Naomi Nhiwatiwa

Naomi Nhiwatiwa
World Health Organization external relations
Personal details
Born (1941-04-15)15 April 1941
Umtali (today Mutare)
Died 12 April 2012(2012-04-12) (aged 70)
South Bend
Nationality Zimbabwe
Political party ZANU-PF
Alma mater State University of New York at Buffalo
Portfolio Deputy Minister of Posts and Telecommunications


Naomi Pasiharigutwi Nhiwatiwa (15 April 1941 – 12 April 2012) was a Zimbabwean independence activist and cabinet minister. In the 1990s, she worked for an extended period as a director with the World Health Organization in Brazzaville, Congo.[1][2][3]

Biography

Born in Umtali (renamed Mutare in 1982), she studied in the United States at the State University of New York at Buffalo, earning a PhD in Intercultural and Diplomatic Communications in 1979. In the late 1970s, she participated in the first ZANU-PF Women's League meeting at Shai Shai in Mozambique. She became a spokesperson for the party, keen to promote women's emancipation.[4] Following the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980, Nhiwatiwa was one of only five women who became members of parliament for the ruling ZANU–PF party. Alongside Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Victoria Chitepo, as Deputy Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, she was one of Zimbabwe's few female cabinet ministers.[5]

In 1988, she left the government of Zimbabwe to become a senior Unicef official in Nairobi, Kenya. She moved to Brazzaville in 1993 as director responsible for the World Health Organization's external relations for the Africa Region. In 1998, she became a senior advisor to the United Nations in New York.[5]

After retiring from the United Nations in 2001, Nhiwatiwa became a charity worker, founding the Zerapath AIDS Orphanage in Harare. She has also been a visiting professor at Pepperdine University in California.[2]

Naomi Nhiwatiwa died in South Bend, Indiana, on 12 April 2012.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Naomi P. Nhiwatiwa". Palmer Funeral Homes. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 "War hero Naomi Nhiwatiwa dies". New Zimbabwe. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Mitchell, Diana (1980). African Nationalist Leaders in Zimbabwe: Who's who 1980. D. Mitchell. pp. 88–.
  4. ↑ Lyons, Tanya (2004). Guns and Guerilla Girls: Women in the Zimbabwean National Liberation Struggle. Africa World Press. pp. 112–. ISBN 978-1-59221-167-8.
  5. 1 2 "Naomi Nhiwatiwa dies in USA". The Herald. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
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