Denis Norman
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Denis R. Norman (26 March 1931 – 20 December 2019) was a British-Zimbabwean politician who spent a total of twelve years in the Cabinet of
Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...
. He was known as "Nothing Wrong Norman" due to his penchant for trying to put a positive spin on difficult situations. From 2003 he lived in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, before his death on 20 December 2019.


Career

Norman headed the
Commercial Farmers' Union The Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe is an organisation that was formed to assist farmers in Zimbabwe with a variety of agriculture, agricultural services. Farmers within the country pay a subscription fee which entitles them to the use of the ...
when Robert Mugabe came to power in 1980. Norman was appointed Minister of Agriculture that same year, and held the position from 1980 to 1985. Mugabe asked Norman to leave the government after the 1985 elections which resulted in
Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 191920 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He w ...
's faction winning most of the (minority-designated) white roll seats. The then-Prime Minister was aggrieved that the party which was sympathetic to ZANU-PF's cause did not win even though Mugabe had 'tried to appeal to the white population in Zimbabwe'. Norman proceeded to head the Beira Corridor Group, before being appointed to two positions by President Mugabe – Minister of Transport and Minister of Power – from 1990 to 1997. As minister of transport, Norman began introducing safety regulations for public transport.


References

1931 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Zimbabwean politicians People educated at Bloxham School White Rhodesian people Rhodesian farmers Zimbabwean farmers Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom British emigrants to Rhodesia White Zimbabwean politicians 20th-century Zimbabwean businesspeople ZANU–PF politicians 20th-century British farmers {{Zimbabwe-politician-stub