Aguy Georgias

rdf:langString Aguy Georgias

rdf:langString Aguy Clement Georgias (born Aguy Zvavahera Ushe; 22 June 1935 – 19 December 2015) was a Zimbabwean businessman and politician. He was the founder of and served as Deputy Minister of Public Works as well as the Deputy Minister Economic Development. He was born in Unyetu-Mutomba Village in Chivhu, Zimbabwe in 1935. He was the eldest son of James Ushe Shoniwa, and had ancestry from the of Chikomba District. He was associated with the Mhofu Totem. In his youth, he moved from Chivu to Harare, where he changed his name to Aguy Clement Georgias. After his death, his brother Herbert Ushe suggested the change was intended to conceal his Shona ancestry and present himself as a member of the Coloureds community, possibly for economic reasons. In 2007, Georgias and his company Trinity Engineering were placed on the European Union (EU) sanctions list, under a 2002 EU provision that prohibited "entry into or transit through the territory of the EU" for members of the Zimbabwean Government. Georgias was deported from the United Kingdom as a result. In 2012, he sued the EU for €6 million in damages for the imposition of the sanctions. The EU General Court dismissed the case in 2014. At the time of his death he was a non-constituency Senator (presumably representing the Coloureds community). He died of heart and kidney failure on 19 December 2015 at in Harare. He was declared a national hero by the government of Robert Mugabe, who stated in his eulogy for Georgias that Georgias had spent "every cent he owned" fighting the EU sanctions on Zimbabwe's government. As a result, he was buried at the National Heroes Acre. Georgias's relatives claimed they were snubbed by the Mugabe government with regards to Georgias' funeral. The family expressed discontent that the Mugabe government recognized Georgias's second wife Jane and Georgias's children with her, rather than his first wife Manana. They also claimed that Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents forced them to attend the state funeral, which they had intended to boycott.