Arthur Mutambara - Who is he?

Professor Arthur Mutambara is the president of the MDC smaller party that broke away from the main MDC party led by Morgan Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe. He is a professor of Robotics Science and once worked from NASA in the United States. Mutambara as his affectionately known in Zimbabwe and amongst student circles was once an active member of the students union at the University of Zimbabwe.


As the president of the student's union, Arthur Mutambara led numerous student protests against the government of Zimbabwe led by Robert Mugabe. He is known for his acrobatic maneuvers jumping off a three story students residency hall to escape anti-riot police.

For many years most people thought Arthur Mutambara would be the ideal person to stand against Robert Mugabe in the Zimbabwe political landscape. After the split of the MDC party in 2005 the smaller MDC splinter group appointed Mutambara as its president. To many people's utter disappointment, Mutambara

proved ill-equipped and obviously politically unseasoned at a national level.

Subsequently Professor Mutambara made many mistakes and misplaced utterances that saw him criticised across the political divide including the state controlled Herald and Chronicle daily newspapers. Many Zimbabweans generally do not trust Arthur Mutambara and there is widespread feeling that his small party has everything to gain with the prolonged stay of the inclusive government. There is clear evidence that in a free and fair election the smaller MDC party will become complete history in Zimbabwe politics.

On the other hand both parties i.e ZANU PF and MDC-T in the current inclusive government will require Arthur Mutambara's party support to have some legislation passing through parliament. For that reason Mutambara is in a way considered a king maker.


Mutambara now resides in Zimbabwe and is married with children. He frequently participates in international conferences and meetings that focus on Zimbabwe's politics and economics in general.