Joshua Nkomo
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Dr. Joshua Nkomo BA |
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Nkomo in 1978
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| Vice-President of Zimbabwe | |
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In office December 31, 1987 – July 1, 1999 |
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| President | Robert Mugabe |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Msika |
| Minister of Home Affairs | |
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In office 1980–1982 |
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| President | Canaan Banana |
| Prime Minister | Robert Mugabe |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
19 June 1917 Southern Rhodesia |
| Died | 1 July 1999 (aged 82) Harare, Zimbabwe |
| Nationality | Zimbabwean |
| Political party |
ZAPU ZANU-PF |
| Spouse(s) | Johanna MaFuyana |
| Relations | Thomas Nyongolo Letswansto (Father) Mlingo Hadebe (Mother) |
| Children |
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| Residence | Bulawayo |
| Alma mater | Tjolotjo Government Industrial School, Adams College, Jan Hofmeyer School of Social Workers |
| Profession | Politician, guerrilla leader, trade unionist, businessman |
| Religion | Methodist Roman Catholic (converted in 1999) |
Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was the leader and founder of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) and a member of the Ndebele (Kalanga) tribe.
He was a trades-union leader, who became president of the banned National Democratic Party, and was jailed for ten years by Rhodesia's white minority government. After his release, ZAPU contributed to the fall of that government, but then feuded with the rival ZANU group led by Robert Mugabe. Fearing for his life, Nkomo fled the country, before controversially allowing ZAPU to merge with ZANU.
Nkomo had many nicknames, including "Umafukufuku", "Father Zimbabwe", and "Chibwechitedza" (the slippery rock).
Nkomo was born in Bukalanga or Bulilima, now referred to as Semokwe Reserve, Matabeleland South and was one of eight children. His father (Thomas Nyongolo Letswansto Nkomo) worked as a preacher and a cattle rancher and worked for the London Missionary Society. After completing his primary education in Southern Rhodesia, Nkomo took a carpentry course at the Tsholotsho Government Industrial School and studied there for a year before becoming a driver. He later tried animal husbandry, then became a schoolteacher specialising in carpentry at Manyame School in Kezi. In 1942, at the age of 25, during his career as a teacher, he decided that he should go to South Africa to further his education, do carpentry and qualify to a higher level. He attended Adams College and the Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work in South Africa. There he met Nelson Mandela and other regional nationalist leaders at the University of Fort Hare, though he did not attend that university. It was at the Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work that he was awarded a B.A. Degree in Social Science in 1952. Nkomo married his wife Johanna MaFuyana on 1 October 1949.
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