Eddison Zvobgo
Edson Jonasi Zvobgo (1935 -22nd Aug 2004) was a founder of Zimbabwe's ruling party Zanu-PF during the struggle years, was a member of the black delegation to the Lancaster House in late 1979, a Harvard-trained lawyer, and a poet.
Born in southern Zimbabwe in 1935, Zvobgo won a scholarship to Tufts University in Massachusetts aged 25.
In 1964 he was arrested and detained for political activism against white rule in Rhodesia, along with Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo.
Freed in 1971, he spent a period in exile in Canada. He then studied law at Harvard and then taught criminal law as an associate professor at Lewis University College in Illinois.
Zvobgo played a key role in international negotiations at Lancaster House that ended the bitter bush war and led to British-sponsored all race elections ahead of independence in 1980.
Initially a staunch supporter of Zanu-PF policies, in later years he started criticizing Robert Mugabe's autocratic rule.
Zvobgo opposed sweeping media and security laws passed in 2002 that led to the closure of Zimbabwe's only privately owned daily newspaper and the arrests of at least 31 independent journalists.
He became the subject of an internal party disciplinary inquiry in 2003 after describing the laws as a weapon to stifle opposition to the government, but allegations of disloyalty were eventually dropped.
Zvobgo had also been accused of holding private talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change as the ruling party abandoned formal dialogue between the two parties.