Chenjerai Hunzvi - Political Career

Political Career

Hunzvi was subsequently elected chairman of the Zimbabwean Liberation War Veterans Association in 1997, which, at the time, a relatively inactive organization. A born orator, Hunzvi organised rowdy demonstrations demanding gratuities and pensions from President Robert Mugabe, and critiqued the president. The pressure tactics were successful and the 50,000 war veterans were granted one-off payments of US $2,500, as well as monthly pensions of US $100. A compensation fund was also set up to benefit those who were disabled following war service, with the amount paid determined by the degree of disability. The fund was the subject of enormous fraud, with government officials, party officials and others (including Hunzvi) determined to be 117% disabled. Experts have claimed that the settlements were a major factor in the economic crisis in the Zimbabwe.

In 1999, Hunzvi was arrested in corruption case regarding the allegedly embezzlement of Z$45m of the war veterans' funds. He was denied bail, due to fear that he would intimidate witnesses or abscond. The actual trial was repeatedly postponed, and the war veterans' leadership voted to remove him from office. In 2000 Hunzvi led the campaign involving war veterans and other supporters of ZANU-PF in the seizure of white-owned land. During parliamentary elections in 1990, he incited followers to intimidate and harass members of the opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change. Calling himself "the biggest terrorist in Zimbabwe" he was identified by numerous witnesses as participation in beatings and torture, and his medical clinic labelled a "torture chamber" by Amnesty International in 2000.

Hunzvi was elected to parliament in 2000, but died in 2001 in Harare's Parirenyatwa Hospital. His death was variably ascribed to malaria, a heart condition, or AIDS.