Joshua Nkomo, great leader of liberation war, was the first modern nationalist leader in white-ruled Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). He was a giant, both politically and physically, who dominated the Zimbabwean stage for half a century.

Known affectionately as Umdala Wethu - our old man - his life was marked by the struggle for independence and the introduction of majority rule.

But it was a career defined first by friendship and then by rivalry with Zimbabwe's first and only black president so far, Robert Mugabe.

Born to black missionary teachers in Matabeleland in 1918, he saved up for his education in South Africa, where he met Nelson Mandela and other regional nationalist leaders.

He returned to Bulawayo in 1948 and became a trade unionist campaigning for better pay and conditions for black railway workers.

The leader of a number of organisations during the 1950s and 1960s - which were all banned by the British colonial authorities - Joshua Nkomo founded the movement, which became most associated with his name, ZAPU, in 1962.

The African National Congress (ANC), a political party in then Rhodesia, expanded under Nkomo into a Mass Nationalist Movement against colonial rule in the 1950s.

As a result a state of emergence was declared against it in 1959 and this was recognition of the power the movement

In 1959, the party was banned and its leaders arrested. This led to the formation of a new party in January 1960, the National Democratic Party.

In 1961, a constitutional conference was called and a new constitution, which provided for Africans representation was gained but it still consolidated settler control. Nkomo who first accepted this arrangement later changed his mind and opposed it. His rejection was a turning point in the history of Zimbabwe.

Nkomo's rejection resulted into the defeat of the United Federal Party for the Whites. This was because it was deprived Africans' support.

The result of the victory went to racialist and Conservative opposition Party that was dominated by the Whites, the Rhodesian front which quickly banned Nkomo's party. Again changed the name of the party to Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU).

Mr Nkomo came from Zimbabwe's Ndebele minority, and a year after ZAPU's foundation there was a split with the nation's Shona majority under the leadership of Nkomo's former lieutenant, Robert Mugabe.

Between 1964 and 1974, both rivals were detained for long periods by the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith, who declared independence unilaterally from Britain in 1965. This declaration forced the people of Zimbabwe to use violence as a way of securing their political rights.

On his release, Mr. Nkomo went to Zambia, from where he fought for Zimbabwean independence as the head of ZAPU and its Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, which was backed by the Soviet Union. The rivalry between the ZAPU and ZANU leaders continued throughout the war, with Mr. Mugabe receiving help from Beijing.

Nkomo managed to convince the ANC in South Africa to make an alliance with ZAPU with the intention of eliminating minority rule in both countries.

 

Imprisoned in the 1960s by Rhodesia's white minority government, Joshua Nkomo became a symbol of the struggle for black majority rule. In 1980, when the country became independent as Zimbabwe, Nkomo lost the election for prime minister but went on to hold several senior positions in the government.

In August 1975 Nkomo held constitutional talks with Ian Smith at Victoria Falls. In these talks Nkomo emphasized the need for majority rule, which all the people of Zimbabwe wanted. This was a continuation of the talks started by OAU and Bishop Muzorewa who was a puppet leader.

In December 1977 the Patriotic Front Alliance of Nkomo and Mugabe received special recognition from the leaders of the Frontline states. The Frontline states included Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola and Botswana. They stressed the need for more talks for independence of Zimbabwe.

In March 1978, Nkomo and Mugabe went to the UN Security Council in New York to take part in the debate, which rejected internal settlement, which had been suggested, by Ian Smith and Bishop Muzorewa. The UN still regarded Smith's regime illegal.

Joshua Nkomo took part in the independence negotiations that took place at Lancaster house in London in 1979. In this conference, Nkomo contributed a lot in expressing the need for independence. On January 14, 1980 Joshua Nkomo returned home after three years of exile in Zambia. Thousands of people welcomed him as he called for reconciliation among the people of Zimbabwe. n 1980, Zimbabwe became independent with Robert Mugabe as president. The struggle for majority rule ended with the Lancaster House accord, paving the way for elections in 1980. It was then that Joshua Nkomo's cherished ambition of becoming Zimbabwe's first black president was dashed. His party trailed Mugabe's by 57-20 seats in the new 100-seat parliament. Mr Nkomo made no secret of his bitterness at the defeat. He joined the first Mugabe coalition in the powerful Home Affairs ministry, but there was no harmony. In 1982 ZAPU was accused of plotting a coup and Nkomo was fired, his passport taken away, and he was restricted to Bulawayo.

Mistrust between the two sides escalated, leading to a near civil war in the first half of the 1980s. Thousands of civilians in Matabeleland were killed by government forces, including a North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade.

It was not until 1987 that the differences were patched up, with Mr Nkomo becoming one of two vice-presidents. This was done with a lot of influence from African leaders including Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

Zimbabwe became a one-party state, with Mr Mugabe's organisation effectively swallowing up the much smaller ZAPU. As vice-president, Mr Nkomo's career followed a steady decline. Many in Matabeleland saw him as having sold out, and his failing health began to have an influence.

Finally, like any other human being, Nkomo passed away in October 1999 after long illness at the age of 82