Mnangagwa, Emmerson Dambudzo

Mnangagwa, Emmerson Dambudzo,

1942?–, Zimbabwean political leader. A guerrilla leader during the struggle against white-minority rule, he received military training in China and was imprisoned (1965–75) by the Rhodesian government. A lawyer and member of the ruling ZANU-PF party, he served under President Robert MugabeMugabe, Robert Gabriel
, 1924–, president of Zimbabwe (1987–2017). A founder of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in 1963 and a guerrilla leader, he was imprisoned (1964–74) by the white Rhodesian government.
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 in numerous posts. He was state security minister (1980–88) during the Matabeleland massacre, in which of thousands of Ndebele who supported Mugabe's rival, Joshua Nkomo, were killed, and then was justice minister (1989–2000, 2013–17), acting finance minister (1995–96), parliament speaker (2000–2005), rural housing minister (2005–9), and defense minister (2009–13). He also managed Mugabe's 2008 election campaign, during which Morgan TsvangiraiTsvangirai, Morgan
, 1952–2018, Zimbabwean trade unionist and political leader. In the 1970s, while working in a nickel mine, he joined the Associated Mineworkers Union.
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, Mugabe's main challenger, withdrew as a result of irregularities and violence. As first vice president (2014–17), Mnangagwa was regarded as Mugabe's likely successor. His dismissal, in an apparent attempt by Mugabe to install his wife as his successor, led the military to force Mugabe to resign, and Mnangagwa succeeded him as president. He survived an apparent bomb attack at a rally in June, 2018, then was elected president in July in a relatively close race against a divided opposition.