Settlement Chikwinya

Service/Career

Zimasco

In 1999, he started working for Zimasco (Pvt) Ltd as an artisan fitter and became the assistant mechanical engineer, a position he held up until he parted ways with the chrome production giant in 2015. As a trade unionist, Chikwinya rose to become the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Ferro Alloys Workers’ Union between 2003 and 2005.^[1]

Politics

In 2000 he was MDC ward 12 Secretary and became district chair in 2005. In 2001, he became MDC provincial secretary until 2011. In the national executive council of MDC chaired by the late Morgan Tsvangirai, Chikwinya held the portfolio of secretary for information and technology. He headed that portfolio from 2006 up until 2014.

In 2014, Chikwinya broke away from the mainstream MDC, together with Tendai Biti and formed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Chikwinya was already an MP under the MDC ticket and had to be recalled from parliament.

Chikwinya became the PDP’s secretary for elections between 2014 and 2016. He was elevated by Biti to the position of secretary-general of the PDP in 2016, a position he held until the formation of the MDC Alliance, that merged opposition parties into one in order to fight Zanu PF in the 2018 elections.

In the 2018 elections, Chikwinya won the Mbizo seat.

Soon after the 2019 congress, Nelson Chamisa appointed Chikwinya in the MDC Alliance’s national executive committee. He was appointed MDC Alliance secretary for Transport and Logistics.^[1]

Events

Arrest (February 2019)

Chikwinya and Lloyd Mukapiko who were already facing charges of subverting a constitutional government and inciting public violence, were arrested on fresh charges of public violence.

The duo was arrested for allegedly being part of the anti-government violence that rocked the Zimbabwe in mid-January 2019. Chikwinya was picked from his Kwekwe home while Mukapiko handed himself to police in the company of his lawyer.

Before their latest arrest, the two were set to appear before a Kwekwe magistrate for the commencement of their treason trial. Police said the two were released after indicating they were yet to conclude their investigations.

Kwekwe magistrate Tayengwa Sangster had moved the commencement of their trial to 11 March 2019. The two were freed on $300 bail each following their two-week detention in remand prison. ^[2]

On 9 August 2019, Chikwinya and Mukapiko, were acquitted of charges of inciting violence during the January fuel price hike protests.

Kwekwe magistrate Story Rushambwa concurred with the legal team for the duo led by Gweru lawyer Wellington Davira that the State had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The State, led by prosecutor Yemurai Mugumba, had alleged that the two incited public violence during the fuel price hike protests that rocked Zimbabwe in January 2019 after President Emmerson Mnangagwa raised the price by 150 %. According to the State, the actions of the two led to the blocking of roads and the destruction of property in central Kwekwe.^[3]

Further Reading

References