Bernard Chidzero

In 1952 he joined Pius XII University College in Lesotho for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and then later went to University of Ottawa in Canada in 1955 to study Political Science, and then to McGill University in Montreal. He met his wife in Canada during studies and they later married in the UK at Nuffield College, Oxford, in 1958.^[2]

Career

In 1957 Chidzero published a Shona novel Nzvengamutsvairo (the name has been translated from Shona as "Mr Lazy-Bones" or "Broom-Dodger") which detailed the condition of workers on Rhodesian farms and set out his vision of an integrated, racially tolerant society.

Political Career

Armed with a grant from the Ford Foundation, Chidzero returned to Rhodesia in 1960, intending to teach at the University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; his offer to work there was withdrawn when the segregated university discovered the interracial nature of Chidzero's marriage.

Chidzero joined the United Nations in 1960. He began in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa as an economic affairs officer in Addis Ababa and from 1963 to 1968 as an assistant to the UN Technical Assistance Board in Kenya. From 1968 to 1980 Chidzero worked for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): from 1968 to 1977 he was the Director of Commodities and between 1977 and 1980 he served as UNCTAD's Deputy Secretary General.

After the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Ian Smith, Chidzero played a role in the early liberation struggle negotiations for Zimbabwe. He was part of the advisory team when Joshua Nkomo, leader of Zimbabwe African People's Party, visited London. The collapse of those talks, resulting in the split of ZAPU and Zimbabwe African National Union, also marked a watershed in Chidzero's political allegiances. Increasingly, he teamed up with his former school- and band-mate Mugabe.

Aware of an impending war of liberation in Zimbabwe, in 1970, Chidzero bought a farm in Malawi and moved his father and kinsfolk out of Rhodesia. And on 21 December 1972 the first armed attack on a Rhodesian white settler took place in Centenary, Zambezi River escarpment. Meanwhile, during a visit to Malawi in 1972, Chidzero made overtures to his Pan African 'brother' and 'friend' Hastings Kamuzu Banda to settle in Malawi when his United Nations tenure would expire. Hastings Kamuzu Banda's response was an unequivocal refusal. Still, the farm in Malawi continued to serve, with the Malawi Government turning a blind eye, as an active Zimbabwean cell and staging point for many recruits heading for Morogoro training bases, in Tanzania.

Following the Lancaster House Agreement Chidzero returned to Zimbabwe and, in 1980, he became the Minister of Economic Planning and Development.

In the Zimbabwe 1985 Parliamentary Election, Harare - (the suburb, now Mbare) returned to Parliament:

• Bernard Thomas Chidzero of Zanu PF - 39 180 votes.
• Nevison Chakaipa Mukanganga Nyashanu of PF-ZAPU - 2 625 votes.
• Ferris Simon Tandari Mushonga of UANC - 2 172 votes.
• Mabaudi Wiseman Zengeni of ZANU - 268 votes.
• James Clever Mavunga Shereni of NFZ - 50 votes.
• Abednigo Munyamana Gwavu of NDU - 39 votes.

Following the election he was promoted to be the Minister of Finance, succeeding Tichaendepi Masaya.

In the 1990 Parliamentary Election (see A History of Zimbabwean Elections) Harare Central returned to Parliament:

• Bernard Chidzero of Zanu PF with 9 545 votes,
• Raphael Hamadziripiof ZUM with 6 864.

Turnout - 17 120 votes or 37.31 %

He was Chairman of the Development Committee of the World Bank from 1986 to 1990. He was a member of the World Commission on Environment and Development. Back home he designed and implemented the Zimbabwean version of the Structural Adjustment Programme; in the process earning himself the wrath of certain ZANU-PF stalwarts who considered his economic programs ill-timed and denying them access to 'rewards of their war effort'.

In 1990, aware of the disaster that the Zimbabwean economy was headed for and vilified and accused for SAP's 'failures' by those within the ruling party, a frustrated Chidzero ran for election to the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations. Chidzero was supported by the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries, but was defeated by Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Publications

• Nzvengamutsvairo, 1957
• Partnership in practice, Sword of the Spirit, 1960
• Tanganyika and international trusteeship, Oxford University Press, 1961
• The imperative of international co-operation, East African Publishing for East African Academy, 1966
• Education and the challenge of independence, International University Exchange Fund, 1977

Death

Chidzero's health began to fail in 1993 and he stepped down as finance minister in 1995. Bernard Chidzero died at the Avenues Clinic in Harare in 2002. He is buried in the Heroes Acre in Harare.

References