Margaret Dongo

School / Education

No information was found on her Junior or High School, or any tertiary education.

Early Political Activity

Dongo is said to have started her political career when she dropped out of school at the age of fifteen to go for military training in Mozambique. ^[2] Having joined the liberation struggle in 1975, she received military training at Chimoio Military Training Camp and eventually served in the Tete Province, offering assistance to injured combatants.

Service / Career

Margaret served as a receptionist at the Zimbabwe Inter-Africa News Agency (ZIANA) for two years before being employed at Jongwe printers as a proof reader.^[2] She also served in the president's office as an intelligence field officer between 1983 and 1990. She was also heavily involved in politics between 1990 and 2000, having been elected on a Zanu PF ticket initially before she contested as an independent and winning the following election. Dongo's run as an independent candidate was necessitated by the fact that she had been dropped by her party apparently for not towing the party line. In the first instance she lost the election but successfully challenged the results in court represented by Tendai Biti as her legal counsel, she went on to win the election re-run becoming the first independent MP in post-independence Zimbabwe. ^[2]

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

• Margaret Dongo of Zanu PF with 16 390 votes,
• Morgan Changamire of ZUM with 9 770 votes.

Turnout - 28 220 votes or 70.04 %

In the 2000 Parliamentary Election (see A History of Zimbabwean Elections) Harare South returned to Parliament:

• Gabriel Chaibva of MDC with 12 430 votes,
• Vivian Mwashita of Zanu PF with 4 730 votes,
• Margaret Dongo of ZUD with 951 votes,
• Fisher Albert Aldridge Timothy, Independent, with 0 votes.

Events

Rights Activism

Dongo has been a top human rights advocate in post colonial Zimbabwe. She challenged a law which made it impossible for women to get legal documents for their children without the authority and consent of the father arguing that the law descriminated against women.^[2]

House Fire

It was reported that an attempt on Dongo's life occurred when her RidgeView home was set on fire in early January 2016. Dongo indicated that the incident was not the first as she had faced the same fate before,

“That was an attempt on my life,” Dongo told the Daily News on Sunday, adding “I am not surprised as this is not the first time that this has happened to me. “In August 1995, I survived a petrol bomb attack in St Marys (Chitungwiza) before I had another similar experience in Sunningdale the following year”. “It could be that they are trying to instil fear in me because of my work as a political activist. Still, one asks why me and why has it happened in such a way. “All this also causes one to ask where we can go where they cannot follow us. And when you live in fear in your country it hurts badly. I participated in the liberation struggle like many others and I wonder whether this is the thank you I’m getting,” she added. “My other concern is if they start the violence now when there are still two years to the 2018 elections, what will happen as we get near there and when will it stop? ^[1]

Further Reading

References