Herbert Wiltshire Pfumaindini Chitepo was a Zimbabwean politician and nationalist leader who led the Zimbabwe African National Union until he was assassinated in March 1975.
15 Facts About Herbert Chitepo
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Herbert Chitepo was born in Watsomba village in the Mutasa District of Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe on 15 June 1923.
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Herbert Chitepo's family came from the Manyika clan of the Shona people.
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Herbert Chitepo 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.
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Herbert Chitepo was a research assistant at the School of Oriental and African Studies.
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Herbert Chitepo was the first African in Southern Rhodesia to qualify as a barrister.
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In 1954, Herbert Chitepo became Rhodesia's second black lawyer after Prince Nguboyenja Khumalo son of King Lobengula.
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In May 1962 ZAPU was banned because of militarism and Herbert Chitepo was persuaded to go into voluntary exile to escape possible detention.
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Herbert Chitepo became Tanganyika's first African director of public prosecutions.
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Herbert Chitepo held this post until 7 December 1974, when the Lusaka Accord was signed.
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In January 1966 Herbert Chitepo resigned as director of Public Prosecutions and moved to Zambia to concentrate on the armed struggle.
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Herbert Chitepo toured world capitals canvassing support for ZANU and for the enforcement of total economic sanctions against Rhodesia.
13.
Herbert Chitepo died on 18 March 1975 in Lusaka, Zambia, when a car bomb, placed in his Volkswagen Beetle the night before, exploded.
14.
However, in his biographical account, The Legend of the Selous Scouts, Lt Col Ronald Reid-Daly, officer commanding, Selous Scouts Regiment, Rhodesian Security Forces, clearly states that the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organization under the leadership of Director General Ken Flower, masterminded the assassination of Herbert Chitepo, subsequently planting documentary evidence blaming ZANU members.
15.
The death of Herbert Chitepo purged ZANU of its many dissenting factions and a new and highly successful leader emerged.