Sydney Tigere Sekeramayi (born 30 March 1944) is 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 who served in the government of Zimbabwe as Minister of Defence between 2013 and 2017. He has been a minister in the Cabinet since independence in 1980, serving as

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

from 2001 to 2009 and Minister of State Security from 2009 to 2013. During the

Rhodesian Bush War 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. ...

, Sekeramayi was the

Zimbabwe African National Union The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) was a militant socialist organisation that fought against white-minority rule in Rhodesia, formed as a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) in 1963. ZANU split in 1975 into wings l ...

's representative in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. After the war he served as the Minister of National Security, Deputy Secretary of Health Minister for National Security, and Minister for Transport and Welfare.Zimbabwe: Reports of failed coup in Zimbabwe
11 June 2007. AllAfricaDashwood, Hevina Smith. ''Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transformation'', 2000. Page 105.Hill, Geoff. ''The Battle for Zimbabwe: The Final Countdown,'' 2003. Page 293.Great Britain Foreign and Commonwealth Office. ''A Year Book of the Commonwealth,'' 1986. Page 426. It was announced on 27 November 2017 that the Zimbabwe cabinet had been dissolved by Mugabe's successor

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 ...

Life and career

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

his school expelled him. He moved to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

to study on an NDP scholarship with help from

Rupiah Banda Rupiah Bwezani Banda (19 February 1937 – 11 March 2022) was a Zambian politician who served as the fourth president of Zambia from 2008 to 2011, taking over from Levy Mwanawasa. Banda was an active participant in politics from early in the pres ...

, the International Secretary of the Zambia Students Union. Banda established contact between Sekeramayi and the NIB. In June 1964 he moved from Czechoslovakia to

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

, Sweden, on an NIB scholarship. He studied

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

at the

University of Lund Lund University () is a public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially founded in 1666 on the ...

, became ZANU's representative in Sweden, and then attended medical school. In Lund he studied with Alexander Chikwanda of the

United National Independence Party The United National Independence Party (UNIP) is a political party in Zambia. It governed the country from 1964 to 1991 under the socialist President (government title), presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, and was the sole legal party in the country ...

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 ...

.Sellstr̀eom, Tor. ''Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa'', 2002. Page 323. In 1969 Sekeramayi requested assistance from SIDA in his function as Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Students' Union in Europe. He coordinated Herbert Chitepo and

Richard Grove Richard Hugh Grove (21 July 1955 – 25 June 2020) was a British historian, environmental activist, and one of the contemporary founders of environmental history as an academic field. His prizewinning book, ''Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansi ...

's visits to Sweden. In 1976 he moved to

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. In the 1980s he participated in the Gukurahundi massacres.Patrick Burnett and Firoze Madatally Manji. ''African Voices on Development and Social Justice: Editorials from Pambazuka News 2004'', 2005. Page 227. In 2001 Defense Minister Moven Mahachi died in a car crash and Sekeramayi became the new Defense Minister. In 2005 William Mervin Gumede mentioned Sekeramayi as one of several leading politicians who may succeed Mugabe as

President of Zimbabwe The president of Zimbabwe is the head of state and head of government of Zimbabwe. The president chairs the national cabinet and is the chief commanding authority of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. The incumbent president is Emmerson Mnangagwa, ...

because of their support among the military.Gumede, William Mervin. ''Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC,'' 2005. Page 193. He is considered a close ally of

, formerly the Speaker of Parliament, and Joyce Mujuru.Situation Report: Future power plays in Zimbabwe
Institute for Security Studies Sekeramayi won the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

seat from Marondera East constituency, in

Mashonaland East Province Mashonaland East, informally Mash East, is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of 32,230 km2 and a population of approximately 1.73 million (2022). Marondera is the capital of the province. Demographics The province has a histo ...

, as the ZANU-PF candidate in the March 2005 parliamentary election. According to official results he defeated Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate Iain Kay with 19,912 votes against Kay's 10,066 votes; this victory was questioned on the grounds that the total number of votes was said to exceed voter turnout. In the ZANU-PF primaries for the March 2008 parliamentary election, Sekeramayi again sought the party's nomination as its candidate for the House of Assembly seat from Marondera East, but was defeated. He was instead nominated as ZANU-PF's candidate for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

from Marondera-Hwedza in Mashonaland East. Sekeramayi won this seat according to official results, receiving 24,571 votes against 17,370 for Jane Chifamba of the MDC-Tsvangirai faction and 6,994 for Molai Penelope of the MDC-Mutambara faction. On 7 January 2009, ''The Herald'' reported that Sekeramayi had been appointed as Acting Minister of Mines and Mining Development following the dismissal of Amos Midzi, who failed to win a seat in the 2008 election. When the

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...

was sworn in on 13 February 2009, Sekeramayi became Minister of State Security. He was at this point in time seen as a likely Mugabe successor who is less controversial. Following the dissolution of the Cabinet of Zimbabwe in 2017, it was announced that Mnangagwa allowed only Patrick Chinamasa and Simbarashe Mumbengegwi to remain as acting ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs respectively until the appointment of a new cabinet. He was placed on a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

sanctions list in 2002 and on the

United States sanctions United States government sanctions are financial and trade restrictions imposed against individuals, entities, and jurisdictions whose actions contradict U.S. foreign policy or national security goals. Financial sanctions are primarily administ ...

list the following year.Blocking property of persons undermining democratic processes or institutions in Zimbabwe.
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References

External links

– 27 July 1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sekeramayi, Sydney 1944 births Living people Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe Members of the Senate of Zimbabwe ZANU–PF politicians Defence ministers of Zimbabwe