Daniel Nyamayaro Madzimbamuto (1929–1999) was a

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 ...

n activist who became a

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 ...

an politician and administrator.

Early life

Daniel Nyamayaro Madzimbamuto was born in Murehwa, on October 8, either 1929 or 1930. This was a rural area north of Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

, Zimbabwe). He was the son of a

Tribal Trust Land Communal land is a (mostly rural) territory in possession of a community, rather than an individual or company. This sort of arrangement existed in almost all Europe until the 18th century, by which the king or the church officially owned the la ...

farmer, and the eighth child of a family of 10. He was schooled at the Murehwa Mission until 1948, when he won a scholarship to the

Munali Secondary School Munali Secondary School is a state-funded secondary school located on the Great East Road in Lusaka, Zambia. Munali was the first secondary school for black students in Zambia's history. Some of its alumni are notable Zambian politicians and publi ...

, in

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...

(now

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

), where he studied until 1952. After graduation he worked as a broadcaster, publicist, and salesman throughout Rhodesia and

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 ...

Marriage

He met Stella Nkolombe, who would become his wife, in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, which he was visiting as a publicity officer for

Boswell Wilkie Circus The Boswell Wilkie Circus was in business for close to 75 years in South Africa. Circus origins The Boswell family started the show in 1913 in Vrededorp, a Johannesburg suburb. The family did most of the entertainment. Jim, Walter and Alf did t ...

. She was a nurse at Ladysmith Provincial Hospital. They quickly married and moved to Rhodesia. She gave birth to the first of their four children, son Farai (

Shona language Shona ( ; ) is a Bantu language spoken by the Shona people of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The term is variously used to collectively describe all the Central Shonic varieties (comprising Zezuru, Manyika, Korekore and Karanga or Ndau) or specifica ...

for "Be happy"), in 1956.

Politics and detentions

Upon returning to Rhodesia, Madzimbamuto became active in nationalist politics. First he joined the recently founded City Youth League. When it merged with the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

in 1957, he became chair of the ANC's Highfield branch. He was first detained in 1959 and though occasionally released for short periods, was not fully released until 1963. Then he was soon re-arrested as a member of the

Zimbabwe African People's Union The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) is a Zimbabwean political party. It is a militant communist organization and political party that campaigned for majority rule in Rhodesia, from its founding in 1961 until 1980. In 1987, it merged with ...

Central Committee. Stella Madzimbamuto challenged his continued detention in the landmark legal case Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke on the grounds that

Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965, announcing that Rhodesia (previously Southern Rhodesia), a British crown colony in southern Africa that had respon ...

in 1965 was invalid. She lost in Rhodesian court, and though she won in the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August ...

in 1968, Madzimbamuto was not released until 1974. They had other children during this period, whose names reflect their parents' growing desperation: Chipo ("Gift"), Tambudzai ("They are troubling us") and Tafirenyika ("We are dying for the country"). During imprisonment, Madzimbamuto earned a law degree via correspondence from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In 1969, he was declared

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Prisoner of the Year. When Madzimbamuto was released in 1974, he had another romantic relationship, and he and Stella became separated. He went to

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

, to participate in the

Zimbabwe War of Liberation The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country U.D.I. ...

with the ZAPU and ANC. In 1976 he served as the foreign secretary of the

Joshua Nkomo Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999. He founded and led the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) ...

branch of the ANC during a meeting in Cairo. He married Violet Lana Chungu Tawana during this period, giving birth to the first of three children, girl Sarah named after his grandmother, in 1978.

Post independence

After Zimbabwe's independence in 1979–80, Madzimbamuto became Deputy

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government official ...

at the Zimbabwe Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. He held this post until retirement in 1998. He died May 2, 1999, and was buried in National Heroes' Acre as the 44th National Hero.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madzimbamuto, Daniel 1929 births 1999 deaths Zimbabwean revolutionaries