Jacob Chikuhwa

Dr. Jacob Wilson Chikuhwa is an author and leading political and cultural historian of Zimbabwe. Now retired and living in Sweden, he is the author of thirteen books on Zimbabwe, and is a lecturer and painter. Chikuhwa also operates the Chiedza Business Consultancy, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden which offers seminars in business management.

Early years In 1959, Edgar Whitehead's government of Southern Rhodesia banned the ANC (African National Congress) and arrested nearly 500 leaders including one of young Jacob Chikuhwa's teachers. Shortly thereafter, the National Democratic Party against minority rule was formed and lasted less than two years. When the NDP was banned, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) was formed and Jacob Chikuhwa was a member of the youth league involved in political activities against colonial rule.

In exile Chikuhwa was arrested in 1964 for his involvement in the resistance. In the mid-1970s he became the publicity secretary for ZANU in Northern Europe, establishing a monthly Journal Zimbabwe Chimurenga/Impi yeNkululeko (Zimbabwe Revolution). He returned to Zimbabwe in 1981, following decolonization, but left again in 1989 to return to Sweden. He has since returned to Sweden where he became MDC Representative in Scandinavia and now writes full-time and lectures on Zimbabwe, in the US and Sweden.