Chenhamo Chimutengwende
Chenhamo "Chen" Chakezha Chimutengwende was the Minister of State for Public and Interactive Affairs in Zimbabwe and a longstanding supporter of Robert Mugabe. On 31 March 2008 he lost his parliamentary seat in the general election, which ended his 23-year career as a Member of Parliament. Since September 2009 he has been chairman of the Zimbabwe Foundation for Sustainable Development.
During the 1960s and 1970s Chimutengwende lived in exile in London, England, where he directed the Europe-Africa Research Project from a basement in Gower Street. He was a member of the editorial board of Red Mole, a paper closely associated with the International Marxist Group. A staunch supporter of Mao Zedong's China, he resigned from the editorial board when the paper criticised Mao's policies with regard to the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.
He earned a master's degree in social science from the University of Bradford, having specialized on "The Functions, Processes and Challenges of Mass Communications in Peaceful and Conflictual Situations in Politics and International Relations", and a PhD also from Bradford University, writing a thesis on "Mass Media and the State in the Socio-Economic Development Process". He is the author of the book South Africa: The Press and the Politics of Liberation.
