Isaak Stanislaus Gorerazvo Mudenge (born 17 December 1941) is a Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

an politician, currently serving as Minister of Higher Education. He was previously the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Foreign minister

A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...

 from 1995 to 2005.

Mudenge is a professional historian focusing on African history in general but with specialty on pre-colonial Zimbabwean history. He has published several books in this regard.

In a cabinet reshuffle on April 16, 2005, following the March 2005 parliamentary election, he was replaced as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Simbarashe Mumbengegwi

Simbarashe Mumbengegwi

Simbarashe Simbaneduku Mumbengegwi is a Zimbabwean politician and diplomat, currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs whose right to entry is currently prohibited by Australia, Canada, the European Union, New Zealand and the United States. Mumbengegwi was born in Chivi, Zimbabwe...

 and was appointed as Minister of Higher Education instead. This was considered a demotion and followed Mudenge's support for Jonathan Moyo

Jonathan Moyo

Jonathan Nathaniel Moyo is a controversial political figure in Zimbabwe. He was Minister of Information from 2000 to 2005 and is currently a Member of Parliament. He is considered the core architect of AIPPA and POSA....

 in opposition to Joyce Mujuru

Joyce Mujuru

Joice Mujuru is a Zimbabwean politician serving as Vice President of Zimbabwe. She has held this post since December 2004, and is also Vice President of ZANU-PF...

 within ZANU-PF.

Within ZANU-PF, he has aligned himself with the Masvingo (Mnangagwa

Emmerson Mnangagwa

Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is a Zimbabwean politician who has been Minister of Defense since February 2009. He was previously Minister of State Security from 1982 to 1988, then Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs until 2000; he was Speaker of Parliament from July 2000 to 2005 and...

) faction, which is antagonistic to the Mujuru faction due to wrangles concerning ascendancy to the presidency if Mugabe leaves office.

Mudenge was nominated by ZANU-PF as its candidate for the House of Assembly

House of Assembly of Zimbabwe

The House of Assembly of Zimbabwe is the lower chamber of the country's bicameral Parliament. It was the unicameral legislative body from 1989 until late November 2005, when the Senate was re-introduced....

 seat from Masvingo North constituency in the March 2008 parliamentary election

Zimbabwean parliamentary election, 2008

A parliamentary election was held in Zimbabwe on March 29, 2008 to elect members to both the House of Assembly and the Senate of the Zimbabwean parliament...

. According to official results, he received 4,799 votes, defeating the candidate of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who received 4,450.

When the ZANU-PF–MDC national unity government

Zimbabwe Government of National Unity of 2009

The Government of National Unity refers to Zimbabwe's coalition government that was formed on 13 February 2009 following the inaugurations of Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister and Thokozani Khuphe and Arthur Mutambara as Deputy Prime Ministers...

was sworn in on February 13, 2009, Mudenge was retained as Minister of Higher Education.