Zimbabwe: Church Chronology

1928 • Shangani, Southern RhodesiaCecelia Jubber and Walter Taylor Jubber, who lived with their children on a farm near Shangani, invited Samuel Martin, president of the South African Mission, and Elder Marian Allread to baptize their sons William A. Jubber and Walter Taylor Jubber.

1930 • Southern RhodesiaMissionaries of the South African Mission worked in the Rhodesia District from August to November 1930. On August 30, 1931, the Shangani Branch was organized, with Walter Taylor Jubber as president.

1950–51 • Salisbury, Southern RhodesiaMissionaries returned to Rhodesia in September 1950. In February 1951, Hugh H. Hodgkiss accepted baptism and became the first local leader of the Salisbury Branch in 1959.

1951–57 • Bulawayo, Southern RhodesiaEstablished in 1951, the Bulawayo Branch was soon organized under local leadership. In 1952, Johanna Jubber was called as Relief Society president, and in 1957, Richard Isaacs was called as branch president.

1959 • South AfricaJean Wood of the Bulawayo Branch began missionary service in South Africa.

July 28, 1963 • Bulawayo, Southern RhodesiaOpening services for the Bulawayo meetinghouse were held.

January 19, 1964 • Salisbury

Opening services for the Salisbury meetinghouse were held.

1965–80 • RhodesiaThe country experienced a lengthy civil war.

January 26, 1974 • Bulawayo, Gweru, and Salisbury, RhodesiaSeminary and institute programs were first introduced to youth and young adults in Rhodesia.

1978 • RhodesiaIris Nield worked to gather 2,000 rolls of microfilm records for the Genealogical Society of Utah.

June 8, 1978 • Salt Lake City, Utah, USAChurch President Spencer W. Kimball announced the revelation that ended the priesthood and temple restrictions for Black members of the Church.

October 23–24, 1978 • Johannesburg, South AfricaChurch President Spencer W. Kimball spoke to an estimated 3,400 members and friends in the Film Trust Arena concerning the 1978 priesthood and temple revelation.

1979–80 • BulawayoErnest Tsikira Sibanda and Priscilla Sibanda and their children encountered the Church and were baptized shortly thereafter as the first Black members in Zimbabwe.

April 18, 1980 • ZimbabweRhodesia became independent from Great Britain and was internationally recognized as Zimbabwe.

May 23, 1980 • Highfield, ZimbabweReginald J. Nield was called as president of the Salisbury 4th Branch in Highfield (later renamed the Highfield Branch), the first essentially all-Black branch in southern Africa.

May 17, 1981 • Salisbury, ZimbabweTanganyika and Peter Chaya, father and son, of the Salisbury 4th Branch, were the first black African men ordained elders in Zimbabwe.

October 14, 1981 • SalisburyPeter Chaya became the first Black Latter-day Saint in Zimbabwe to accept a call as a missionary.

1980s • ZimbabweNew branches were created in Bindura, Harare, Arcturus, Gweru, Bulawayo, and Mutare.

August 24, 1985 • JohannesburgThe Johannesburg South Africa Temple was dedicated.

Late 1980s • ZimbabweNoel da Silva, president of the Harare District, instituted “home sacrament meetings” in Ruwa, Macheke, Bindura, and a mine community near Remare, where members found travel to meetinghouses expensive. Each Sunday a member of the branch presidency attended small meetings in members’ homes.

1990 • Bulawayo, ZimbabweMukai Maphosa was called as district Relief Society president.

October 25, 1991 • Harare, ZimbabweZimbabwe was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel by Elder James E. Faust of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

April 1992 • ZimbabweIn the most severe drought in 100 years, Zimbabweans experienced shortages of basics such as maize meal, oil, rice, and beans.

August 18, 1992 • ZimbabweA group of 50 members from places around Zimbabwe (including Harare, Bulawayo, and Mutare) traveled 25 hours by bus to the Johannesburg South Africa Temple.

1993 • ZimbabweEdward Dube became the first Zimbabwean to serve as country director of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion.

February 18, 1998 • HarareChurch President Gordon B. Hinckley visited Zimbabwe and spoke to about 1,500 Latter-day Saints. Several government officials, including the secretary of defense and the social welfare director, were also in attendance.

1999 • Salt Lake CityThe first full edition of the Book of Mormon in the Shona language was published.

December 12, 1999 • HarareThe first stake in Zimbabwe, the Harare Zimbabwe Stake, was organized, with Edward Dube as president.

October 9, 2001 • HarareEmmah and Ben Musoni became the first local senior couple to serve a full-time two-year mission.

2002 • ZimbabweThe Temple Patron Assistance Fund enabled greater temple attendance, including four excursions from Harare, three from Lusaka, and two from Bulawayo.

March 20, 2005 • BulawayoThe Bulawayo Zimbabwe Stake was organized, with Tasara Makasi as president.

2007 • ZimbabweThe Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price (Triple Combination) were published in Shona, after many years of work by a translation team including Dorothy Tembo, George Murenza, Moses Murahwa, Upenyu Tambara, Ben Musoni, and Thomas Musoni.

2008 • ZimbabweAmid record-setting hyperinflation and a cholera epidemic that infected 100,000 people and killed 5,000, the fast offerings of Zimbabwean Saints combined with Church-administrated humanitarian aid averted a major food security crisis for Church members.

June 30, 2009 • ZimbabweEdward and Naume Keresia Salizani Dube were called to preside over the Zimbabwe Harare Mission.

April 6, 2013 • Salt Lake CityEdward Dube was sustained as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in general conference, becoming the first Zimbabwean to serve as a General Authority.

March 2016 • Northern and Eastern ZimbabweIn the middle of a severe drought, Latter-day Saint Charities coordinated the drilling of 51 wells in the communities of Chegutu, Marondera, Kambuzuma, Glen Norah, Highfield, and Domboshawa.

April 3, 2016 • Salt Lake CityThe construction of the Harare Zimbabwe Temple was announced during general conference.

July 2017 • HarareSaints in Harare partnered with the city council to patch potholes in the Mabvuku-Tafara area and a small pathway in the Queensdale area.

November 14, 2018 • HarareHis Excellency K. Mohadi, Zimbabwe’s vice president, met with Church leaders, including Philip Mathemera, Harare South Stake President, Gladys Sitati and Elder Joseph W. Sitati of the Africa South Area, and Kathy Andersen and Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

August 17, 2019 • ZimbabweAs part of the All-Africa Helping Hands Day, during which Latter-day Saints across the continent contributed over 10,000 hours of service, Church members in Zimbabwe partnered with local councils to clean up illegal dump sites in the community.

October 1, 2020 • HarareGroundbreaking for the Harare Zimbabwe Temple was announced.