Peter Mackay

Peter Mackay (31 July 1926 – 17 April 2013) was a British journalist and political activist in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania.

Early life Peter John Sutherland Mackay was born in London on the 31st of July 1926, He had one sister, Jean and one brother Angus. Mackay's grandfather was the Reverend George Sutherland Mackay, who served for thirty years as minister of the United Free Church in Doune, near Stirling.

Mackay was educated at Temple House, Stowe School, Buckingham-shire from 1940 to 1944, and while there he was there he was Prefect of the library before becoming a head boy in his final year. He later became a reporter on The Rhodesian Farmer, which was based in Salisbury (Harare). this is the same year that Mackay met David Stirling, the founder of the SAS and the multi-racial Capricorn Africa Society,

In 1956 Mackay organised the Salima conference in Nyasaland alongside T. J. Hlazo, Mackay applied for a meeting with Dr. Banda, who was a political prisoner after Operation Sunrise, to discuss the magazine; however, his access to Banda was denied. and was printed in Salisbury There were 1,200 copies printed of the first issue, and this sold out on the first day they were available to buy. Mackay also became a strong supporter of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe (FROLIZI), a liberation movement which was run by James Chikerema and George Nyandoro. and James Chikerema. After working for nearly 20 years under George Nyandoro and James Chikerema, Mackay felt unwanted when Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980.

Later life Mackay moved to Omay in the Zambezi Valley, Omay was one of the most malaria-infested parts of the country in late 1980s. Mackay had been told that the people were so hungry there that they had resorted to eating grass and so Mackay went to Omay and helped set up primary schools, agricultural centres and clinics for the Batonga people. He contacted Save the Children and the Cambridge Female Education Trust (CAMFED) to help in the area, CAMFED started their support for secondary schools for African girls in Omay. When Mackay turned 70 and was going to retire, he did not want to burden the people of Omay, even though they wished for him to stay with them on land they wanted to gift him. Instead, he moved to a cottage on the grounds of a castle on Chiremba road, Harare, which was owned by his old friend Stanlake Samkange.

Mackay then moved into a small bungalow that he had bought himself in Marondera. In February 2007 thieves broke into Mackay's house, they stole money from his wallet and nearly beat him to death, this incident left him bed-bound for two years. Mackay died in the same house in Eagle Way, Marondera on the 17th of April 2013, after a long illness.