Elias Mudzuri
Elias Mudzuri is a Zimbabwean engineer and politician. Mudzuri was elected to a four-year term as Mayor of Harare, Zimbabwe, a city of 1.8 million, in March 2002. He was Acting president of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T). Trained in Sierre Leone as a civil engineer, Mudzuri is a Fellow of the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers. Before becoming mayor, he had worked in local government for 14 years. He is married to Jabu Mudzuri, a Swazi national, and the couple have five children. Mudzuri was a Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University and also holds Masters in Public Administration from the university. Mudzuri is a member of the Movement for Democratic Change, the opposition party led by Morgan Tsvangirai. His election as mayor came about after Harare's citizens sued the national government for autonomous elections, required by the nation's constitution but never held. From 1999 forward, President Mugabe had appointed ministers of the national government to run local government in Harare, which was illegal under the constitution. On 15 September 2020, Mudzuri tested positive for COVID-19. Power struggle with the Mugabe administration Mudzuri defeated ZANU-PF candidate Amos Midzi in the March 2002 mayoral election by a