Dr Alex Magaisa (the late) – Law Professor At Kent University UK | ZimLegends Paying Tribute To A Legend

 

ALEX MAGAISA

INTRODUCTION

Dr. Alex Tawanda Magaisa was a Zimbabwean lawyer, lecturer of law in the United Kingdom, Zimbabwean political strategist, and blogger. He is particularly known for serving Morgan Tsvangirai as his principal advisor and Chief of Staff when he was the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe in a coalition government and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, the country’s main opposition party from 2012-2013.

Prior to becoming Advisor to the Prime Minister, Magaisa had been working as a core member of a team of experts tasked to advise on the drafting of the new Constitution of Zimbabwe. Magaisa was also known for his political and social commentary work on issues affecting Zimbabwe and was a columnist for newspapers, among them The Zimbabwe Standard, Daily News and New Zimbabwe and The Herald.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Alex Tawanda Magaisa was born on 9 August in 1975 in Chikomba District, in Zimbabwe. He grew up in both rural and urban Zimbabwe and was married to Shamiso Magaisa.

Dr Magaisa like Robert Mugabe completed his high school education at Kutama College boarding school. He then proceeded to his tertiary studies at the University of Zimbabwe where he graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree in 1997. While studying at the University of Zimbabwe he met and influenced the future founders of the Movement for Democratic Change political party; people like Learnmore Jongwe, Job Sikhala, and Nelson Chamisa who was a student at the Harare Polytechnic.

CAREER

Upon graduating from University of Zimbabwe, Dr Magaisa joined one of the prestigious law firms in Zimbabwe, Gill Godlonton and Gerrans Legal Practitioners as an Associate. Later in 1999, he underwent post-graduate studies at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom where he graduated with a PhD in Law in 2003. After that Dr Magaisa then worked as a regulatory enforcement manager for Jersey Financial Services Commission, the financial services regulator in Jersey until 2007. In September 2007, he joined the University of Kent Law School as a lecturer and researcher. His main areas of teaching and research were company law, intellectual property law and international financial regulation.

In November 2011, Dr Magaisa took a leave of absence from the University of Kent to take up a role as a core member of a team of technical experts advising the Constitution Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) which had been set up by the Parliament of Zimbabwe with the mandate of drafting a new constitution to repeal and replace the old Lancaster House Agreement Constitution. The draft was later approved by almost 95% of those who cast votes in a nationwide referendum held on 16 March 2013.

In October 2012, Dr Magaisa left his advisory work with COPAC when he was appointed by Prime Minister Tsvangirai to be his Chief Advisor as part of MDC preparations for the upcoming 2013 elections were beginning. In the 2013 elections, MDC lost to ZANU PF by a massive margin amidst so much contentions concerning the elections results. This resulted in Dr Magaisa and the MDC legal team filing a Constitutional Court petition seeking to nullify the election results on the account that the elections were not free and fair. However, the petition was later withdrawn and the frustrated judges refused to recognize the withdrawal, insisting on hearing the matter even after the petitioner had withdrawn.

In July 2017, Dr Magaisa was entangled in a controversy after a local state-owned media outlet published a picture of him with Zanu PF government ministers Jonathan Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere and Patrick Zhuwao at a local restaurant called “Plot Cafe”. He reluctantly issued a response explaining the circumstances of how the picture was taken dispelling the rumors that were beginning to spread. Dr Magaisa appears in the documentary Democrats directed by Camilla Nielsson which captured the tumultuous constitution making process over a period of three years.

Sadly, on 5 June 2022, it was confirmed by several of his colleagues that Dr Magaisa had died at Margate Hospital in the United Kingdom following a cardiac arrest. However, both his legal and political work is celebrated the whole of  Zimbabwe.