Nkomo, leader of ZAPU forms a coalition government with Robert Mugabe

Date: 5 Mar 1980
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Joshua Mqabuko Nyangolo Nkomo, leader of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) formed a coalition government with Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Nkomo's party won twenty seats in the new Assembly, all in his tribal homeland of Matabeleland. Initially, Mugabe offered Nkomo a ceremonial Presidency. Nkomo rejected the offer and instead, accepted the post of Minister of Home Affairs. Two years later, Nkomo was ousted from the cabinet by Mugabe after the discovery of arms caches that were alleged to be part of a ZAPU-led coup attempt. On 5 March, 1983, six hundred members of ZAPU were arrested by Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) government. Three days later, Nkomo went to exile in Britain, but returned to Parliament in August.

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How we know this

01Boddy-Evans, A. ‘This Day in African History: 5 March’, from About African History, [online], available at www.africanhistory.about.com (Accessed: 31 January 2013)
02Encyclopedia of the Nations, ‘Zimbabwe-History’, [online], available at www.nationsencyclopedia.com (Accessed: 31 January 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, February 27). Nkomo, leader of ZAPU forms a coalition government with Robert Mugabe. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095045

South African History Online (2013) 'Nkomo, leader of ZAPU forms a coalition government with Robert Mugabe', South African History Online, 27 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095045 (Accessed: 26 July 2026).

South African History Online, Nkomo, leader of ZAPU forms a coalition government with Robert Mugabe [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095045, (accessed 26 July 2026).

"Nkomo, leader of ZAPU forms a coalition government with Robert Mugabe." South African History Online, 27 Feb. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095045. Accessed 26 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Nkomo, leader of ZAPU forms a coalition government with Robert Mugabe." South African History Online. February 27, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095045.