April 2003
Vol. IX, No. 3

In Memoriam
African Scholar Masipula Sithole

The Institute mourns the passing of Masipula Sithole of Harare, Zimbabwe, a senior fellow at the Institute during 2002–2003. Sithole died on April 3 after suffering a massive stroke. He was 56 years old.

Sithole was deeply committed to the people of Zimbabwe. He was one of Africa's most respected scholars. A professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe and founding director of the Mass Public Opinion Institute in Harare, he authored numerous books and scholarly articles on politics in Zimbabwe. He also wrote frequent analyses and commentaries for independent Zimbabwean newspapers.

While at the Institute, Sithole was writing a book on the impact of Zimbabwe's domestic and foreign policies on regional security since 1980. A longtime critic of the regime of President Robert Mugabe, Sithole said in a talk at the Institute in January that the government must be changed because it was destroying the life and liberty of the people of Zimbabwe.

Sithole is survived by his wife, Alice, and two sons, Chandiwana and Masipula, Jr. He was the younger brother of the late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, founder of the opposition Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) party.