Joshua Nkomo
Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo (born June 19, 1917 in Semokwe , Matabeleland , † July 1, 1999 in Harare ) was a Zimbabwean politician . He was the founder of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and Vice President of Zimbabwe from 1988 to 1999.
He was born as the son of a couple of teachers and lay preachers and a member of the Ndebele in Matabeleland in what was then Southern Rhodesia. He trained as a social worker in South Africa , where he met Nelson Mandela at Fort Hare University .
After he returned to Bulawayo in 1948 , he campaigned as a trade unionist for black railroad workers.
In the 1950s he then founded the National Democratic Party and began to fight against British colonial rule. He became president of the African National Council (ANC) in 1957 and went into exile in 1959 after it was banned. He returned from this in 1960 and founded the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) with Robert Mugabe in 1961 . The ZAPU disintegrated after a ban the following year, and Mugabe formed the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) with the majority of the Shona members , leaving mainly Ndebele in the ZAPU. In 1964 he was arrested by the government of Ian Douglas Smith and sentenced to ten years in prison. During this time, the ZAPU lost its leadership role to Mugabe's ZANU, with whom the ZAPU merged in 1976 under the name Patriotic Front (PF). In 1975 he was President of the Inland Wing after the split of the re-established ANC.
After the elections in February 1980, Nkomo was first Minister of the Interior, later Minister without Portfolio under President Mugabe , after he was unexpectedly defeated. In 1982, in the conflict with Mugabe, he resigned from the government. In December 1987 an agreement was reached with Mugabe and her parties merged to form ZANU-PF. Nkomo first became minister in the presidential office, then vice-president from 1988 and held this office until his death in 1999.
Web links
- Andrew Meldrum: Joshua Nkomo , The Guardian, July 2, 1999
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nkomo, Joshua |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nkomo, Joshua Mqabuko (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Zimbabwean politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 19, 1917 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Semokwe , Matabeleland |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 1, 1999 |
| Place of death | Harare |