Victoria Fikile Chitepo (27 March 1928 – 8 April 2016) was a South African -

Zimbabwean Demographic features of the population of Zimbabwe include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Population The population of Zimbabwe ...

politician, activist and educator. She was the wife of

Herbert Chitepo Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo (15 June 1923 – 18 March 1975) was a Zimbabwean politician and nationalist leader who led the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) until he was assassinated in March 1975. Although his murderer remains ...

, a leading figure in 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 ...

(ZANU), but was a major political figure in her own right and served as a minister in the government of independent Zimbabwe between 1980–1992.

Early life

She was born as Victoria Mahamba-Sithole in the

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 ...

n coal-mining town of

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

. She was educated in

and attended the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

, where she was awarded a B.A. degree, and took a postgraduate degree in education at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

in the UK. She met her future husband, Herbert, at

Adams College Adams College is a historic Christian mission school in South Africa, associated with the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA). It was founded in 1853 at Amanzimtoti a settlement just over south of Durban by an American miss ...

near

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 ...

in South Africa. Between 1946 and 1953 she taught in Natal, but moved to what was at the time the British colony of

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 ...

in 1955 after she married her Zimbabwean husband, who was working as a social worker in the capital Salisbury (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 ...

Political activism

In 1960, Chitepo became involved with the National Democratic Party, a nationalist movement that campaigned for political rights for Rhodesia's disenfranchised black majority. She led a women's sit-in at Salisbury's Magistrate's Court in 1961 to promote the campaign for black citizenship. A year later, she went with her husband to Tanganyika (now

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

) and worked as a social worker aiding black Rhodesian refugees in

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

for three years, between 1966 and 1968. In 1975, Herbert Chitepo was assassinated in

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 ...

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 ...

by agents of the Rhodesian government. She remained in Tanzania until

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 ...

– renamed Zimbabwe – gained its independence and black majority rule was established in 1980.

Ministerial career

On returning to Zimbabwe, Victoria Chitepo stood for election in the constituency of Mutasa and Buhara West in the country's first multiracial elections. She won a seat for ZANU-PF in the lower chamber, 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 ...

. She was appointed as Deputy Minister of Education and Culture and subsequently as Minister of Information and Education by the then Prime Minister,

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 ...

. In 1982 she was appointed Minister of National Resources and Tourism. She stood again for election in the 1985 election and was both re-elected and re-appointed to her ministerial position, which she retained until 1990. She then took on the role of Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunications before retiring in 1992. Throughout 1990 and 1992 she was very fond of working with the government of

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

, saying that meetings with British officials were always pleasant and constructive. She said British officials were "always polite and always on time" and adding that French officials were "generally neither." Chitepo came out of retirement in 2005 when she stood again on the ZANU-PF ticket for the parliamentary seat of Glen Norah in Harare. Although she lost the election, she remained a senior member of ZANU-PF's ruling body, the politburo, and was targeted by United States sanctions against persons "undermining the democratic processes in Zimbabwe". She was also sanctioned by Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland. Notably she was not sanctioned by the United Kingdom. In 2014, she was removed from 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.

Death and burial

On 8 April 2016, she was found dead in her home in Mount Pleasant, Harare, after apparently having sustained a fall in her bedroom. She was buried on 13 April in the National Heroes' Acre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitepo, Victoria 1928 births 2016 deaths People from Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal People from Natal Zulu people ZANU–PF politicians Women government ministers of Zimbabwe Government ministers of Zimbabwe Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe 20th-century Zimbabwean women politicians 20th-century Zimbabwean politicians University of Natal alumni Alumni of the University of Birmingham Zulu women

Early life

Political activism

Ministerial career

Death and burial

See also

References