Nkomo—writer in exile

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 12

Nkomo—writer in exile

By

Derek Round

in London for NZPA

The Zimbabwe opposition leader, Mr Joshua Nkomo, says he has suffered more in the last three years since his country’s independence than he did in his 33 years struggle leading up to it. “The saddest thing in my life came very late when I discovered that people can get freedom from the colonial masters and yet find themselves unfree,” he said. Mr Nkomo was speaking at the launching of his book, “Nkomo — the Story of my Life,” published by Methuen, to coincide with Zimbabwe’s fourth anniversary of independence.

Often called the Father of Zimbabwe, he wrote the book during his self-imposed exile after he fled to London last year, saying his life was in danger from Government forces in black-ruled Zimbabwe. Mr Nkomo said today that people are being detained in Zimbabwe without trial and are being tortured. Meetings could not be held without police permission and he had not been able to hold a meeting in Harare, the capital, for the last four years. “This is not what I fought for,” Mr Nkomo said. Elected president of the African

National Congress of Southern Rhodesia in 1948, Mr Nkomo was imprisoned between 1964 and 1974 by the white government of Rhodesia. On his release he became commander-in-chief of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army and later principal negotiator for the Patriotic Front, along with the present Prime Minister, Mr Robert Mugabe. Mr Nkomo was made Minister of Home Affairs and then Minister Without Portfolio in the Government of newly-independent Zimbabwe, but was later dismissed by Mr Mugabe.