Zimbabwe’s first black interim prime minister Bishop Abel Muzorewa dies in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s first black interim PM Muzorewa dies

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The first black prime minister of an interim white-dominated government before Zimbabwe’s independence, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, died at his Harare home Thursday, his family said. He was 85.

Muzorewa, a Methodist bishop, joined the government of the short-lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia in a deal with Ian Smith, the last white prime minister, in 1978, two years ahead of the first all race elections that swept President Robert Mugabe to power and dropped the name of Rhodesia, as the former British colony was known.

In those polls, Muzorewa’s party won just three of the 80 parliament seats against a landslide victory by Mugabe that ended a seven year guerrilla war. Seen by some as a moderate black leader able to stem Mugabe’s dominance in the fight for independence, Muzorewa opposed the armed conflict. Black militants saw him as a puppet of white politicians.

He served as a lawmaker for four years in the first Zimbabwe parliament.