Joana Ruvimbo Mamombe (born 18 June 1993) is a Zimbabwean politician, former student leader and a member of the

Citizens Coalition for Change The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) is a Zimbabwean political party. It was established by former members of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance. Background Nelson Chamisa formed Citizens Coalition for Change after losing the squa ...

. In the

2018 Zimbabwean general election General elections were held in Zimbabwe on 30 July 2018 to elect the President of Zimbabwe, President and members of both houses of Parliament of Zimbabwe, Parliament. Held eight months after the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état, 2017 coup d'état, ...

she was the youngest Zimbabwean member of parliament, representing Harare West.

Early years and education

Mamombe was born in

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 ...

on June 18, 1993. She had her secondary education at Monte Cassino Girls High School where she graduated in 2011. She proceeded to

Chinhoyi University of Technology Chinhoyi University of Technology also known as CUT was established by an Act by the Parliament of Zimbabwe on 10 December 2001. It is located in the town of Chinhoyi in Mashonaland West about 120 km from Harare towards Lake Kariba and the Zamb ...

and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Biotechnology. While at the university, she served as Gender Officer for the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU). After graduating from Chinhoyi University of Technology , she furthered at

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

where she attained a

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Molecular Biology with the program “students at risk”.

Career

Mamombe joined politics after completing her studies in Norway and returning to Zimbabwe in 2018. In that same year, she was elected as the member of parliament representing Harare West under the ticket of the MDC Alliance. After the elections which was held on July 30, 2018, she was sworn into office.

Arrest, treason allegation and abduction

On 2 March 2019, she was arrested and charged with treason. It was alleged that she was attempting to overthrow a constitutional elected government led by president

Emmerson Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa ( , ; born 15 September 1942) is a Zimbabwean politician who has served as the president of Zimbabwe since 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former president Robert Mugabe, he held a series of cabin ...

, after she led a protest on 14 January 2018. On 13 May 2020 she and two other women, MDC activists Cecilia Chimbiri and

Netsai Marova Netsai Marova is a Zimbabwean youth campaigner for the Movement for Democratic Change, who was abducted for two days at an anti-government protest in May 2020. As a student at Chinhoyi University of Technology at the age of 15,Marova highlighted ...

, were abducted by masked assailants at a

protest against the government's failure to provide for the poor during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Two days later, the women were found, badly injured and traumatised, by the side of the road sixty miles from Harare. They reported having been tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted. Since May 2020, the three women have been arrested and detained several more times. Despite Mamombe appearing in court 129 times over the last 12 months, she has been repeatedly denied bail. As part of their latest bail conditions, Mamombe and Chimbiri are not allowed to address a gathering of more than 50 people or engage in any activity, which violates Covid-19 regulations.

Early years and education

Career

Arrest, treason allegation and abduction

See also

References

Further reading