Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo (19 June 1917 – 1 July 1999) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1990 until his death in 1999.

He was a leading trade union leader, who progressed on to become president of the banned National Democratic Party, and was jailed for ten years by Rhodesia's white minority government.

[2] Nkomo earned many nicknames like "Umafukufuku" in Ndebele, "Father Zimbabwe" in English, and "Chibwechitedza" ("the slippery rock") in Shona.

[3] Nkomo was born on 19 June 1917 in Matopos, Matabeleland, Southern Rhodesia (now Matobo, Zimbabwe) to a poor Ndebele family.

[citation needed] 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.

Nkomo immediately formed the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) together with Samuel Parirenyatwa, Ndabaningi Sithole, Robert Mugabe, and others.

[citation needed] Nkomo was detained at Gonakudzingwa Restriction Camp by Ian Smith's government in 1964, with fellow outlaw rebels Ndabaningi Sithole, Edgar Tekere, Enos Nkala, Maurice Nyagumbo, and Mugabe, until 1974.

[clarification needed] At the time of independence ZIPRA had a modern military, stationed in Zambia and Angola, consisting of Soviet-made Mikoyan fighters, tanks and armoured personnel carriers, as well as well trained artillery units.

The most widely reported and possibly the most effective of these attacks were the downing of two Air Rhodesia Vickers Viscount civilian passenger planes with surface-to-air missiles, resulting in the deaths of 107 people in total.

The first, on 3 September 1978, killed 38 out of 56 in the crash with a further ten survivors (including women and children) shot dead by ZIPRA cadres sent to inspect the burnt wreckage.

The target of the second attack was reportedly General Peter Walls, head of the COMOPS (Commander, Combined Operations), in charge of the Special Forces, including the SAS and the Selous Scouts.

In his memoir, Story of My Life, published in 1984, Nkomo later said, "during that interview, the interviewee had asked about what we used to down the planes and I said stones, jokingly in an attempt to avoid answering the question due to military intelligence which demanded secrecy regarding what type of weapons we had acquired from the Soviet Union.

The civil war waged by Nkomo and Mugabe continued unabated and Britain and the USA did not lift sanctions on the country.

Nkomo proposed to address Zimbabwe-Rhodesia's land question with Georgist principles of collecting ground rent but leaving improvements to those who built them.

"Elections were held in 1980 and to the surprise of Nkomo but few others, the Common Roll vote split on predictable tribal lines, with the 20 seats in Matabeleland going to ZAPU (listed as "PF–ZAPU") and all but three of the sixty in predominantly Shona areas falling to Mugabe's ZANU–PF.

Nkomo's ethnic background was also grounds for distrust by Mugabe who constantly feared an uprising by the historically turbulent Ndebele population.

After the intervention of Sally Hayfron, Nkomo was appointed to the cabinet (as minister without portfolio), but in 1982 was accused of plotting a coup d'état after South African double agents in Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organization, attempting to cause distrust between ZAPU and ZANU, planted arms on ZAPU owned farms and then tipped Mugabe off to their existence.

"[18] He unleashed the Fifth Brigade upon Nkomo's Matabeleland homeland in Operation Gukurahundi, killing up to 20,000 Ndebele civilians in an attempt to destroy ZAPU and create a one-party state.

When asked late in his life why he allowed this to happen, he told historian Eliakim Sibanda that he did it to stop the murder of the Ndebele (who supported his party) and of the ZAPU politicians and organizers who had been targeted by Zimbabwe's security forces since 1982.

On 27 June 2000, a set of four postage stamps were issued by the Post and Telecommunications Corporation of Zimbabwe featuring Joshua Nkomo.