Nicholas Tasunungurwa Goche (born 1 August 1946) is the former Minister of Transport. Previously he was Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development. He served during the tenure of Robert Mugabe who replaced him in 2014 with Prisca Mupfumira after he was accused of trying to kill the President as part of a coup.

Biography

• Secretary-general, Rhodesian Explosive and Chemical Workers Union, 1968–70;
• *istant personnel officer, payroll employees and welfare, Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries Ltd, 1970–74;
• Personnel officer, ZIMPHOS, 1974–77;
• Exile, 1977–80; Senior administrative officer, Zimbabwean Emb*y, Washington, 1980–83;
• Under-Secretary, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1984;
• Amb*ador, Romania and Bulgaria, 1984–87;
• Amb*ador, People's Republic of China, 1987–90;
• Deputy Secretary, Political and Economic Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1990–91;
• *istant, Emb*y in New York, 1991–92;
• Deputy Secretary for Production, ZANU-PF Mashonaland Central, 1994;
• Deputy Minister, Foreign Affairs, 1995-00;
• Minister of State, National Security, 2000–05;
• Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, 2005–09;
• Minister of Transport, 2008 to 2013.

Goche was one of the negotiating team behind the unity government and helped maintain Mugabe in power while, as a former head of the Central Intelligence Organisation, he served as Minister of State for National Security. Since 2003, he is placed on European Union and United States sanctions lists.

Goche was the ZANU-PF candidate for the House of *embly seat from Shamva North cons*uency in the March 2008 parliamentary election. He won by an overwhelming margin, receiving 10,385 votes against two MDC opponents, Chimombe Godfree and Matibiri Anderson, who respectively received 1,354 and 1,173 votes.

Along with Goche, Chinamasa was one of the negotiators sent by ZANU-PF to the talks between political parties that began in Pretoria on 10 July 2008, following the disputed re-election of President Robert Mugabe.

When the ZANU-PF–MDC national unity government was sworn in on 13 February 2009, Goche was moved to the position of Minister of Transport. As a result of a dispute between Nelson Chamisa, the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, and Webster Shamu, the Minister of Information and Publicity, regarding which ministry should deal with telecommunications, The Herald reported on 10 April 2009, that President Mugabe had *igned responsibility for telecommunications to Goche's ministry.

References