Obert Gutu

He contested in the 2018 elections for Member of Parliament for Harare East and lost to Tendai Biti. The constituency was previously won by Terence Mukupe. He joined Zanu PF on 17 March 2021 and was welcomed by the party's first secretary and Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House.

Background

Obert Chaurura Gutu was born on 20 October 1962 at Gutu Mission Hospital.^[2]
He is married to Tendai Gutu.

Education

Gutu did his primary education at Gutu Mission then Gutu Primary School before proceeding to Fletcher High School for his advanced level studies. He was given a government scholarship to study at the University of Zimbabwe's Faculty of Law after being the high school's top student.^[3] He holds Bachelors of Law Honours Degree from the University of Zimbabwe.^[2] In March 1986, he was granted study leave by the Ministry Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to go and pursue a post-graduate law degree, i.e. LL.B at the University of Zimbabwe. He completed the LL.B degree programme at the end of 1986. Gutu completed a Master of Philosophy degree with the University of Zimbabwe and his thesis topic was: Rule of law in post-independent Zimbabwe between the period 1980 – 2002: the implications of the observance and non-observance of the rule of law in the development of constitutional law.^[4]

Career

He started to practise law in Zimbabwe in 1986. ^[2] In January 1985 he was employed as a public prosecutor by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs at the Harare Magistrates’ Court. He prosecuted several criminal matters both at the Harare Magistrates’ Court and also at the Mbare Magistrates’ Court. After completing his postgraduate law degree, he returned to the Ministry of Justice in November 1986 as a magisterial assistant. He was admitted as a legal practitioner of the High Court of Zimbabwe in May 1987. In July 1987, he joined Chirunda, Chihambakwe & Partners as a professional assistant.
On 1 October 1990, he formed a partnership with Cassian Jakachira. The partnership was known as Messrs. Gutu & Jakachira. This partnership was dissolved in July 1992 and Gutu remained in practice under the style of Messrs. Gutu & Associates.
He is one of the lawyers in Africa who has been engaged by the World Bank’s Doing Business project. He prepares and submits reports to the Monitoring and Analysis Unit Investment Climate Department (CICMA) IFC. This project publishes a book annually.
Gutu was the Chairman of Unlimited Media Company (Private) Limited, the producer of a popular TV soap that was known as Estate Blues. In June 2007 he was appointed chairman of the Food Standards Advisory Board of Zimbabwe which is a 17 member board whose core function is to advise the Minister of Health and Child Welfare on all matters relating to food and food standards. He has provided legal advice to corporate clients such as Telecel Zimbabwe, Transparency International, ACCA Global, ZESA Holdings (Private) Limited, Release Power Investments (Private) Limited, and Inter Ocean Aviation, a big aviation company based in Mauritius.^[2]

Political Career

Gutu joined the Movement for Democratic Change at its formation before it split into various factions.^[3]
Gutu was elected to be the Senator for Chisipite in Harare during the elections on 29 March 2008. In Parliament, he was the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Legal Committee and also a member of the Standing Rules and Orders Committee of the 7th Parliament of Zimbabwe. On 24 June 2010, he was sworn in as the new Deputy Minister of Justice & Legal Affairs in Zimbabwe during the Government of National Unity. During his tenure as Deputy Minister, he became chairman of the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs’ anti-corruption committee and also worked closely with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission. He became chairman of the Family Court of Zimbabwe’s steering committee. As the Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, he attended numerous workshops, seminars and conferences locally, regionally and internationally. Gutu is a member of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, and he was admitted into the International Bar Association on February 1993.^[4]

In 2013 he was nominated by MDC-T Councillors to be Mayor for Harare but Ignatius Chombo who was Local Government Minister at the time, insisted that only elected Councillors could be Mayors.^[5]
During the MDC-T 2014 Party Congress, Gutu was elected the national spokesperson for the party. He was formerly information secretary for the party’s Harare province before he was elected the national party spokesperson.^[6]

During the July 2018 elections, he contested for Member of Parliament for Harare East and lost to Tendai Biti. The constituency was previously won by Terence Mukupe. He joined Zanu PF on 17 March 2021.

Testimony Before the American Senate

In December 2017, he was part of the MDC alliance delegation that appeared before a United States Congressional Committee on Foreign Relations in the USA to appraise Americans on the situation in Zimbabwe

Dismissal from MDC-T party

Gutu was suspended and then dismissed by the National Council which met in March 2018 and decided to dismiss Obert Gutu, Abednico Bhebhe and Thokozani Khupe.Part of the statement read:

• d. On suspended party spokesperson Mr Obert Chaurura Gutu, the national council resolved by a unanimous vote to expel suspended party spokesperson Mr Obert Chaurura Gutu.

• e. The national council further resolved that those leaders that have ceased to be members of the party but who are in Parliament, in particular, VP Khupe and Organizing Secretary Abednigo Bhebhe, be recalled with immediate effect.

• f. The party further resolved to communicate these latest developments in the party to all stakeholders including, but not limited to, the government of Zimbabwe, the parliament of Zimbabwe, civic society, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the diplomatic community and all party organs and structures.

Hon. Morgen Komichi Deputy National Chairperson

Trivia

• His hobbies include golf, karate and chess.
• Gutu regularly writes articles for both print and online publications.
• He is also a keen football fan who supports CAPS United and Arsenal Football Club internationally^[2]
• The late Herbert Chitepo and Joshua Nkomo are an inspiration to Gutu.^[3]
• After the unpopular dismissal from MDC Alliance Obert Gutu became extremely bitter to the extent of denouncing his former party and praising his former political arch rival Emerson Mnangagwa. Reports indicated he was keen to find a political home in Zanu PF by doing propaganda on their behalf.

References