Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo (1917-1999) was a leader in the African nationalist movement in southern Rhodesia during the post-World War II period. President of the Zimbabwe African People's Union, he was active in the first independent African government in Zimbabwe and was vice president of Zimbabwe from 1990-1996.

Son of a cattle-owning teacher and lay preacher, Nkomo was born June 19, 1917, in the Semokwe reserve of Matebeland in southern Rhodesia. He spent his formative years being educated in South Africa at Adams College in Natal and at the Jan Hofmeyer School in Johannesburg.

Nkomo returned home in 1945 and worked as a welfare officer with Rhodesian Railways while practicing as a lay preacher on most Sundays. In 1951 he completed a correspondence Bachelor of Arts degree in social science from the University of South Africa. That same year Nkomo became general secretary of the Rhodesian Railways African Employees' Association, and he soon...