Joshua Nkomo

Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was born on June 19, 1917, in Semokwe Reserve, Matabeleland South. Educated at Adams College and the Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work in Johannesburg, he worked as a railway social welfare officer, becoming general secretary of the Railway Workers Union.

Nkomo founded the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress and, in December 1961, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). Detained at Gonakudzingwa camp for over a decade by the Ian Smith regime, he directed the ZIPRA liberation forces from Zambia. In 1987, to halt the tragic Gukurahundi conflict in Matabeleland, Nkomo signed the historic Unity Accord with Robert Mugabe, serving as Vice-President until his death in 1999.