Former Zimbabwe Minister and founding president of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn political party Simba Makoni was born

On this day in 1950, Zimbabwean politician Simbarashe Herbert Stanley Makoni was born. Makoni was born in Mutare and grew up in Rusape. He started his university studies at University of Rhodesia but was expelled after 2 years and he then moved to University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. Simba Makoni served various posts in the Zimbabwean government which include Deputy Minister of Agriculture at Zimbabwe Independence in 1980, Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Minister of Industry and Energy Development in 1981 and later Minister of Finance in 2000. He was later replaced by Herbet Murerwa after supporting devaluing the Zimbabwean dollar, something which Mugabe (then President of Zimbabwe) did not like. He remained a ZANU-PF member until he announced in 2008 that he was going to be a presidential candidate in the 2008 presidential elections.