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| "Zapu Election Badge c. 1980" (Image credit: Wikipedia) |
Source: Africa Confidential
Joshua Nkomo died in 1999 but he is still a force to be reckoned with in Zimbabwean politics. Nkomo is regarded as the founder of African nationalism in Zimbabwe and led all the political parties formed between1952 and 1962, only losing favour with his lieutenants in 1963 when they broke away from ZAPU to form the Zimbabwe African National Union. Though ZANU became more popular than ZAPU, largely because of its support from the majority Shona, who constitute more than 80 percent of the population, Nkomo remained a paternal figure in the country and was popularly known as Father Zimbabwe.
Nkomo went into business quite early in the 1950s and he was initally more interested in the economy than just politics. This led him to seek solutions with Ian Smith, resulting in some of his colleagues in the liberation struggle to accuse him of being a sell-out. It was only after 1977, when he concentrated on the liberation struggle, that be regained his political weight. Though he had formed the Patriotic Front with Mugabe, Mugabe decided to go it alone in the 1980 independence elections. The results spelt doom for Nkomo. Mugabe walked away with 57 of the 80 blackseats. Nkomo won 20. Mugabe tried to make Nkomo the ceremonial President of the country but he turned this down because he felt he would sink into political oblivion. He opted instead to become Minister of Home Affairs.
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