He joined the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) in 1963 as a teacher in Matabeleland, and went on to serve as its representative to the United Nations and North America in the 1970s.

[2][3] In 1963, Ndlovu entered Pius XII Catholic University College in Basutoland (now Lesotho), where he graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics, history, and Zulu.

[2] In 1963, while a student at Pius XII Catholic University College, he joined the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), and became chairman of the party's branch in Basutoland.

[2][3][6] After completing his bachelor's degree, Ndlovu returned to Rhodesia, where he taught economics and Zulu at Mpopoma High School in Bulawayo in 1966 and 1967, and was elected president of the African Teachers' Association in Matabeleland.

[1][2][3] Between 1969 and 1980, he was an associate professor of history and political science and director of the African Studies Institute at Hofstra University on Long Island.

[1][2][3] During the liberation struggle, Ndlovu often made trips to ZAPU camps in Zambia, where he was responsible for ensuring supplies of medicine, books, and other necessities, which he obtained with the support of the African-American Institute.

[6] Ndlovu returned to Zimbabwe at independence in 1980, and worked as a director at Carbin Finance and as a group industrial relations manager with Union Carbide.

[1][3] In the 1980 election, he earned a seat in the House of Assembly as an MP for Matabeleland South Province, and served as a member of ZAPU's Central Committee between 1980 and 1983.

[14] The following month, on 16 May, he announced he had joined the ruling party, ZANU, a move commended by Prime Minister Mugabe and described as "opportunistic" by ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo.

[19] Ndlovu was implicated in the 1988–1989 Willowgate scandal in which The Bulawayo Chronicle revealed the illegal resale of automobiles at inflated prices on the black market by senior government officials, who had been given early access to purchase them from an assembly plant in Willowvale, Harare.

[2][3][4][5] Ndlovu died on 13 February 2019 at Netcare Pinehaven Hospital in Krugersdorp, South Africa, where he had been undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.

[2][3][5][31] In a statement, President Emmerson Mnangagwa described Ndlovu as "a principled and disciplined cadre who was always prepared to sacrifice for the greater good of our people"[2][31] Ndlovu's body arrived by plane in Zimbabwe from South Africa on 19 February, and passed through the Mzilikazi Barracks, then a funeral home for services, and finally was taken to his home in the Bulawayo suburb of Kumalo.

[30][32][33] There, hundreds of mourners and government and party officials gathered to view his body, before it was flown back to Bulawayo lay in state at his home the next day.