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His Excellency Samhuri Ngonidzashe
Samhuri Ngonidzashe in 1952
President of Rwizikuru
In office 2 July, 1946 – 2 July, 1954
Vice President	Shungudzemwoyo Nhema (1946-1950) Vudzijena Nhema (1950-1954)
Preceded by	Shungudzemwoyo Nhema as Premier of Riziland
Succeeded by	Izibongo Ngonidzashe
Personal details
Born	Daniel Samhuri Ngonidzashe c. 1899 Vongai, Riziland
Died	2 July, 1961 (age 61-62) Port Fitzhubert, Rwizikuru
Nationality	Estmerish (1899-1946) Rwizikuran (1946-1961)
Political party	Rwizikuran National Movement (1927-1946) Mubatanidzwa weRusununguko rweRwizikuru (1946-1959)
Spouse	Kugarakunzwana Ngonidzashe
Children	9, including Izibongo Ngonidzashe
Military service
Allegiance	File:Rwizicolonialflaga.png Riziland
Branch/service	Colonial Militia
Years of service	1926-1936
Rank	Warrant officer

Samhuri Ngonidzashe (c. 1899 - 2 July, 1961) was an anti-colonial activist who organized the Rwizikuran National Movement, which helped end Estmerish rule over Rwizikuru. Following its independence in 1946, he was sworn as the first President of Rwizikuru, as per the constitution of Rwizikuru.

(TBC)

Early life

Samhuri Ngonidzashe was born sometime in 1899 in Vongai to Mutupo Ngonidzashe, and Chivaraidzo Ngonidzashe, as the seventh child, and the second son.

In 1904, he entered the mission school in Vongai, where he was baptized as a High Estmerian, and took the name of Daniel. At the mission school, he was described as having "excellent potential" to be a High Estmerian minister, due to his "quick absorption and application" of the concepts he learned in school. He was seen as being incredibly learned by his teachers.

While Samhuri Ngonidzashe wanted to continue his studies after he finished compulsory education in 1912, his family's poverty prevented him from continuing his studies. Thus, he was forced to work at his family's farm.

His fortunes started to change when in 1916, he made his first trip to Port Fitzhubert to find work. There, he found a job as a servant with a white family, and met Shungudzemwoyo Ngonidzashe there. At his job, he admitted that:

"While the Fulkers [the family Samhuri and Shungudzemwoyo worked for] paid well, and the work itself was not stressful, the attitudes of the family towards us were counter to the values I had held so dearly: they saw us as lower than them because of our skin, while I believed that we are brothers in Sotiras."

In 1918, after receiving news that he was to marry Kugarakunzwana Mbangwa, he quit his job and returned to Vongai, where he married her. With his savings, he was able to find a "better life" in Vongai than that of his parents, with him getting a job as a lay preacher at his old mission school.

However, in 1923, realizing that Gamuchirai would be entering school the following year, he realized that if he stayed in Vongai, his children would not receive an opportunity to better themselves. Thus, he and his wife moved back to Port Fitzhubert, and their home was sold to some white settlers.

With the proceeds of the sale of their home in Vongai, they were able to buy a "well-off" home close to the Euclean core of town, and had enough left over to get Gamuchirai and Izibongo to attend the Charles Fitzhubert School, as well as find a new job as a lay preacher at a nearby church. He soon made contact again with Shungudzemwoyo Nhema, where he discovered that the Fulker's fired him in 1922 after having spoken up against the Fulker's increasing mistreatment of their Bahian servants.

He noted that the conversation with Nhema:

"...caused my blood to boil in pure and unbridled anger. As we recounted our experiences of racism in our adulthood in Port Fitzhubert, compared to the values that we were taught [in school], I realized that there is something wrong, something unnatural with Estmerish rule over this land. I couldn't quite place what, but I knew it had to be there."

Over the next few years, many at his church talked to him about the racism that they have faced by colonial officials and by Eucleans who have come to Riziland, and combined with his experiences in dealing with racism directed at him, he began to feel that Estmerish rule was inherently unjust.

Military service

By the time the Great War begun in earnest in June 1926, despite his beliefs that Estmerish rule over Riziland was unjust, he enlisted in the colonial militia, saying that "it is better for us natives to deal with the devil we know as opposed to gamble with the devil we don't know."

After training, he was deployed in October to Port Graham, where he would live for the next five years. In Port Graham, he was assigned to defend the city from Gaullican attack by both sea and land, as Port Graham was the end of the rail line to Port Fitzhubert. While Port Graham was subject to several bombardments by the Gaullicans during his time in Port Graham, from both sea and air, he never faced a serious attempt by the Gaullicans or their colonial troops in Quigomba to attack Port Graham. By 1928, he had risen to the rank of Sergeant, and by 1930, to that of warrant officer.

By 1931, he had been redeployed from Port Graham to Rusere, where he noted that the conditions there were significantly harsher than in Port Graham. In 1933, he fell seriously ill with malaria, and nearly died from it. However, "divine providence," combined with treatment in Port Fitzhubert helped him recover from the illness, and he returned to service in 1934, although he was reassigned to Port Fitzhubert as a sentry to guard an armoury.

After the end of the Great War in February 1935, he maintained his position as sentry, while the military downsized, with the threat from Gaullica having passed. In March 1936, he was given a honourable discharge, allowing him to leave the colonial militia.

Early political career

With the end of the war, he and Shungudzemwoyo Nhema decided to establish the Rwizikuran National Movement in 1937. They believed that with the end of the Great War, the war had, according to him:

"...thoroughly destroyed the notion that Euclean imperialism can be maintained by the defeat and destruction of the Entente forces. For the victors to continue to maintain their imperial rule over the colonies in Bahia are thoroughly unacceptable, and are a direct insult to all the Bahians who died in the war."

Thus, on 1 May, 1937, the two held a conference in Port Fitzhubert to establish the Rwizikuran National Movement, with sixty people attending, most of whom were those who served alongside Ngonidzashe during the Great War.

Over the next few months, he and Nhema travelled across Rwizikuru to encourage people to join. He notably paid a visit to the recently annexed city of Saint-Germain in August, where he was met with a positive reception by many of the Bahian community, especially by the local veRwizi.

By the start of 1938, the Rwizikuran National Movement had around ten thousand members. At around this time, the colonial authorities began to be concerned about Samhuri Ngonidzashe's and Shungudzemwoyo Nhema's activities, as the authorities deemed them to be a threat to the stability of the colony of Riziland.

After a speech in March 1939 in Crogan, a police officer arrested Samhuri Ngonidzashe for sedition after making a speech condemning colonial rule. The arrest garnered outcry by many Bahians, and in his trial in January 1940, when he was tried in an all-white jury. There, Samhuri Ngondizashe hired prominent lawyer Barnabas Figgins to give the defense. Figgins said that:

"The accusations of sedition against my client is patently untrue. In his speech in Crogan, he never expressed any statements urging the Bahian population to promote any ill-will between the Bahian population and the colonial government. What he was saying was that the colonial government should be more representative of the Bahian population, and prepare the Bahians for independence at some point in the future."</blockqoute>

The prosecution responded with claims that Samhuri Ngonidzashe's speeches since the establishment of the Rwizikuran National Movement were advocating an end to colonial rule "by any means possible," and therefore, it has demonstrated a clear pattern of sedition.

After a few weeks of deliberation, an all-white jury convicted Samhuri Ngonidzashe of sedition, and the judge sentenced him to life in prison, with parole after twenty-five years.

The verdict garnered outrage by many veRwizi, and Samhuri Ngonidzashe launched an appeal against the verdict, citing flagrant biases by the all-white jury, and the fact the prosecution's case was more focused on his general pattern as opposed to the specific speech at Crogan, which he was arrested for. Thus, in October 1940, the Court of Appeal heard the case, and ordered a retrial.

In March 1941, the retrial was held, and after rehashing the defense and the arguments of the prosecution, a jury comprised of six Bahians and six Eucleans agreed to acquit Samhuri Ngonidzashe.

Rise to power

Negotiations in Ashcombe, 1945

At around this time, Riziland was granted limited self-government by Estmere, in an effort to heed off independence. This included the establishment of a sixteen member legislative council, with eight legislators being elected from the Eucleans, and eight from the Bahian community.

This greatly outraged Samhuri Ngonidzashe, who wrote to Shungudzemwoyo Nhema, saying:

"In an attempt to maintain their illegitimate colonial rule over Rwizikuru, the varungu have decided to create a legislature in which we ostensibly have a say, but in practice do not, for the vote of a murungu is worth the votes of two-hundred-fourty-one Bahians."

To his surprise, Nhema felt that it was essential for the Rwizikuran National Movement to compete in the upcoming legislative elections.

This shocked Ngonidzashe, who said that "it is pointless for blacks to participate in these farce elections when the real power will remain in the hands of the whites."

Ultimately, they decided that while the RNM can run candidates, as per Nhema's wishes, Ngonidzashe would try and convince the Bahian population to not vote in the elections. Thus, over the next few months, while Nhema campaigned for the RNM candidates, Ngonidzashe sought to convince the Bahians to stay home and not vote.

Thus, in September 1941, the turnout for the elections was at 30%, as while 80% of the white community voted, only 30% of the black community voted. The Rwizikuran National Movement also did not do well, only gaining two seats, compared to the Movement for the Advancement of Bahians in Riziland, led by Mazomba Tungamirai, who gained three of the eight Bahian seats.

Thus, it seemed to Samhuri Ngonidzashe proof that "the system had been rigged to hamper the ambitions of the black community." However, with the white roll split between the Gaullophone Alliance paysanne and the Anglophone Conservative Front, Samhuri and Nhema felt that it might be possible for the Rwizikuran National Movement to influence politics.

In 1942, Nhema was able to influence the government to amend the bill to grant official language status to veRwizi, alongside Estmerish and Gaullican, after threatening to end an agreement which allowed the Rwizikuran National Movement to support the AP. With this success, combined with many others over the next few years, Samhuri Ngonidzashe began to be convinced that it may be possible for the black community to use the legislature to advance independence.

By 1945, with the legislative council dissolved for another election, Ngonidzashe and Nhema decided to campaign together for the Rwizikuran National Movement, and to encourage the Bahian population to register and vote for the Rwizikuran National Movement, on a platform of independence. Thus, in August, the Rwizikuran National Movement succeeded in taking all eight of the Bahian seats, while the Conservative Front and Alliance paysanne each had four of the white seats.

Thus, there was substantial tension as the Conservative Front and the Alliance paysanne tried to negotiate a coalition between the two parties, in order to prevent Nhema from becoming Premier. However, numerous issues forced AP leader and outgoing Premier Jean-Louis Milhaud to abandon the negotiations by 15 October, and instead negotiate an agreement with the Rwizikuran National Movement, where they came to an agreement on supporting the RNM on any confidence vote, and any agreement with Estmere.

This enabled Nhema to become Premier on 23 October, 1945, and thus allowed negotiations to begin with the Estmerish authorities. At this point, the Estmerish government was tied down in the Solarian War against Solaria. Thus, according to Samhuri Ngondizashe:

"It would be incredibly easy at this point to demand immediate independence: if they are unwilling to grant us immediate independence, then we should begin to fight for independence. Such a strategy would force Estmere to decide whether they wish to continue their unjust rule over Rwizikuru, or to continue fighting against Etruria."

To their surprise, the negotiations were quick, as Estmere was more than willing to grant independence to Riziland, although they agreed to have the independence date be on 2 December, 1946. While Samhuri Ngonidzashe was privately disappointed by the turn of events, he was also delighted that the Estmerish have realized that colonial rule was no longer tenable.

Thus, over the next several months, preparations were made for an independent Rwizikuru: a constitution was drafted, national symbols adopted, and finally, holding elections in September, where Samhuri Ngonidzashe was to run for the newly-established post of President, with Shungudzemwoyo Nhema being nominated as his running mate for the vice-presidency.

Presidency

First term

(TBC)

Personal life

Samhuri Ngonidzashe married the 18-year old Kugarakunzwana Ngonidzashe in 1918 in a marriage arranged by their parents. According to Samhuri, their marriage was "fruitful and happy," with the marriage lasting until his death in 1961. Kugarakunzwana Ngonidzashe died in 2014 at the age of 113, and never remarried: at the time of her death, she was the oldest person living in Rwizikuru.

Together, they had four sons: Izibongo Ngonidzashe, who was born in 1921 and died in 1979, Ingwe Ngonidzashe, who was born in 1925 and is still living, Fred Ngonidzashe, who was born in 1928, and was executed in 1981 for an attempted coup against the monarchy, and Shungudzemwoyo Ngonidzashe, who was born in 1932.

They also had five daughters: Gamuchirai Mumbengegwi, who was born in 1919, and died in 2015 at the age of 91, Tariro Ngonidzashe, who was born in 1923, and died in 1927 from smallpox, Vimbainashe Ngonidzashe, who was born in 1926, and died in 2016 at the age of 89, and twin sisters Tinotendaisheanesu Chimusasa and Yemurai Kyagumbo, who were born in 1931.

Samhuri Ngonidzashe was a devout High Estmerian, with his noted propensity for plain dress, fasting on Sundays, and was a teetotaler, refusing to drink any alcohol, and his strict adherence to the High Estmerian concept of outward holiness. He was also noted to be a lay preacher, often preaching at churches, even during his tenure as President.