CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

David Coltart

Minister in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ5232494 ↗
Source-derived summary

David Coltart (born 4 October 1957) is a Zimbabwean lawyer, Christian leader and politician. He was a founding member of the Movement for Democratic Change when it was established in 1999 and its founding secretary for legal affairs. Coltart was the Member of Parliament for Bulawayo South in the House of Assembly from 2000 to 2008, and he was elected to the Senate in 2008. He was the Minister for Education, Sport, Arts and Culture from February 2009 until August 2013.

Coltart is a top official of the Citizens Coalition for Change political party which was formed in 2022. He has served as the Mayor of Bulawayo since September 2023.

Early life

Coltart was born in Gwelo, Midlands Province, in the former Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. He was born an only child to a Scottish bank manager father and a South African nurse mother. His mother was the descendant of British settlers who settled in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 1820. His Scottish grandfather was Deputy Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1938.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “David Coltart” as minister in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around David, Coltart and Minister.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1957, 1999, 2000, 2008—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1957-10-04. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with David, Coltart and Minister providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “David Coltart”, the useful work is to connect “minister in the Cabinet of Zimbabwe” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5232494. VIAF identifies the subject as 296302341. The Library of Congress control number is no2013011509. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1957, 1999, 2000 and 2008.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “David Coltart”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow David Coltart primary sources, David Coltart archive and David research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “David Coltart”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “David Coltart” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.