Nathan Shamuyarira was a Zimbabwean nationalist who at different times fought on behalf of and helped lead FROLIZI, ZANU, and ZAPU. He later served as the Information Minister of Zimbabwe and as the Information Secretary of ZANU PF. He was writing President Robert Mugabe's biography at the time of his death. Nathan Shamuyarira implanted the policy of vetting foreign journalists, renewing their licences every month. This was a way of weeding out government and Zanu PF critics. Very few in the country understood the implications of this policy until opposition politics was effectively silenced. Musa Shamuyarira, Nathan's brother, was as a student in the United States and member of the MAZAZI Student Union in the 1960s was very close to the CIA affiliated American Society of African Culture and it appears that he attempted to involve Nathan in the organisation as well.
In October 2006 Shamuyarira sparked outrage when he praised the Gukurahundi, a series of state-sponsored massacres in the 1980s, in response to the South African government's attempts to infiltrate Zimbabwe with disgruntled units of ZAPU, called Super ZAPU, as part of Operation Drama. These elements also killed white farmers to grab international headlines. Nathan Shamuyarira stated, that the "actions of the North Korea-trained Five Brigade that killed around 3000 civilians and militants in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces during political disturbances in the 1980s were not regrettable as doing a job to protect the people. It was because the dissidents were killing people, that Gukurahundi went to correct the situation and protect the people. We killed vana Gwesela in my own province in Mashonaland West, in Sanyati. We killed him because he played havoc. In Matabeleland, they killed the Shona-speaking teachers; it's not true to say the Ndebeles were the only victims. Europeans in Mat South fled their farms and went to hide in the city." Max Mnkandla, President of the Zimbabwe Liberators' Peace Initiative, and politician Jonathan Moyo also strongly condemned his comments. Mnkandla stated that Shamuyarira's comments showed he is "not only suffering from 1880s hangover – the feeling that the Ndebele also did the same to the Shonas – it also shows that Shamuyarira is now old and should retire." The ZANU PF leadership in Matabeleland and National Party chairmanJohn Nkomo condemned his comments, Nkomo calling them "arrogant and insulting." He further warned, Mandlenkosi Ncube of New Zimbabwe, in an article titled Why Shamuyarira makes me sick, referred to Shamuyarira as a "pathetic and shameless liar," a "sick individual – a Gukurahundi denier." He later said his comments were taken out of context, but he refused to condemn the incident, saying, "That's a situation that we would like to put into history. It's not a fair question to put to me, why should I be answering this 25 years later?"
Sanctions
In January 2007 the British government announced it would renew targeted travel sanctions on members of the Zimbabwean government who contributed to the poorhuman rights situation in the country. Shamuyarira lamented that the British government had not "learn from history and they don't want to leave behind their colonial suppression of independent states. Zimbabwe has done nothing wrong that deserves those illegal sanctions."
