Desmond Lardner-Burke

Desmond William Lardner-Burke (17 October 19091984) was a Rhodesian lawyer and politician.

Early years Desmond Lardner-Burke was born in Kimberley in the Cape of Good Hope on 17 October 1909, and was educated at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown. Lardner-Burke became a lawyer.

The white Rhodesian government was replaced in 1979, and in 1980 a government including Mugabe was elected. Lardner-Burke died in 1984 at St Anne's Hospital, Harare.

Election of 2008 In the run-up to the 2008 Zimbabwean parliamentary election, the Movement for Democratic Change opposition to Mugabe noted that Lardner-Burke's name appeared on the electoral roll for the Mount Pleasant suburb of Harare. They alleged that the presence of names such as Lardner-Burke's on the roll would permit Mugabe's ZANU-PF party to engage in electoral fraud by falsely claiming the support of dead people. Reports noted the irony of Lardner-Burke potentially posthumously assisting Mugabe in securing a further term as President of Zimbabwe.