Benjamin Burombo (1909 - 10 April 1958) was a

labor union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

leader and black nationalist in

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

, now

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. Born in Buhera in Manicaland, he worked in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and then in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

, where he formed the British African National Voice Association in 1947. Better known as the African Workers Voice Association, the union was notable for its role in the 1948 general strike and campaigned against the 1951 Native Land Husbandry Act. The Act was intended to privatise communal lands. Burombo died at a relatively young age, in the aftermath of an operation to remove a brain tumor. His funeral and burial at the Bulawayo Old Cemetery was a major public event, drawing as many as 15,000 people according to some estimates.Ngwabi Bhebe, 1989, ''Benjamin Burombo: African politics in Zimbabwe, 1947-1958'', Harare: College Press

References

Zimbabwean activists 1909 births 1959 deaths {{Zimbabwe-bio-stub