Former MDC Bindura candidate Elliot Pfebve dies in UK aged 57

Former MDC Bindura candidate Elliot Pfebve dies in UK aged 57

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Elliot Pfebve, a Zimbabwean democracy campaigner, former opposition politician and academic based in the United Kingdom, has died aged 57 after what has been described as a prolonged battle with bowel cancer.

He died in Walsall, in England’s West Midlands, and tributes from journalists, former colleagues, political activists and Zimbabweans in the diaspora have described him as committed to education, social justice and standing up to political violence.

Journalist Chofamba Sithole, who previously worked with Pfebve at Coventry University, said Pfebve had been living with bowel and liver cancer since 2023. Sithole said Pfebve established a cancer awareness foundation aimed at supporting black and ethnic minority communities in the West Midlands with information and support around the disease.

Sithole also said Pfebve was active in local Labour Party structures in the West Midlands and campaigned on diversity and inclusion, including standing for a local council position.

In Zimbabwe, Pfebve is most closely linked to opposition politics during the early 2000s, a period marked by intense conflict between the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and ZANU PF.

He became widely known in Mashonaland Central during the 2001 Bindura by-election, held after the death of then ZANU PF political commissar Border Gezi in a car crash. Pfebve contested the poll as an MDC candidate against ZANU PF’s Elliot Manyika, a contest that was dubbed in local media as “the battle of the two Elliots”.

The campaign period was associated with serious violence and intimidation. Human rights accounts and later statements attributed to Pfebve said his elder brother, Matthew Pfebve, was abducted and murdered after ZANU PF supporters reportedly raided the family home searching for him. The accounts say the attackers allegedly refused to accept that Matthew was not the candidate before assaulting him fatally.

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The election period also claimed the life of Pfebve’s campaign manager, Trymore Midzi, who was abducted and killed, according to the source material.

Another incident reported from the campaign period involved an attack on a convoy carrying Pfebve and then MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in July 2001. Vehicles were reportedly stoned and burned, although the opposition leaders escaped without injury.

In messages shared following his death, mourners said Pfebve’s willingness to continue in public life despite personal loss reflected unusual determination. In one tribute cited in the source material, Sibanda wrote: “His strength and courage were truly inspiring.”

For residents of Mashonaland Central, Pfebve’s name remains tied to the Bindura by-election and the broader debate about political violence and accountability. Supporters say his later work in education and community campaigning in the UK showed the same focus on fairness and inclusion that shaped his political activism in Zimbabwe.

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