombotombo, Marondera. His nine large commercial farms averaged at least 1000 hectares each. A year before his death he had set in motion a regional expansion plan first to neighbouring Mozambique, a vision that was never fulfilled. The trading name Mushandira Pamwe means "working together as one". He believed as one much more could be accomplished. Therefore unity is key for success.

Mushandirapamwe Hotel was at Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, the transitional residence of returning ZANU PF Officials and ZANLA troops.

His sons are all businessmen and farmers, with Charles Tawengwa and Solomon Tawengwa having served as mayors of Harare. In November 2005, Charles Tawengwa was appointed Zanu PF Senator for Highfield-Glen Norah-Glen View in the Zimbabwean Parliament. In 2010 Charles Tawengwa was appointed to the ZANU PF politburo. On 3 September 2013, Charles Z Tawengwa was elected as senator for Harare Metropolitan.

The most prominent business person to date is his youngest son, a fiercely private individual, Bright MD Tawengwa, founder and executive chairman of Liberty Holdings Zimbabwe, an investment holding company with interests in mining, agriculture.

References

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External links

Liberty Holdings Zimbabwe – company website