Nkomo, << uhn KOH MOH >>, Joshua (1917-1999), helped lead the struggle to end white rule in what is now Zimbabwe. From about 1890 to 1979, white people controlled the government and economy of what is now Zimbabwe, although the vast majority of the people were, and are, Black. Because of Nkomo’s efforts in support of independence and Black rule, he is widely considered to be the father of Black nationalism in Zimbabwe.
Nkomo was born on June 19, 1917, in Semokwe Reserve near Bulawayo in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). His full name was Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo. He attended a mission school in Southern Rhodesia and received his high school education in South Africa. In 1947, he returned to Southern Rhodesia and became the first Black social worker for Rhodesia Railways. He also became active in organizing trade unions. In 1951, he received his bachelor’s degree by correspondence from a university in Johannesburg, South Africa.
During the 1950’s, Nkomo entered politics. In 1957, he was elected president of the colony’s main nationalist group, the African National Congress (ANC) of Southern Rhodesia. As ANC president, he opposed the Native Land Husbandry Act, which had the effect of forcing Black people to leave their farms and work in cities as cheap laborers. In 1959, the colonial government banned the ANC, and Nkomo fled to London. He returned about two years later. Meanwhile, in 1960, a group of Black people formed the National Democratic Party (NDP), which replaced the ANC, and chose Nkomo as its leader. The NDP was banned in 1961. Nkomo then founded the Zimbabwe African Peoples’ Union (ZAPU), using the word zimbabwe, the African name for the region. The government banned ZAPU in 1962. In 1963, a number of members of ZAPU, including Robert Mugabe, who later became prime minister and president of Zimbabwe, left the organization and formed the rival Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). In 1964, Nkomo was sent to a prison camp.
In 1964, Southern Rhodesia became known as Rhodesia, and in 1965, the white government declared Rhodesia’s independence from the United Kingdom. However, no countries recognized Rhodesia’s independence.
In the early 1970’s, serious fighting broke out between government troops and Black guerrillas in Rhodesia. Following his release from prison in 1974, Nkomo took command of the ZAPU liberation army and helped it obtain military aid from the Soviet Union. In 1976, ZAPU and ZANU joined in an uneasy and limited political and military alliance called the Patriotic Front (PF). Internal rivalries among the blacks slowed peace negotiations with Rhodesia’s white government. In the late 1970’s, however, an agreement was reached for transition to Black majority rule. Elections were held in 1980. The Zimbabwe African National Union-Political Front (ZANU-PF) gained a majority of seats in Parliament, and Mugabe became prime minister. Later that year, Rhodesia became known as Zimbabwe and was recognized as an independent country.
Nkomo served in Mugabe’s Cabinet for two years. In 1982, Mugabe dismissed Nkomo from his Cabinet. That year, violent clashes erupted between ZAPU and the ZANU-PF government in Matabeleland. In 1989, Nkomo’s ZAPU and Mugabe’s ZANU-PF formally merged under the name ZANU-PF. Nkomo was named co-vice president in Mugabe’s government in 1990 and served in this position until his death. In the late 1990’s, Nkomo became ill and took little part in public affairs. He died in Harare, Zimbabwe, on July 1, 1999.
