Originally from Gujarat,India,he graduated from South Gujarat University and briefly worked for an electricity board. Modi found work at a department store in Zimbabwe and eventually opened a tuck shop. In 1999,he opened his first supermarket,eventually owning as many as twelve before selling them in 2013. He currently runs a liquorwholesale business,several manufacturing facilities,and other businesses.
Modi joined ZANU–PF in the early 2000s,and went on to hold leadership roles at the district,ward,and provincial level. He was seen as an ally of Emmerson Mnangagwa amid the factional infighting within the party leading up to the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. His election to parliament in 2018 made him the only successful ZANU–PF candidate in Bulawayo,traditionally an opposition Movement for Democratic Change stronghold. After the election,he was named to President Mnangagwa's cabinet as deputy industry and commerce minister. His appointment made him the first person of Indian origin MP in Zimbabwe and the only person of Indian origin government minister in Africa outside South Africa. Modi was defeated as a Member of Parliament by Nicola Watson of the Citizens Coalition for Change at the 2023 general election and was not reappointed to cabinet. After Watson was recalled from the National Assembly,he stood in the subsequent by-election in December 2023 and won back the seat.
Early life and education
Rajeshkumar Indukant Modi was born on 4 February 1959 in Rajpipla,Gujarat,in western India.[1][2][3][4] He came from a middle-class family that sometimes struggled financially.[5] He attended M. R. Vidyalay Primary School,followed by A. V. Patel High School in Ahmedabad.[3] During his school years,he played basketball and field hockey.[5] He went on to study at South Gujarat University,graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1981.[3][5][2] In 1979,while still a university student,he started working as a cashier for the Gujarat Electricity Board,a job he held for two years.[1][2][5]
Business career
In March 1981,shortly after graduating,Modi married Parul Kothari,who was born in India and moved to Southern Rhodesia as a teenager in 1975.[1][5][6] They went to Zimbabwe in September of the same year to visit his wife's adopted country.[5] It was supposed to be a short visit—he arrived with only $50,two pairs of clothes,and a return ticket—but when his father-in-law died unexpectedly,the couple ended up staying to support Parul's mother.[1][2][5][7] The loan for his plane tickets,which cost $300 and were funded by an Indian religious organization in Bulawayo,needed to be refunded,so he found work and made payments of $20 each month.[5][7] His first job in Zimbabwe was at a department store in Bulawayo,where he was tasked with sweeping,mopping,cleaning windows and toilets,and delivering goods to customers' homes.[1][2][5][7] Modi described his first six months in Zimbabwe as difficult.[5] There were many cultural differences,and all his friends and family—except his wife and mother-in-law—were in India.[5] However,he soon adjusted and became comfortable living in Zimbabwe,and eventually acquired citizenship in 1987.[5]
After eight months at the department store,Modi began working at a supermarket,where he would remain for eight years.[2][5][7] He would walk to and from work to save up money.[2][5] After six years,he pooled funds with his wife and mother-in-law and opened his own shop,Bellevue Superette.[2][5][7] Modi continued working at the supermarket to support the household,while his wife ran the shop and worked a second job to meet the costs of growing the business.[2][5][7] Two years later,he quit his job at the supermarket to run the shop so Parul could stay home and care for her mother,who had cancer.[5][7] The Superette,which began as a tuck shop with a staff of two,grew under his direction,and in 1999,he established his first supermarket,the Bellevue Spar.[2] He eventually opened twelve supermarkets in total,before selling his company,Sai Enterprises,to Choppies,a Botswana-based multinational grocery retailer,in 2013.[8] He has since opened a number of new supermarkets in Zimbabwe,and owns three others in Australia.[1][2]
After selling his supermarkets,Modi opened a liquorwholesale business,Liquor Hub,which he continues to run.[1][2][7][9] His company Pintail Trading,manufactures its own alcoholic beverages,including whisky,and is also a PepsiCo product distributor.[5][7] His recent projects in 2018 included manufacturing facilities that produce alcoholic beverages,bottled water,and exercise books.[4] In 2020,his business ventures in development included a solar energy equipment factory,a smartphone and laptop assembly plant,and a shopping complex in Bulawayo's Cowdray Park suburb,which together would employ around 1,000 people.[4][5][6][7]
In addition to his businesses,Modi runs the Modi Family Trust,which provides capital to small startup businesses.[6][10] In 2018,he donated $40,000 to renovate the squalid Sidojiwe hostel complex in Bulawayo.[11][12] He has served as chief executive officer of the Bulawayo and Matabeleland sports and recreation commissions,as a member of the Bulawayo Publicity Association finance committee,and as general manager for Bulawayo of the Zimbabwe Youth Games.[4][5] He funds most of the Bulawayo teams that participate in the youth games and the Paralympic Games.[5] Modi has won dozens of awards for his business and philanthropic activities.[4]
Political career
Modi was the only successful ZANU–PF parliamentary candidate in Bulawayo (bottom left,in green) in the 2018 Zimbabwean general election.
Modi joined the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union –Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) party in 2002 or 2003.[2] In 2014,he was elected secretary for indigenisation for the party's Bulawayo city district executive.[2] He was elected ward secretary for production and labour in 2018,and later rose to become ZANU–PF provincial secretary of finance for Bulawayo.[2][3] Amid the factionalism within ZANU–PF that led to the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état,Modi was seen as an ally of Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa.[2]
In May 2018,Modi won the primary to represent ZANU–PF in the 2018 parliamentary election in the Bulawayo South constituency,defeating six other candidates.[6][13][14] In the general election,held on 30 July 2018,Modi won with 40 percent of the vote in a field of sixteen candidates.[15] He was the only successful ZANU–PF candidate in Bulawayo,whose other eleven constituencies were won by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance.[6][10][13][16] He was the party's first winning candidate since 2000 in a Bulawayo parliamentary election not boycotted by the MDC.[6][7][13] His victory was helped by the fact that two candidates,Muvirimi Francis Mangwendeza and Kunashe Muchemwa,ran on the MDC Alliance ticket,splitting the opposition vote.[14][17] Mangwendeza and Muchemwa polled 4,155 and 2,249 votes,respectively,while Modi received 5,752.[13][18] Modi attributed his victory to his local reputation for philanthropy.[1]
After the election,the second place candidate,Mangwendeza,challenged the results,alleging that his name was absent from some of the ballots,and that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission had published a statement incorrectly listing his name among candidates who had withdrawn from the race.[19][20] Mangwendeza sought a court order nullifying the results and declaring the seat vacant,but a Bulawayo High Court judge upheld Modi's victory in a May 2019 ruling.[20]
Modi was sworn in to Parliament on 5 September 2018,[21] becoming the first Indian MP in Zimbabwe's history.[1] On 7 September 2018,President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed Modi deputy minister of industry and commerce in his new cabinet.[1][10][22] Besides South Africa's Pravin Gordhan,this made him the only government minister of Indian origin in any African country.[1] Modi announced that he would donate his government salary—for a deputy minister,around $3,000 a month—to Bulawayo charities.[2][10][16] After being named deputy minister,Modi requested that he be allowed to work from Bulawayo instead of the capital,Harare.[7]Mangaliso Ndlovu,under whom Modi initially served,[22] was succeeded as industry and commerce minister by Sekai Nzenza in November 2019.[23]
In October 2018,Modi was criticized for continuing to sell goods in US dollars rather than Zimbabwean bond notes at his businesses,which was against government policy.[9][24] He defended this decision as being necessary for the business to remain open,adding,"I am not the only one who is charging in US dollars;everybody is doing that."[24] He was also accused of illegally trading in foreign currency on the parallel market,a charge he strongly denied.[24] In reference to Modi's position as deputy minister,the United Kingdom-based academic Alex Magaisatweeted,"How do you enforce a government policy when you are breaching it?"[24]
From December 2019 to January 2020,Modi visited India on a month-long trip to attract Gujarati investors to Zimbabwe.[1][25] In particular,he pitched opportunities in the sectors of mining,energy,agriculture,pharmaceuticals,and tourism,among others.[1][25] He returned with proposals from several potential investors,and a business delegation planning to visit the following month.[1][25] While there,he also met with Vijay Rupani,the Chief Minister of Gujarat,and invited him to visit Zimbabwe with a business delegation.[25] Rupani expressed interest in projects related to energy production,and arranged for a group from the Indian Ministry of Education to visit Zimbabwe in February 2020.[25]
Modi lives in a townhouse in the Hume Park suburb of Bulawayo.[3][5] With his wife Parul,he has three children and three grandchildren.[4][12] His father died in 1985 and his mother in 1988,but he still has brothers and sisters in India.[5] He visits them regularly and they also visit him in Zimbabwe.[2][5] He speaks English,Gujarati,Hindi,and a basic level of Ndebele.[4]
Modi prefers wearing casual clothing over suits,and eats in his company's cafeteria.[5] He typically works seven days a week,waking at 7 in the morning and going to sleep at ten at night.[5] When he is not working,he spends time with his wife,children,and grandchildren,and occasionally plays golf and cricket.[2][5] He is a fan of the Highlanders,a Bulawayo football club.[5] He likes Indian food and enjoys whisky,especially Jameson.[5]
The politics of Zimbabwe occurs in a society deeply divided along lines of race,ethnicity,gender and geography. The ZANU–PF party has historically been dominant in Zimbabwe politics. The party,which was led by Robert Mugabe from 1980 to 2017,has used the powers of the state to intimidate,imprison and otherwise hobble political opposition in Zimbabwe,as well as use state funds and state media to advance the interests of the party.
The Zimbabwe African National Union –Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) is a political organisation which has been the ruling party of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was led for many years by Robert Mugabe,first as prime minister with the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and then as president from 1987 after the merger with the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and retaining the name ZANU–PF,until 2017,when he was removed as leader.
The Zimbabwe government consists of an elected head of state,the president,and a legislature. The presidential term lasts for 5 years,and is elected by majority,with a second round if no candidate receives a majority in the first round. The Parliament is bicameral,consisting of the House of Assembly and Senate. Following the 2013 constitution,the House of Assembly has 270 members. 210 are elected for five-year terms by single-member constituencies. Furthermore,the constitution specifies that for the two first parliaments,there are 60 additional seats reserved for women,6 seats per province,which are filled based on the votes for in the single-member constituencies,using party-list proportional representation,distributed using the largest remainder method and the hare quota. The Senate has 80 members:60 are elected for five-year terms in 6-member constituencies representing one of the 10 provinces,elected based on the votes in the lower house election,using party-list proportional representation,distributed using the hare quota. Additionally the senate consists of 2 seats for each non-metropolitan district of Zimbabwe elected by each provincial assembly of chiefs using SNTV,1 seat each for the president and deputy president of the National Council of Chiefs and 1 male and 1 female seat for people with disabilities elected on separate ballots using FPTP by an electoral college designated by the National Disability Board.
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is a Zimbabwean politician who is serving as President of Zimbabwe since 24 November 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former President Robert Mugabe,he held a series of cabinet portfolios and was Mugabe's Vice-President until November 2017,when he was dismissed before coming to power in a coup d'état. He secured his first full term as president in the disputed 2018 general election. Mnangagwa was re-elected in the August 2023 general election with 52.6% of the vote.
Nelson Chamisa is a Zimbabwean politician and the former President of the Citizens Coalition For Change. He served as Member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for Kuwadzana East,Harare. Chamisa was the MDC Alliance's candidate for president in the 2018 general election,having previously been the leader of the party's youth assembly. He was the Presidential candidate for the Citizens Coalition for Change in the 2023 Zimbabwean Presidential election. He has served as the former chairperson of national youth for the same party as well as the Secretary for Information and Publicity for the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In 2003,at the age of 25,Chamisa became the youngest Member of Parliament. Chamisa was also the youngest cabinet minister in Government of National Unity of Zimbabwe in 2009.
Sydney Tigere Sekeramayi is a Zimbabwean politician who served in the government of Zimbabwe as Minister of Defence between 2013 and 2017. He has been a minister in the Cabinet since independence in 1980,serving as Minister of Defence from 2001 to 2009 and Minister of State Security from 2009 to 2013.
Patrick Antony Chinamasa is a Zimbabwean politician who served in the government of Zimbabwe as the minister of various cabinet ministries. Previously he served as the Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion and the Minister of Justice,Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Bulawayo South is a constituency represented in the National Assembly of the Parliament of Zimbabwe,located in Bulawayo. Its current MP since a 2023 by-election is Raj Modi of ZANU–PF. Notable former MPs for the constituency include Eddie Cross and David Coltart.
Obert Moses Mpofu is a Zimbabwean politician,who served as Minister of Home Affairs from 2017 to September 2018. Previously he was Minister of Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion;Minister of Industry and International Trade;Minister of Mines and Mining Development;and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development. The Cabinet of Zimbabwe was later dissolved on 27 November 2017. He was reappointed as Minister of Home Affairs in Mnangagwa's first cabinet on 30 November 2017. The Culture portfolio was added to his ministry. Mpofu was later removed from the Zimbabwe cabinet in September 2018.
Kembo Dugish Campbell Muleya Mohadi is a Zimbabwean politician and Vice-President of Zimbabwe since 8 September 2023. He previously served in the same role from 28 December 2017 to 1 March 2021,when he resigned. He briefly served as the Minister of Defence,Security and War Veterans in 2017. Previously he was Minister of State for National Security in the President's Office from 2015 to 2017 and Minister of Home Affairs from 2002 to 2015.
Ignatius Morgen Chiminya Chombo is a Zimbabwean politician who was Finance Minister of Zimbabwe in 2017. Previously he has served in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe as Minister of Home Affairs from 2015 to 2017,Minister of Local Government,Public Works and Urban Development from 2000 to 2015.
Webster Kotiwani Shamu is a Zimbabwean politician and former Minister of Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs who was fired by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on 21 May 2018. He previously served as Minister of Information and Publicity,and as Minister of State for Policy Implementation. He is a member of parliament representing the Chegutu constituency. The Cabinet of Zimbabwe was later dissolved on 27 November 2017.
The president of Zimbabwe is the head of state of Zimbabwe and head of the executive branch of the government of Zimbabwe. The president chairs the national cabinet and is the chief commanding authority of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. The incumbent president is Emmerson Mnangagwa,installed on 24 November 2017 after his predecessor,Robert Mugabe resigned in the aftermath of a 2017 coup d'état.
General elections were held in Zimbabwe on 30 July 2018 to elect the President and members of both houses of Parliament. Held eight months after the 2017 coup d'état,the election was the first since independence in which former President Robert Mugabe was not a candidate.
Patrick Zhuwao is a Zimbabwean businessman,farmer,and politician. He served as minister of public service,labour and social welfare between October and November 2017. He was expelled from the ruling ZANU–PF party during the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état.
On 23 June 2018,a grenade exploded at White City Stadium in Bulawayo,Zimbabwe. The blast occurred at a ZANU–PF campaign rally,just after President Emmerson Mnangagwa had finished giving a speech. It was described as an assassination attempt against Mnangagwa,who was unharmed. The bombing resulted in at least 49 injured,including Vice-Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi,and other high-ranking government officials. Two security agents later died of their injuries.
Monica Mutsvangwa is Zimbabwe's Minister of Information,Publicity and Broadcasting Services. She has held cabinet roles in both the Robert Mugabe government and the Emmerson Mnangagwa government.
Nicola Jane Watson is a Zimbabwean accountant and politician who served as a Member of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe from 2013 until 2023. She was first elected to one of the seats reserved for women,then as the MP for Bulawayo Central in 2018,before defeating the Zanu-PF incumbent Raj Modi in Bulawayo South in 2023.
Vangelis Peter Haritatos is a Zimbabwean businessman and politician who has served as Deputy Minister for Lands,Agriculture,Water,Climate and Rural Resettlement and a Member of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe for Muzvezve since 2018. Haritatos is a member of the ruling ZANU–PF and his father,Peter Haritatos,was previously an MP for the same party.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
