Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Richard Hove: A life less ordinary

Richard Hove: A life less ordinary
NSN
Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:51:00 +0000

SENATOR Richard Hove was born in Belingwe in October 1935. He began schooling at Mwembe Primary school in Belingwe. From 1949 to 1952 he was at Mnene mission school.

Hove was an intelligent pupil who won a scholarship at Dadaya Junior secondary school to go to Tegwani School in Matabeleland in 1957. After school he became the first black Zimbabwean to be employed as a clerk at Shell Company in Bulawayo.

Hove was still young when the earliest rumblings of nationalist activity began in the fifties. When Zanu was formed he regarded it as a rallying call.

He was involved in active politics nearer to his home ground when he was posted to Lusaka, where Zanu’s temporary headquarters had been set up.

With his knowledge of accounting, he was appointed the Zanu Accounting Secretary in 1966.

In 1967 he became a member of the Revolutionary Council which was a steering body for the party.

Hove returned from Lusaka in 1971 and became Zanu’s Secretary of the External affairs.

In 1973, still as Secretary for External Affairs, he took over the responsibility for broadcasting leading a unit under the Department of Information and Publicity.

Hove was arrested in 1975 together with other Zanu leaders but was released because of the planned Geneva conference.

In 1976 he went to Mozambique returning in 1977 to Lusaka on party affairs before being posted to Maputo again to become a member of Zanu’s Department of External Affairs.

He was then made a member of the Central Committee and Deputy Secretary for External Affairs.

Hove was an active Zanu-PF member and he represented the party at Commonwealth conference in Lusaka in 1979.

Before the Lancaster House got underway in September 1979, Hove had left Maputo for Dar es Salaam for a Patriotic Front conference.

Since independence in 1980 Hove served as a cabinet minister.

He was Minister of Public Service in 1980, Minister of Home Affairs 1981,Minister of Trade and Commerce up to 1985,Minister of Mines, 1985-1990, Minister of Defence, 1990-1992 and Planning Commissioner until 2000.

Hove was a Member of the Politburo and Secretary for Economic Affairs in Zanu PF.

He represented Mberengwa, Mberengwa East and Gweru Urban in parliament.

Hove suffered from diabetes and died on Friday 21 August 2009.

Labels: RICHARD HOVE

posted by MrK @ 8:17 PM