Hongzvi, Chengherai

He was born in a poor family of peasant Shon . From the language of Shaun, the name Chengerai is translated as “be careful” ^[1] . After receiving primary and secondary education, at the age of 16, he said, he participated in the struggle against the Rhodesian regime of the white minority . Organized youth protests. He wore an underground pseudonym Hitler . He claimed to be a ZIPRA fighter (which was subsequently denied), was harassed, and was in a Rhodesian prison.

In 1974, Hongzvi left Rhodesia for Europe. Studied in Romania , then in Poland . Received a doctor’s diploma. At the same time, he acted as the representative of ZAPU in Poland. In 1979, while in London , Chenjerai Khunzvi, as a Zimbabwean activist, attended the Lancasterhouse Conference .

Financial claims and frauds

Chengerai Hongzvi returned to Zimbabwe in 1990. He worked as a doctor in the Harare Central Hospital, then opened a private clinic in the village of Budiriro. He joined the Zimbabwean Association of Veterans of the National Liberation War ( ZNLWVA ).

The charisma and oratory of Hongzvi allowed him to take the post of chairman of the ZNLWVA in 1997 (despite the dubious nature of his personal involvement in the war ). Under his leadership, the Association has intensified. Khunzvi led a campaign requiring the government to pay war veterans a lump sum equivalent to $ 4,000, set monthly government benefits of $ 2,000, and extend veteran benefits to women who were not part of the battle but were partisan informants. It was possible to achieve lump sum payments of $ 2,500 and monthly benefits of $ 100 ^[2] . A special fund has been created. Large costs in a difficult economic situation were an important impetus to catastrophic inflation and the collapse of the Zimbabwean financial system ^[3] .

Around the allocated funds, a series of corruption scandals arose. During the investigation, it turned out that Khunzvi, as a doctor, practiced the issuance of numerous unreasonable medical certificates of disability with the payment of appropriate benefits. In 1999, he was prosecuted for this. He was denied bail as a potentially dangerous person. However, in 2000 he was released.

Farm Grips

Since the beginning of 2000, Chengerai Khunzvi has put forward a demand to speed up the redistribution of land in favor of black veterans. ZNLWVA appealed to Queen Elizabeth II (as the head of the British Commonwealth ) with a warning about a "bloody slaughter" if property claims of members of the Association to white farmers are not satisfied ^[4] .

Soon, mass seizures of farms owned by white owners began. The captors, regardless of age — many of them young men and teenagers born after the end of the war — represented themselves as veterans and members of ZNLWVA, and the administration and police participated in the process. 19 killings were documented, of which 12 were black farm workers, 7 were white farmers.

In August 2002, the farm seized from a white couple was taken by the wife of President Grace Mugabe ^[5] . These events brought Chengerai Khunzvi world fame as a charismatic and cruel "Black Hitler" ^[6] .

The capture campaign of the early 2000s reinforced the position of President Robert Mugabe . In addition, ZNLWVA became its active mass support, and the popular Chergerai Khunzvi became a political ally ^{[7] a} prominent figure in the ruling ZANU party.

Suppression of the Opposition

Since 2000, Chergerai Khunzvi has become an active supporter of President Mugabe. ZNLWVA activists under his leadership put severe pressure on opposition MDC candidates and voters. The Hunzvi Private Clinic near Harare has gained fame as a place of forced detention, beatings and torture of captured oppositionists. Amnesty International characterized this institution as a “torture chamber” ^[8] . Khunzvi was described as the “leader of the terrorist gangs of Mugabe” ^[9] .

Why am I called Hitler? Because I'm the biggest terrorist in Zimbabwe. I am the most dangerous person in the country. You will do everything that I say.
Chengherai Hongzvi ^[10]

In the 2000 election, Chengherai Hongzvi was elected to the Zimbabwean parliament from the ZANU party. He advocated harsh nationalism and black racism .

Chengherai Hongzvi suddenly died at the age of 51. The cause of death has not been fully clarified. The official diagnosis was malaria, but AIDS was suspected.

Commentators noted that in relation to the death of Hitler, society was divided in two: genuine sorrow and outright glee were expressed. It was also said that Khunzvi was the only person in the country who could set conditions for Mugabe and threaten him.

Chengerai Hongzvi was married three times. He made his first marriage in his youth, before emigration.

Khunzvi's second wife was Polish Weslaw, whom he married during his stay in Poland. In the marriage, the Hunzvi couple had a son and daughter. In 1992, Weslaw Khunzvi fled Zimbabwe, accusing "this cruel and low man" of sadistic beatings, as well as of deceit: "As for the war, he never held a rifle in his hands, never visited a single battle . " Under the pseudonym Magda Tunzvi, she published the book White Slave ^[11] .

After the second divorce, Chengherai Hongzvi married again. In only three marriages, he had five children.

• Joseph Chinotimba