Daniel Madzimbamuto
Daniel Madzimbamuto was a Zimbabwean nationalist and national hero
He was born on 8 October 1930, in Murehwa, Mashonaland East Province.
He attended Murehwa Methodist School and Munali Secondary School in Lusaka, Zambia for his high school.
Madzimbamuto left Lusaka in 1952 and travelled to Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia in the hope of obtaining a scholarship, this was however fruitless. Undetered by this failure he decided to move to Port Elizabeth in South Africa to find work in order to raise money for further education.
Academic Achievements:
LLB University of London
Career:
He found work as a sales representative between 1953-56 and was able to finance his evening studies matriculating in 1955. He moved to Cape town where he found work as publicity officer with a circus company and was able to travel all around Southern Africa during the whole of 1956 and early 57. In March 1957 he returned to Southern Rhodesia and found work as a sales supervisor.
Political Career:
Daniel Madzimbamuto was a founder member of the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress. He was appointed Chairman of the Highfield Branch of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1957. His political activism found him being detained in various centres at different intervals between the years 1959 and 75.
In 1963 following the ban on the major nationalist political parties he became a member of the People’s Caretaker Council (PPC). He held various positions in ZANU including the Deputy Secretary for External Affairs.
Following independence he worked as Deputy Postmaster General for the Post and Telecommunications Company (PTC).
Madzimbamuto is popular for the defense he led against his continued detention by the Rhodesian government in a now famous legal battle.
He died on May 2 1999, was declared a national hero and buried at the national hero’s acre.
