View source for Joseph Msika

{{short description|Zimbabwean politician (1923-2009)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Joseph Msika
| image               = Joseph Msika.jpg
| imagesize           = 150px
| office              = [[Vice-President of Zimbabwe|Second Vice-President of Zimbabwe]]
| alongside           = [[Simon Muzenda]], [[Joice Mujuru]]
| primeminister       = [[Morgan Tsvangirai]]
| president           = [[Robert Mugabe]]
| term_start          = 23 December 1999
| term_end            = 4 August 2009
| predecessor         = [[Joshua Nkomo]]
| successor           = [[John Nkomo]]
| birth_date          = 6 December 1923
| birth_place         = [[Mazowe]], [[Southern Rhodesia]]
| death_date          = 4 August 2009 (aged 85)
| death_place         = [[Harare]], [[Zimbabwe]]
| party               = [[ZANU-PF]]
}}
'''Joseph Wilfred Msika''' (6 December 1923 – 4 August 2009), was a Zimbabwean politician who served as [[Vice-President of Zimbabwe|Second Vice-President of Zimbabwe]] from 1999 to 2009.<ref name=vpdies>Sydney Kawadza, [http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=8248&cat=1 "VP Msika dies"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806061720/http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=8248&cat=1 |date= 6 August 2009 }}, ''The Herald'', 6 August 2009.</ref>

==Early life==
Msika was born in [[Mazowe]], in the Chiweshe district of [[Southern Rhodesia]]. He attended Howard and Mt Selinda institutes, where he trained to become a carpentry teacher.<ref name=vpdies/> He then moved to [[Bulawayo]], where he worked as a carpenter and ran a fish-and-chip shop.<ref name=dailytel>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/5978861/Joseph-Msika.html Joseph Msika] – Daily Telegraph obituary</ref>

Later, Msika was a teacher at Usher Institute and became active in nationalist politics, working with nationalists such as [[Masotsha Ndlovu]] and [[Benjamin Burombo]]. He joined the Rhodesia Textile and Allied Workers' Union around 1944 or 1945.<ref name=vpdies/>

==Politics==

===During the Bush War===
Msika was elected as National Treasurer of the African National Congress in 1957; it was subsequently banned, at which point Msika became Secretary for Youth in the [[Zimbabwe African People's Union]] (ZAPU), its successor organisation. As a result of his political activities, he was detained at Khami Maximum Security, Selukwe and Marandellas prisons from 1959 to 1961. He joined the National Democratic Party in 1961 and was elected a councillor.<ref name=vpdies/>

In 1963, Msika was elected as ZAPU Secretary for Youth Affairs, and after the NDP was banned he became Secretary for External Affairs of the People's Caretaker Party.<ref name=vpdies/>

Police arrested Msika in 1964 while he was in the home of [[Josiah Mushore Chinamano]],<ref name="chinamano">Robert Cary and [[Diana Mitchell]]. ''African Nationalist Leaders in Rhodesia Who's who'', 1977. Page 180.</ref> and was detained at [[Gonakudzingwa Restriction Camp]]. In 1979, Msika was a member of the delegation to the [[Lancaster House Agreement]] that forged independence for Zimbabwe.<ref name=vpdies/>

===Post-independence===

In 1980, Msika was included in the first post-independence government as Minister of Natural Resources and Water Development; he was one of three representatives of ZAPU in the Cabinet, along with [[Joshua Nkomo]] and [[George Silundika]]. He was also nominated to the [[Senate of Zimbabwe|Senate]] with backing from the [[Zimbabwe African National Union]] (ZANU) of Prime Minister [[Robert Mugabe]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?ei=KW57SpjyM6r8ygT9-bnHDA&id=DHsEAQAAIAAJ&dq=Joseph+msika+minister+of+water+development+1980&q=Joseph+msika ''Africa Research Bulletin''] (1980), pages 5,624–5,626.</ref> He was dismissed from the government in 1982,<ref name=vpdies/><ref name=dailytel/> when ZANU accused ZAPU of plotting to seize power.<ref name=dailytel/> Msika was Vice-President of ZAPU from 1984 to 1987, and he was elected to the [[House of Assembly of Zimbabwe|House of Assembly]] in 1985 from [[Pelandaba]] constituency. Following that election, he was appointed as Minister of Public Construction and National Housing.<ref name=vpdies/>

Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe signed the Unity Accord between ZAPU and ZANU(PF), creating the [[Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front]] (ZANU-PF), on 22 December 1987. Joshua Nkomo, the leader of ZAPU, was appointed  to the post of Senior Minister in January 1988.Msika served as Senior Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development in the President's Office from 1988 to 1995, then as Minister without Portfolio from 1995 to 1999. He also served for a time as National Chairman of ZANU-PF from 1989 to 1999. Following Nkomo's death, Msika succeeded him as Vice-President on 23 December 1999. He was not a candidate in the [[2000 Zimbabwean parliamentary election|June 2000 parliamentary election]].<ref name=dailytel/>

Msika was placed on the [[United States sanctions]] list in 2003 and remained there until his death.<ref>[https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2003/03/10/03-5848/blocking-property-of-persons-undermining-democratic-processes-or-institutions-in-zimbabwe Blocking property of persons undermining democratic processes or institutions in Zimbabwe.]</ref>

On 5 March 2005, Msika was taken into hospital after collapsing at home, apparently having suffered a stroke and a blood clot in his head.<ref>[http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/msika4.12594.html Msika reportedly suffers stroke] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061106142701/http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/msika4.12594.html |date= 6 November 2006 }} newzimbabwe.com</ref> He did not run in the [[2005 Zimbabwean parliamentary election|March 2005 parliamentary election]], but Mugabe appointed him to one of the thirty unelected seats in the House of Assembly.<ref>[http://www.sadocc.at/news/2005/2005-101.shtml "MP's sworn in, new ministers appointed"], SADOCC, 16 April 2005.</ref> He also did not run in the [[2008 Zimbabwean parliamentary election|March 2008 parliamentary election]], but was appointed to the Senate by Mugabe on 25 August 2008.<ref>[http://allafrica.com/stories/200808250158.html "President Appoints Ministers"], ''The Herald'' (allAfrica.com), 25 August 2008.</ref> He was then sworn in again as Vice-President by Mugabe on 13 October 2008, together with [[Joyce Mujuru]].<ref>[http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90855/6514510.html "Zimbabwe President Mugabe swears in vice presidents"], Xinhua (''People's Daily Online''), 14 October 2008.</ref> In January 2009, when Mugabe went on his customary annual leave, Msika became Acting President.<ref>[http://allafrica.com/stories/200901050027.html "Msika Acting President"], ''The Herald'' (allAfrica.com), 5 January 2009.</ref>

Msika became ill while attending a regional summit in June 2009, reportedly due to a stroke, and was treated at a South African hospital.<ref>[http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=nw20090804234509652C741674 "Msika dies after long illness"], Sapa (''IOL''), 5 August 2009.</ref> He subsequently died at the West End Hospital in [[Harare]] on 4 August 2009<ref name=vpdies/> due to [[hypertension]]; he had been hospitalised there for 46 days.<ref name=Gonda>Violet Gonda, [http://allafrica.com/stories/200908101487.html "Zimbabwe: Thousands Commemorate Heroes Day & Burial of Msika"], SW Radio Africa (allAfrica.com), 10 August 2009.</ref> Later in the day, the ZANU-PF Politburo met and agreed to confer upon Msika the status of national hero; it also agreed that he would be buried at [[National Heroes' Acre (Zimbabwe)|National Heroes' Acre]]. At the time of his death, Msika was the Second Secretary of ZANU-PF.<ref name=vpdies/>

After his death, Mugabe stated that Msika, together with nationalists like [[George Nyandoro]], [[James Chikerema]], [[Maurice Nyagumbo]] and [[Daniel Madzimbamuto]], stood out as part of a generation of "fearless founder nationalists to taste arrest and incarceration under the notorious Federal Preventive Detention Laws of February 1959" following the banning of the African National Congress.<ref>[http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=8247&cat=1 "We Have Lost a Man of High Stature – President"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806061750/http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=8247&cat=1 |date= 6 August 2009 }}, ''The Herald''</ref> Msika's funeral was held on 10 August, thereby coinciding with National Heroes Day. President Mugabe, Prime Minister [[Morgan Tsvangirai]], and Deputy Prime Ministers [[Thokozani Khupe]] and [[Arthur Mutambara]] were all present for the funeral, at which Msika was buried with full military honours; various high-ranking regional officials, including South African Deputy President [[Kgalema Motlanthe]], were also present.<ref name=Gonda/> Speaking at the funeral, Mugabe sharply criticised the attitude of Western countries toward Zimbabwe and declared that "our nation will never prosper through foreign handouts".<ref>[https://archive.today/20130125114803/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gS9Sgs9StpvpxajCq-FXOcY0I98w "Mugabe slams the West as 'racist colonisers'"], AFP, 10 August 2009.</ref>

==Disagreements with Mugabe==

"Samkange insulted us, saying he could not work with unschooled people. Dumbutshena also insulted us saying we were unemployable and violent people against the whites. Mwanaka never responded. But Nkomo said what we were planning to do, the road that we would walk, would be a thorny one and said if we were prepared to face it he would join us, which he did," said Msika. He said it was then that Nkomo became the leader of the black nationalist movement in Rhodesia. Msika accused the ZANU-PF of "lying" to the world about being the pioneers in the nationalist movement: "The true history of the liberation struggle should be told. I feel I have a duty to correct this blatant lie..."{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Msika questioned Mugabe's past apology for the 1987 [[Gukurahundi]] killings, which was condemned internationally for the violence it unleashed on mainly rural [[Northern Ndebele people|Ndebele]], at a rally in October 2006 in [[Bulawayo]]. "When we asked him about the massacres he apologized, but I was not convinced about his sincerity," he said.<ref name=IRIN>[http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56011 "ZIMBABWE: Old wounds inflame political tensions"], IRIN, 19 October 2006.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Zimbabwe government ministers}}
{{Vice-Presidents of Zimbabwe}}
{{Members of the 5th Parliament of Zimbabwe}}
{{Members of the 3rd Parliament of Zimbabwe}}
{{Members of the 1st Parliament of Zimbabwe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Msika, Joseph}}
[[Category:Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Vice-presidents of Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Members of the Senate of Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:ZANU–PF politicians]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Rhodesia]]
[[Category:Zimbabwe African People's Union politicians]]
[[Category:Zimbabwean trade unionists]]
[[Category:Government ministers of Zimbabwe]]