Simbarashe Simbaneduku Mumbengegwi

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Date of Birth: 20/07/1945
Place of Birth: Chivi

Ethnicity: Shona-Karanga

Career:  Youth League, National Democratic Party, 1960-61; Youth League, Zimbabwe African People’s Union, 1962; Youth League, Zimbabwe African National Union, 1963-64;  deputy ZANU chief representative, Australia and Far East, 1973-76; ZANU chief representative, Australia and Far East, 1976-78; ZANU chief representative, Zambia, 1978-80; Member of Parliament for the Midlands, 1980-85; Deputy Speaker, 1980-81; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,1982; Minister of Water Resources and Development, 1982; Minister of National Housing, 1982-84; Minister of Public Construction and National Housing, 1984-88; Minister of Transport, 1988-90; Zimbabwe’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, 1990-95;Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and the European Union,1995-99; Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, 1999-2005; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2005-;

Commentary: Mumbengegwi has been a loyal member of ZANU-PF since his youth in the 1960s. He belongs to the elite group that comprised people like Simba Makoni and Witness Mangwende who kept the party and the liberation struggle going through fundraising during their student days overseas. His key role in sustaining the party was rewarded by important diplomatic posts. He was first posted to the United Nations when the country needed funds for its economic structural adjustment programme and wanted to maintain good relations with the international community as it was virtually a one-party state at a time when that system was crumbling across the world. He was then sent to the European Union when Zimbabwe needed to lobby for funds for its land reform programme. When relations with Britain began to sour and Mugabe embarked on his controversial fast track land reform programme which saw him compulsorily taking farms from mainly white farmers, Mumbengegwi was at hand to patch things up as ambassador to the UK. He was finally rewarded by being appointed Foreign Affairs minister. He even managed to retain the post after the formation of the inclusive government.

Mumbengegwi has not displayed any presidential ambitions. He belongs to one of the few families trusted by Mugabe. At one stage he held the powerful post of Foreign Affairs while his brother held the even more powerful post of Finance.  He has shied away from political bickering between the factions within ZANU-PF but if forced to make a choice he would be likely to side with fellow Karanga Emmerson Mnangagwa.