When Joyce Mujuru became Zimbabwe’s first and youngest female Cabinet minister soon after independence in 1980, she had no academic qualifications.
Mujuru was one of 12 children born to a peasant family in Mount Darwin. She opted out of school at age 18 against her parents wishes to join the liberation army, adopting the name Teurai Ropa, which literally means to “spill blood”.
On February 17 1974 the group she was assigned to had an encounter with Rhodesian Forces and scattered, leaving Mujuru to her own devices. She stumbled over a wounded colleague, who gave her his gun and told her to run. She recalled: “A helicopter crew saw me. They were coming down for me and I fired. Incredibly, I hit the machine and there was a lot of black smoke and it crashed. A big explosion followed.”
Word of Mujuru’s bravery spread through the camps. She rose to the rank of commander of a camp in Chimoio, Mozambique, that became the largest camp in the territory.
“My war experiences changed my life,” said Mujuru. “I became very strong and learned to make decisions and not to wait for men to decide.”
During one of her military missions to command a group of women operating around the Kanyemba area in Mount Darwin, she met Solomon Mujuru. They later married and had two children. He went on to become the first commander of the Zimbabwe National Army. She decided to involve herself in politics and leave her husband to run the army. Currently the Minister of Water Resources and Rural Development, Mujuru is one of four ministers appointed at independence who remain in Cabinet.
Having left school with hardly any education, she had to pursue most of her studies after independence. Her ministerial position did not deter her from sitting down in class in the evenings to get the schooling she had missed.
Mujuru won the 2000 parliamentary election with a landslide in her Mount Darwin constituency. She is described as tough and down to earth.
At the Zanu-PF Women’s League congress this year, her name was put forward as candidate for the post of vice-president of the party. Mujuru, with President Robert Mugabe’s first wife, Sally, founded the women’s movement.
Political analyst Brian Kagoro said: “She has an impeccable record of representing women’s views in Zanu-PF. She and her husband have not been linked to any incidents of political violence.”
The only blemish in a political and military career spanning three decades is a 2001 investigation by a Parliament select committee that found her guilty of flouting tender procedures.