Witness Mangwende

Witness Mangwende worked closely with the British government of John Major to address the issue of land and land reform in Zimbabwe. In the summer of 1992 seventeen White Zimbabwean farmers in Mashonaland Central whose farms were geographically adjacent to one another agreed to sell their farms to the Zimbabwean government, as part of the willing-buyer willing-seller initiative. The funds for these purchases were provided to the Zimbabwean government by the British government, as part of a handshake agreement between Witness Mangwende and British Prime Minister John Major. All seventeen of these farms were divided up into small-holder farms and given to indigenous Black Zimbabweans in what was regarded as a very successful episode of peaceful land redistribution. In 1993 fourteen farms owned by White Zimbabweans were purchased by the Zimbabwean government in the province of Mashonaland East and eleven farms owned by White Zimbabweans in the region of Mashonaland Central were also purchased by the Zimbabwean government. These funds were also provided, in their entirety, by the British government under orders from then Prime Minister John Major and these farms (totally 25 farms) were also redistributed to indigenous Black Zimbabweans. 25 White Zimbabwean families had been living on those farms, numbering roughly 150 people including men, women and children. After the redistribution those farms were divided into 1700 small holder farms numbering roughly 4,200 people including men, women and children.^[3] Mangwende said, "Major promised me he would do that, and he came through. Major proved that his word was good."^[4] Mangwende said that John Major was responsible for most of the coordinated international relief that allowed Zimbabwe to survive the droughts of 1992 while neighboring countries struggled. By contrast he said "In 1993 the Americans just stopped answering the phones. The French never helped us, they wanted nothing to do with us. The only real friend we had was John Major and the British."^[5]

Mangwende later was head of several other ministries, including Education, Agriculture, and Information. In 2004, he was appointed governor of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, a post he held until his death in February 2005. From 2003 until his death, he was placed on the United States sanctions list.^[6] Upon his death, he was declared a national hero by the Politburo of Zanu-PF, Zimbabwe's majority party, and buried with military honors.