13 Facts About Chenjerai Hunzvi

Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi served as Chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association beginning in 1997.

Chenjerai Hunzvi said that he joined the struggle against white minority rule in Rhodesia at the age of 16 taking the nom-de-guerre of "Hitler".

Chenjerai Hunzvi was reported to have been interned in Gonakudzingwa and Wha Wha prisons between 1967 and 1970, and to have been a prominent leader in Zimbabwe African People's Union and Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, though these claims have been denied by some other elders of the campaigns.

Chenjerai Hunzvi left the country and having been identified as being bright, was sent to study in Romania, becoming fluent in Romanian and French, and subsequently began medical studies in Poland where he married a Polish woman with whom he had two children.

Chenjerai Hunzvi represented ZAPU while in Poland, and in 1979, during his medical studies, Hunzvi visited London to attend the ceasefire and constitutional negotiations for the Lancaster House Agreement.

Chenjerai Hunzvi returned to Zimbabwe in 1990, working initially at Harare Central Hospital, and later founding a medical practice in Budiriro, in the township of Harare.

Chenjerai Hunzvi's wife fled Zimbabwe in 1992 to escape violence from her husband.

Chenjerai Hunzvi was elected chairman of the Zimbabwean Liberation War Veterans' Association in 1997, which was, at the time, a relatively inactive organisation.

In 1999, Chenjerai Hunzvi was arrested in corruption case regarding the alleged embezzlement of Z$45m of the war veterans' funds.

Chenjerai Hunzvi was denied bail, due to fear that he would intimidate witnesses or abscond.

In 2000 Chenjerai Hunzvi led the campaign involving war veterans and other supporters of ZANU-PF in the seizure of white-owned land.

Chenjerai Hunzvi was elected to parliament in 2000, but died in 2001 in Harare's Parirenyatwa Hospital.

Chenjerai Hunzvi's death was variously ascribed to malaria, a heart condition, or AIDS.