View source for Eddison Zvobgo

{{Short description|Founder of Zimbabwe's ruling party, ZANU–PF (1935–2004)}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2022}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = File:Eddison Zvobgo.jpg
| imagesize           = 225px
| order               = 1st [[Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development (Zimbabwe)|Minister of Local Government and Housing of Zimbabwe]]
| term_start          = 18 April 1980
| term_end            = 18 April 1982
| primeminister       = [[Robert Mugabe]]
| president           = [[Canaan Banana]]
| predecessor         = None
| successor           = 
| order2              = 2nd [[Ministry of Justice (Zimbabwe)|Minister of Justice of Zimbabwe]]
| term_start2         = 18 April 1982
| term_end2           = 18 April 1985
| deputy2             = 
| primeminister2      = [[Robert Mugabe]]
| president2          = [[Canaan Banana]]
| order3              = 1st [[Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs|Minister of Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs of Zimbabwe]]
| term_start3         = 18 April 1985
| term_end3           = 18 April 1992
| president3          = [[Robert Mugabe]]
| order4              = [[Ministry of Mines (Zimbabwe)|Minister of Mines of Zimbabwe]]
| term_start4         = 18 April 1992
| term_end4           = 18 April 1996
| president4          = [[Robert Mugabe]]
| order5              = [[Minister without Portfolio]]
| term_start5         = 18 April 1996
| term_end5           = 18 April 2000
| president5          = [[Robert Mugabe]]
| constituency        = Masvingo, Masvingo Province
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1935|10|2}}
| birth_place         = [[Masvingo|Fort Victoria]], [[Southern Rhodesia]]<br />(now Masvingo, Zimbabwe)
| nationality         = [[Zimbabwean]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|2004|8|22|1935|10|2}}
| death_place         = [[Harare]], Zimbabwe
| resting_place       = [[National Heroes' Acre (Zimbabwe)|National Heroes' Acre]]
| children            = 7
| party               = [[ZANU PF]]
| residence          = [[Glen Lorne]], [[Borrowdale, Harare|Borrowdale]] & [[Masvingo]]
| alma_mater          = [[Tufts University]]; [[Harvard University]]
| occupation          = Nationalist; Politician; M.P. – Masvingo South (18 April 1980 – 22 August 2004); Hotelier, Guerrilla War Strategist
| profession          = Lawyer; Academic; Visionary; Founding Father of Zimbabwe
| signature           = 
| website             = 
| footnotes           = 
}}

Eddison Jonasi Mudadirwa Zvobgo (2 October 1935 – 22 August 2004) was a revolutionary Zimbabwean politician and the founder of [[Zimbabwe]]'s ruling party, [[ZANU–PF]].<ref name=GUARD>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/aug/24/guardianobituaries.zimbabwe|title=Obituary: Eddison Zvobgo|last=Meldrum|first=Andrew|date=2004-08-23|work=The Guardian|access-date=2022-06-08|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> He was the ZANU-PF's spokesman at the [[Lancaster House Agreement|Lancaster House]] in late 1979,<ref name="miracle">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930101237/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946401-2,00.html "It Seems Like a Miracle"] ''Time'' magazine and CNN</ref> a Harvard-educated lawyer, a poet, a guerrilla war strategist, a freedom fighter, a war veteran, a hotelier, and a national hero.

His name is often misspelled by the media, either as "Edson" instead of Eddison or "Zvo''gb''o" instead of Zvo''bg''o.

Zvobgo was born in dire poverty in then [[Southern Rhodesia]] in 1935, near Fort Victoria (now [[Masvingo]]), where his father was a minister in the [[Dutch Reformed Church]]. He comes from the Karanga subgroup of the [[Shona people]]. In 1960, Zvobgo won a scholarship to [[Tufts University]] in Boston, Massachusetts aged 25. After taking a bachelor's degree there in 1964, he returned home to be arrested and detained for political activism against white rule in [[Rhodesia]], along with [[Robert Mugabe]] and [[Joshua Nkomo]].

He was freed in 1971, and he spent a period in exile in Canada. He then studied law at [[Harvard University]] and International Relations at [[The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy]], followed by a position as associate professor of criminal law at [[Lewis University College of Law]] in [[Illinois]].

Zvobgo played a key role in international negotiations at [[Lancaster House Agreement|Lancaster House]] that ended the bitter [[Rhodesian Bush War]] and led to British-sponsored all-race elections ahead of Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. He was the Zanu-PF spokesman, and impressed many in the international press with his quick repartee and astute analysis of the negotiations. In the 1980 elections, he won a seat in Parliament for Masvingo, which he continued to hold until his death.

An influential member of Zimbabwe's first fully independent cabinet, Zvobgo was Minister of Local Government and Housing until 1982, and Minister of Justice until 1985. In 1987, he had become Zimbabwe's Minister of Parliamentary and Constitutional Affairs and it was in this capacity that he made several amendments to Zimbabwe's Constitution.

Initially a staunch supporter of [[Zanu-PF]] policies, Zvobgo later criticized [[Robert Mugabe]]'s autocratic rule.

In 1992, Zvobgo was moved to the less influential post of Minister of Mines. In 1996, Zvobgo survived a car accident, in which both his legs were broken. This accident was considered suspicious by many. Shortly after the accident President Mugabe demoted Dr. Zvobgo further to Minister Without Portfolio, and, in 2000, Dr. Zvobgo was dropped from Zimbabwe's cabinet altogether.

In the [[2002 Zimbabwean presidential election|2002 presidential elections]], Zvobgo refused to campaign for Mugabe, but did not endorse the opposition challenger [[Morgan Tsvangirai]], leader of the [[Movement for Democratic Change (pre-2005)|Movement for Democratic Change]] (MDC). He also voiced his opposition to the sweeping media law, passed the same year, calling it "the most serious assault on our constitutional liberties since independence".<ref name=GUARD />

Despite his criticism, Zvobgo eventually voted for the legislation, which was used to close off Zimbabwe's only privately owned daily newspaper, ''[[Daily News (Harare)|The Daily News]]'', and to arrest at least 31 independent journalists.

Zvobgo became the subject of an internal party disciplinary inquiry in 2003 for his refusal to campaign for Mugabe and after describing the laws as a weapon to stifle opposition to the government, but allegations of disloyalty were eventually dropped. He was also accused of holding private talks with the opposition [[Movement for Democratic Change (pre-2005)|Movement for Democratic Change]] as the ruling party abandoned formal dialogue between the two parties.

Zvobgo died of cancer on 22 August 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/27/world/eddison-zvobgo-69-zimbabwean-nationalist.html|title=Eddison Zvobgo, 69, Zimbabwean Nationalist|work=[[New York Times]]|accessdate=25 March 2022|date=27 August 2004}}</ref> He was declared a National Hero and buried at [[National Heroes' Acre (Zimbabwe)|Zimbabwe's National Heroes' Acre]]. He was survived by his seven children, Kerina, Eddison, Tsungirirai, Jonas, Tendai, Esther and Farai Emily.

== See also ==
*[[Politics of Zimbabwe]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Members of the 5th Parliament of Zimbabwe}}
{{Members of the 3rd Parliament of Zimbabwe}}
{{Members of the 1st Parliament of Zimbabwe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zvobgo, Edson}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:People from Masvingo Province]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army personnel]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Tufts University alumni]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Rhodesia]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:20th-century Zimbabwean politicians]]
[[Category:Shona people]]
[[Category:Zimbabwean Protestants]]
[[Category:Members of the 5th Parliament of Zimbabwe]]