To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > People July 1, 1999 URL: http://www.salon.com/people/obit/1999/07/01/nkomo Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwe's vice president, dies at 82 The traditional leader of the minority Ndebele tribe was regarded by many as the guiding light of the nation's black nationalist movement. - - - - - - - - - - - - Vice president Joshua Nkomo, the father of Zimbabwe's fight for independence from white colonial rule, died early today, the government said. He was 82. State radio interrupted morning programs to play the national anthem and liberation songs, and broadcast a tribute by president Robert Mugabe. Mr. Nkomo suffered from prostate cancer, and poor health forced him to largely withdraw from political life last year. Mugabe said Mr. Nkomo's health deteriorated sharply on Sunday. Mr. Nkomo was regarded by many as the guiding light of the nation's black nationalist movement, which fought a guerrilla war against white colonial rule for nearly three decades in the former British colony of Rhodesia. But the traditional leader of the minority Ndebele tribe failed to achieve his goal of becoming the first black leader when Rhodesia became independent Zimbabwe in 1980. "The old lion," as supporters fondly called him, wept when Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union party swept to victory in the first democratic elections. salon.com | July 1, 1999