Tapfumaneyi Maurice Nyagumbo (died 28 April 1989) was a Zimbabwean politician.

Working in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 in the 1940s, he joined the South African Communist Party

South African Communist Party

South African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...

. He spent most of the years 1957 to 1979 in detention in Southern Rhodesia

Southern Rhodesia

Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...

. During this time he wrote an autobiography, With the People (Allison & Busby, 1979). He associated with Joshua Nkomo

Joshua Nkomo

Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was the leader and founder of the Zimbabwe African People's Union and a member of the Kalanga tribe...

 and James Chikerema

James Chikerema

James Robert Dambaza Chikerema served as the President of the Front for the Liberation of Zimbabwe. He changed his views on militant struggle in the late 1970s and supported the 'internal settlement', serving in the attempted power-sharing governments.-Early life:Chikerema was born at Kutama...

, and they were arrested together in 1963.

He was a ZANU representative in the 1985 talks to merge ZANU and Nkomo's ZAPU.

He committed suicide in 1989 by drinking rat poison after being charged with perjury

Perjury

Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...

during so-called Willowgate scandal.