Tony Gara

Oriah Anthony Gara (17 April 1939 – 14 November 2006) was a Zimbabwean businessman and politician. He was a member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for Mbare East from 1990 to 2000 and served as deputy minister of local government, rural and urban development from 1995 until 2000. Before entering Parliament, he was a member of the Harare City Council and served as mayor of Harare from 1985 to 1986.

Born in Gatooma, Gara worked as an accountant for companies in Southern Rhodesia and Malawi. He returned to Rhodesia in 1975 to become chief executive officer of Negondo Industries, a chemical and cosmetics manufacturing company. Having joined the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in Malawi, he held a series of leadership positions within the party in Rhodesia and later Zimbabwe, eventually serving as the ZANU–PF chairman for Harare Province.

In 1979, Gara was elected to the city council in Salisbury (renamed Harare in 1982), becoming its first black member. He served as deputy mayor from 1984 to 1985, and was then elected mayor, serving for one year. In 1990, he was elected to Parliament and made news for a controversial statement he made comparing President Robert Mugabe to Jesus Christ. He was reelected in 1995 and named deputy minister of local government and national housing in Mugabe's cabinet, but lost reelection in 2000 to the candidate of the newly-formed Movement for Democratic Change. He died of cancer six years later.

Early life and education Gara was born on 17 April 1939 in Gatooma, Southern Rhodesia. He was raised in rural Zvimba District.

Political career Gara joined the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) upon its formation in Malawi. His deputy chairman, Oliver Chidawu, was a fellow former Harare mayor. He later became the city's first black alderman, an honorary title awarded to councillors who have served ten years or more.

In the April 1990 election, Gara was elected to Parliament for the Mbare East constituency. He received 12,522 votes out of 17,880 cast, easily defeating Zimbabwe Unity Movement candidate Biston David, who came in second with 4,420 votes. That year, he made news for a controversial statement he made comparing President Robert Mugabe to Jesus. In his first speech before Parliament, he said, "This country and its people should thank the Almighty for giving us His only other son, by the name of Robert Gabriel Mugabe." Gara's statement was criticized by churches and individuals within Zimbabwe, with letters to local newspapers accusing him of blasphemy and sycophancy. He was very critical of the United States, saying in 1995 "John Major has kept every promise he ever made to Zimbabwe, that's something that Bill Clinton simply cannot say." On 4 January 2002, Gara's name was included on a government list published in The Herald of around 100,000 black Zimbabweans selected to receive land seized from white farmers. Gara was listed as having been allocated a commercial farm seized from a white farmer in Mashonaland West, the country's richest agricultural province. In 2005, he attempted to run for Parliament in the Mbare constituency, but lost the primary election to Tendai Savanhu. He had been suffering from cancer for almost six years, and had recently been in and out of the hospital. spoke at his funeral.