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Two rival movements merge in Zimbabwe

This Day in History: December 19, 1989
Additional Date: December 19, 1989
Two rival political organisations in Zimbabwe, the Ndebele-dominated Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), led by Joshua Nkomo, and the Shona-dominated Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), led initially by the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and later by Robert Mugabe, finally merged following consensus reached in 1987 to form a new political party called the Zimbabwean African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).