Raj Modi

Rajeshkumar Indukant Modi (born 4 February 1959) is a Zimbabwean businessman and politician who is the member of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe for Bulawayo South and Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce. He previously served as the MP for the constituency and as deputy minister from 2018 until 2023. He is a member of ZANU–PF.

Originally from Gujarat, India, he graduated from South Gujarat University and briefly worked for an electricity board. Modi found work at a department store in Zimbabwe and eventually opened a tuck shop. In 1999, he opened his first supermarket, eventually owning as many as twelve before selling them in 2013. He currently runs a liquor wholesale business, several manufacturing facilities, and other businesses.

Modi joined ZANU–PF in the early 2000s, and went on to hold leadership roles at the district, ward, and provincial level. He was seen as an ally of Emmerson Mnangagwa amid the factional infighting within the party leading up to the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. His election to parliament in 2018 made him the only successful ZANU–PF candidate in Bulawayo, traditionally an opposition Movement for Democratic Change stronghold. After the election, he was named to President Mnangagwa's cabinet as deputy industry and commerce minister. His appointment made him the first person of Indian origin MP in Zimbabwe and the only person of Indian origin government minister in Africa outside South Africa. Modi was defeated as a Member of Parliament by Nicola Watson of the Citizens Coalition for Change at the 2023 general election and was not reappointed to cabinet. After Watson was recalled from the National Assembly, he stood in the subsequent by-election in December 2023 and won back the seat.

Early life and education Rajeshkumar Indukant Modi was born on 4 February 1959 in Rajpipla, Gujarat, in western India. He came from a middle-class Gujarati family that sometimes struggled financially. He attended M. R. Vidyalay Primary School, followed by A. V. Patel High School in Ahmedabad. They went to Zimbabwe in September of the same year to visit his wife's adopted country. The loan for his plane tickets, which cost $300 and were funded by an Indian religious organization in Bulawayo, needed to be refunded, so he found work and made payments of $20 each month. He has since opened a number of new supermarkets in Zimbabwe, and owns three others in Australia. His company Pintail Trading, manufactures its own alcoholic beverages, including whisky, and is also a PepsiCo product distributor. In 2018, he donated $40,000 to renovate the squalid Sidojiwe hostel complex in Bulawayo. In the general election, held on 30 July 2018, Modi won with 40 percent of the vote in a field of sixteen candidates. He was the only successful ZANU–PF candidate in Bulawayo, whose other eleven constituencies were won by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance. He was the party's first winning candidate since 2000 in a Bulawayo parliamentary election not boycotted by the MDC. Mangwendeza and Muchemwa polled 4,155 and 2,249 votes, respectively, while Modi received 5,752. Modi attributed his victory to his local reputation for philanthropy. Mangwendeza sought a court order nullifying the results and declaring the seat vacant, but a Bulawayo High Court judge upheld Modi's victory in a May 2019 ruling. becoming the first Indian MP in Zimbabwe's history. Besides South Africa's Pravin Gordhan, this made him the only government minister of Indian origin in any African country.

In October 2018, Modi was criticized for continuing to sell goods in US dollars rather than Zimbabwean bond notes at his businesses, which was against government policy. He defended this decision as being necessary for the business to remain open, adding, "I am not the only one who is charging in US dollars; everybody is doing that." In particular, he pitched opportunities in the sectors of mining, energy, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and tourism, among others. He was not reappointed to Mnangagwa's cabinet. He was not reappointed to cabinet by Mnangagwa. Watson was recalled as the MP for Bulawayo South in October 2023 by Sengezo Tshabangu, who claimed that he was the interim secretary-general of the Citizens Coalition for Change. A by-election was subsequently held on 9 December 2023, which Modi won as the ZANU–PF candidate.

Personal life Modi lives in a townhouse in the Hume Park suburb of Bulawayo. His father died in 1985 and his mother in 1988, but he still has brothers and sisters in India. He visits them regularly and they also visit him in Zimbabwe. He speaks English, Gujarati, Hindi, and a basic level of Ndebele.

Modi prefers wearing casual clothing over suits, and eats in his company's cafeteria. He typically works seven days a week, waking at 7 in the morning and going to sleep at ten at night. When he is not working, he spends time with his wife, children, and grandchildren, and occasionally plays golf and cricket. He is a fan of the Highlanders, a Bulawayo football club. He likes Indian food and enjoys whisky, especially Jameson.