Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Information and Publicity of Zimbabwe | |
| In office 6 February 2007 – December 2008 | |
| President | Robert Mugabe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 May 1937 |
| Died | 15 September 2015 (aged 78) |
| Party | Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front |
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu (4 May 1937 – 15 September 2015) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Minister of Information and Publicity from 2007 to 2008. He was also a member of the ZANU-PF Politburo.
EU-Africa Summit
After serving as Deputy Minister of Education, Ndlovu was appointed as Minister of Information by President Robert Mugabe on 6 February 2007.[1]
President Mugabe achieved a diplomatic coup in December 2007 when he attended a European Union-Africa summit despite a visa ban on Zimbabwean government officials, effective since 2001. At the summit, Ndlovu called Chancellor Angela Merkel a "Nazi remnant". Responding to Merkel's criticism of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, Ndlovu told her to "shut up or ship out," saying Germany needed a head of state like Otto von Bismarck.[2] By the time of the summit he was already placed on United States sanctions and European Union sanctions lists.[3][4]
House of Assembly
Ndlovu was nominated as ZANU-PF's candidate for the House of Assembly seat from Pelandaba-Mpopoma constituency in Bulawayo in the March 2008 parliamentary election.[5] He launched his campaign by slaughtering a beast and giving away bicycles to some of the people who attended his rally at Nkulumane Primary School, an act that his critics described as a gimmick to buy votes.[6] Milford Gwetu, an MP for the Movement for Democratic Change who was running for re-election in the same constituency as Ndlovu, died during the campaign, and as a result the election there was delayed.[7] In the postponed election held on 27 June 2008 he was defeated by MDC candidate Samuel Sandla Khumalo.[citation needed]
Cholera outbreak
On 12 December 2008, a day after Mugabe claimed that the Zimbabwean government had defeated a cholera epidemic, Ndlovu accused the United Kingdom of causing the outbreak in a "racist" attack meant to cause genocide against the Zimbabwean people.[8]
