Mike Auret
Mike Auret | |
---|---|
Member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for Harare Central | |
In office 2000 – 27 February 2003 | |
Preceded by | Florence Chitauro |
Succeeded by | Murisi Zwizwai |
Personal details | |
Born | 14 December 1936 Southern Rhodesian Army |
Years of service | 1956–1966 |
Rank | Captain |
Michael Theodore Hayes Auret (14 December 1936 – 10 April 2020) was a Zimbabwean farmer, politician, and activist. A devout Catholic, he served as chairman and later director of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJP) from 1978 until 1999. He also served as a member of Parliament for Harare Central from 2000 to 2003, when he resigned and emigrated to Ireland.
Born in Mutare, Southern Rhodesia, and raised in the Mberengwa area, Auret came from a family of farmers. After leaving St. George's College in 1955, he served in the armies of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and Southern Rhodesia for ten years. He took up cattle farming in Mberengwa from 1966 to 1978, after which he joined the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. Soon after, he received a conscription notice from the Rhodesian Security Forces and rather than enlisting, fled with his family to the United Kingdom. He returned to the independent Zimbabwe in 1980 and resumed work with the CCJP. During the 1980s, he led the organizations effort's to document and put and end to the Gukurahundi massacres, perpetrated in Matabeleland by forces directed by Prime Minister Robert Mugabe's government.
Auret left the commission in 1999 and became involved in the political opposition to Mugabe and his ruling ZANU–PF party. In 2000, he was elected to Parliament for the newly formed Movement for Democratic Change. Amid escalating political violence and reportedly due to ill health, he resigned in 2003 and emigrated, first to Cape Town, South Africa, and then to County Offaly, Ireland, where he remained until his death in 2020.
Early life and military service
Michael Theodore Hayes Auret was born on 14 December 1936 in
He initially planned to become a
Career and activism
Rhodesia
After leaving the army in 1966, Auret went on to manage a 27,000-acre cattle farm in Belingwe, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) from
In 1978, Auret abandoned farming and began working for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Rhodesia (CCJP), a human rights organization putting him at odds with the government.[1][2][3][4][5] He was motivated by a desire to expose war atrocities by Rhodesian forces, who had tortured some of his farm workers.[2][3][4][7] Not long after, he received a conscription notice from the Rhodesian Security Forces.[2][5][7] Auret was in Rome with two Rhodesian bishops on a CCJP trip to meet Pope John Paul II, and was advised not to return to Rhodesia.[2][7] His wife and children discreetly packed their things and left the country.[2][6] After reuniting in Rome, the family went to Switzerland and then the United Kingdom, where they were eventually granted refugee status.[2][6][7] There, Auret worked Part-time jobs to support his family.[2] In 1979, while still in exile, he was part of a delegation of Rhodesians to the United States seeking assistance in facilitating the start of peace talks.[2] Later that year, negotiations did occur, resulting in the Lancaster House Agreement, which ended the war and set the stage for Rhodesia's reconstitution as the internationally recognized, independent Zimbabwe.[2]
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace and Gukurahundi
Auret returned to Zimbabwe soon after the
Under Auret's direction, the CCJP to start its own investigations to ensure the violence would be publicly documented.
On 5 June 1986, Auret was detained by police, along with CCJP director Nicholas Ndebele.[10] They were released later that day after Auret's wife, Diana, phoned Prime Minister Mugabe.[10] Mugabe said he had already ordered their release.[10] At a press conference in Harare the next day, Auret thanked the prime minister and said he believed he and Ndebele had been detained because the home affairs minister, Enos Nkala, suspected the CCJP of providing information about human rights in Zimbabwe to Amnesty International, a London-based watchdog organization.[10] Auret added that the CCJP had met with Nkala in December 1985 to deny the allegations, but that he did not think Nkala believed them.[10]
Auret served as chairman of the CCJP until 1990, after which he became the organization's director.[1] In February 1999, President Mugabe made a veiled threat against Auret during a televised address.[11] Auret retired from the CCJP in 1999.[2][5][6]
Opposition politics and election to Parliament
Auret joined the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) when it was established in 1997, and served as its first vice chairman under Morgan Tsvangirai.[6][7][12] He joined the newly formed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999, and successfully stood as the party's candidate in the June 2000 parliamentary election for Harare Central.[2][3][4][5][12] He had been selected in April of that year to stand as the MDC candidate in that constituency over Learnmore Jongwe, the party's secretary for information and publicity, and Paurina Gwanyanya, the secretary for labour.[13] He won overwhelmingly with 14,207 votes, defeating former deputy mayor of Harare, Winston Dzawo of ZANU–PF, who received 3,620 votes, as well as two minor candidates.
In February 2001, Auret was warned by a colleague with connections to ZANU–PF that leaders within the ruling party were planning to "take out" a prominent white MDC member by the end of the month.[14] The MDC had three white parliamentarians at the time, Auret, David Coltart, and Trudy Stevenson.[14] Stevenson excluded herself and said she thought the target would be either Auret or Coltart, who were both frequently singled out for criticism by Mugabe in speeches.[14] Coltart confirmed Stevenson's statements to a US State Department contact. Coltart said he had been received information from three sources, including Clive Puzey, an MDC colleague with a contact in the Central Intelligence Organisation, that he—not Auret—was the target.[14]
Later life and death
Amid escalating political violence and reportedly due to ill health, Auret resigned his seat in Parliament on 27 February 2003.[2][15] He emigrated to Cape Town, South Africa, and then Ireland, where he settled in County Offaly and worked for the Catholic Church.[2][4][5][7][16] He wrote a book, From Liberator to Dictator: An Insider's Account of Robert Mugabe's Descent into Tyranny, published in 2009, in which he described how he misjudged Mugabe's intentions at independence in 1980.[2][5] He stated at an event in London in 2007 that he "didn't take in that [Mugabe] was a committed Marxist and that he wanted a one-party state."[2]
Auret died at his home in
Family and personal life
Auret was married to his wife, Diana, for 63 years.[2][3][5][7][17] Together, they had four children, Peter, Margaret, Stephen, and Michael Jr.[2][3][5][7][17] His brothers and sisters lived in Australia.[17] Auret was a lifelong and devout Catholic.[2][5][7] His inspirations included Pope John Paul II, Pope Francis, and Fr. Patrick Galvin, an Irish priest in South Africa.[3][5]
After leaving his farm in Belingwe, Auret lived in Harare in a house on an acre of land with a swimming pool.[19] He also owned a vacation property near Nyanga.[19] After emigrating to Ireland, he lived in the town of Cloghan, County Offaly, until his death.[16][17]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Who is Who in Zimbabwe. Harare: Roblaw Publishers. 1991. p. 13.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap Thornycroft, Peta (1 April 2020). "Mike Auret (1936–2020): A lifelong campaigner to reveal the truth about Zimbabwe's independence". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Makoni, Munyaradzi (1 April 2020). "Mike Auret, long-time Zimbabwe activist, dies". The Tablet. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Mufuka, Kenneth (1 April 2020). "Obituary: Michael Auret's life was a witness to faith". The Standard. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Human Rights Champion Mike Auret Dies". The Southern Cross. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Tributes paid to 'true Zimbabwean hero' Mike Auret who died in Ireland". ZimLive. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Mike Auret has died". The Zimbabwean. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b Smiley, Xan (1 September 1977). "Caught in the Middle". Time. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c "'The people have spoken' according to Zimbabwe's Mnangagwa". RTÉ. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Catholic Human Rights Leader Is Freed in Zimbabwe". AP. 6 June 1986. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Simmermacher, Gunther (3 December 1999). "Year-end Review 1999". The Southern Cross. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c "MDC Mourns Mike Auret". The Zimbabwean. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Chinowaita, Margaret (1 April 2000). "Auret Tipped For Harare Central". The Standard. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d "ZANU-PF planned to "take out" a white MP". The Insider. 2 June 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Tsiko, Sifelani (2 February 2003). "Legislator Auret Quits Parliament". The Herald. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b Lambe, Fintan (7 August 2012). "Zimbabwean exile tells poignant story in book". Gorey Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "The death has occurred of Michael Auret". RIP.ie. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ Ndlovu, Mandla (1 April 2020). "MDC senior official dies". Bulawayo24 News. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- ^ a b Keller, Bill (3 August 1993). "Zimbabwe Whites Find The Good Life Is in Peril". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 May 2020.