Jacob Chikuhwa

A national of Zimbabwe, JACOB WILSON CHIKUHWA holds degrees in economics and international relations from the Kiev Institute of National Economy in Ukraine, and the University of Stockholm in Sweden. He has worked as an economist and administrator in the public and private sectors for over 35 years and has lectured on economics, finance, management information systems and administration in Zimbabwe, Sweden and the USA. Jacob Wilson Chikuhwa was born on 24th September, 1940 just one year after the outbreak of the Second World War. Being one of twin brothers, he almost became a victim of Shona religious belief. In those days it was considered taboo to give birth to twins. According to tradition, the younger twin was to be got rid of without delay. Jacob survived to go on to study at Hartzell Secondary School, Old Umtali (Mutare) Mission -- an American Methodist institution established in 1898. After obtaining his Cambridge School Certificate, he briefly worked as a school teacher in 1963 and as a postmaster trainee in Salisbury (Harare) in 1964. In August 1964, as a youth activist for a democratic Zimbabwe, Chikuhwa was arrested by the white minority Rhodesian Front regime. He was released from detention in 1965 and in 1966 he escaped into Zambia where he was able to secure an Afro-Asian scholarship to study economics in the former Soviet Union. He graduated with an MSc (Economics) degree from the Kiev Institute of National Economy. Upon completion of his studies in 1972, Jacob Chikuhwa moved to Sweden. He enrolled at the University of Stockholm where he studied Economic Integration and International Relations. After completing his studies in 1975, Chikuhwa was appointed ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) publicity secretary in Scandinavia, West Germany and Austria. He was editor of ZANU's monthly journal in Scandinavia -- Zimbabwe Chimurenga, Impi yeNkululeko (Zimbabwe Revolution). To supplement his party allowance, he got a job as an economist in the Swedish Postverkets Industrier in 1976. Chikuhwa was able to return to Zimbabwe at independence in 1980. He worked in both the public and private sectors as a personnel and finance director until 1988. In 1989, he lectured in the Bachelor of Technology Programme at the Harare Polytechnic and at the end of that year, he went into voluntary exile in Sweden where he ended his career as a Bureau Director in the Swedish Postal Service Internal Audit in 1999. Because of his close contact with Zimbabwean liberation-movement nationalists dating back to his imprisonment and time in exile, Chikuhwa published his first book on Zimbabwe titled Zimbabwe: the Rise to Nationhood in 1998. In September 1999, Jacob Chikuhwa returned to Zimbabwe as a consultant in collaboration with the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM). In April 2002, he once again went back to Sweden. He had a nine-month stint in the USA between 2005 and 2006 promoting his new book -- A Crisis of Governance: Zimbabwe. Jacob has turned to writing full-time. His works include Zimbabwe at the Crossroads, Zimbabwe: Beyond a School Certificate, Shona Proverbs and Parables; In Communication with the Deceased; A Cheer for Sanity; A Handbook in Business Management. He is currently working on an HIV/AIDS-awareness film script entitled Venturing into the Unknown/Kumaziwandadzoka and another title called Sonnets of the Mind. Jacob Chikuhwa is married with two children; is a grandfather and lives in Stockholm with his wife.