The Contributions of Joshua Nkomo to the Liberation of Zimbabwe

Abstract

Eliakim Sibanda—a historian who wrote a book on ZAPU entitled The Zimbabwe African People’s Union, 1961-87: A Political History of Insurgency in Southern Rhodesia (2005)—here focuses specifically on the exploration of Nkomo’s political life, paying particular attention to his contributions to the country’s independence. The chapter re-establishes Nkomo’s role as founder and leader of key nationalist revolutionary movements that laid the foundation for the armed struggle and underscores Nkomo’s active international campaigns for the liberation of Zimbabwe. International campaigns by Nkomo put the Rhodesia question on the global map and immensely to eventual attainment of political independence in 1980.