Herbert Chitepo
| Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo | |
|---|---|
| Leader of Zimbabwe African National Union | |
|
In office July 1963 – 18 March 1975 |
|
| President | Ndabaningi Sithole |
| Vice President | Leopold Takawira |
| Lieutenant | Josiah Tongogara |
| Preceded by | Post established |
| Succeeded by | Ndabaningi Sithole |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 June 1923 Watsomba, Nyanga District, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) |
| Died | 18 March 1975 (aged 51) Lusaka, Zambia |
| Resting place | Heroe's Acre, Warren Hills, Zimbabwe |
| Nationality | British Subject |
| Political party | ZANU |
| Spouse(s) | Victoria Fikile Chitepo |
| Relations | Edgar Tekere |
| Alma mater | University of Fort Hare |
| Occupation | Barrister ; Nationalist Politician |
| Religion | Anglicanism |
| Awards | Zimbabwe National Hero Status |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | ZANLA |
| Years of service | 1962–1975 |
| Commands | ZANLA |
Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo (15 June 1923 – 18 March 1975) led the Zimbabwe African National Union until he was assassinated on March 1975. Although his murderer remains unidentified, the Rhodesian author Peter Stiff says that a former British SAS soldier, Hugh Hind was responsible.
Chitepo became the first black citizen of Rhodesia to become a barrister.
Chitepo was born in Watsomba village in the Inyanga District of Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe on 15 June 1923. His family came from the Manyika clan (Samanyika) of the Shona people. He was educated at St David's Mission School, Bonda, St Augustine's School, Penhalonga and then at Adams College, Natal, South Africa, where he qualified as a teacher in 1945. This was where he met Victoria Mahamba-Sithole, a South African who he married in 1955.
After teaching for a year, he resumed his studies to graduate with a BA degree from Fort Hare University College in 1949. He qualified as a Barrister-at-Law, and was called to the bar by Gray's Inn whose alumni include Winston Churchill. He was a research assistant at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He was the first African in Southern Rhodesia to qualify as a Barrister. In 1954 Chitepo became Rhodesia's first black lawyer (a special law was required to allow him to occupy chambers with white colleagues). On returning to Rhodesia in 1954, he practised as a lawyer and defended African nationalists such as Ndabaningi Sithole in court. In 1961, he served as legal adviser to Joshua Nkomo, founder of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU), at the Southern Rhodesia Constitutional Conference in London. In the same year (1961)he was also appointed to the Board of Governors of Bernard Mizeki College along with Sir. W. C .R. Honey and Sir Robert Tredgold. The Southern Rhodesian government did not detain him as he did not come out in the open as an official of the nationalist movement and the regime also feared that being the first lawyer, Chitepo was too internationally well-known to be locked up.
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