Flight Canceled

A warning for Nkomo

In partnership with the scholarly Robert Mugabe, the huge, outgoing Joshua Nkomo, 64, fought a seven-year guerrilla war against the white Rhodesian government and led his country to independence as black-ruled Zimbabwe three years ago. His fortunes have been declining ever since. He lost the presidential elections to Mugabe, largely because his Ndebele tribe is less than a fourth the size of Mugabe's predominant Shona constituency. Nkomo served in Mugabe's Cabinet for 22 months, but was dropped last year amid rumors that his followers were plotting against the government. A week ago, Nkomo was detained while trying to leave Zimbabwe on a trip to Prague, where he was to attend a meeting of the Soviet-sponsored World Peace Council. He was held for only eight hours, but his passport and airline ticket were confiscated.

Why the severe treatment? The government explained, not very convincingly, that Nkomo had been trying to leave the country under a false name, and that he was illegally carrying 300 Zimbabwean dollars. Demanded Nkomo, who is over 6 feet tall, weighs around 300 Ibs. and is easily recognized all over Africa: "How can an elephant disguise himself as something else? An elephant is an elephant, whichever way you look at him." Nkomo said that the Zimbabwean dollars could not buy anything in Europe anyway. "They are as leaves on the trees."

The real reason for Nkomo's detention was that Zimbabwe is veering closer to open warfare, at least in Matabeleland, where the government is conducting a savage military campaign against Ndebele guerrillas loyal to Nkomo. Led by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, government troops have reportedly killed hundreds of villagers over the past few weeks. Says Minister of State for Defense Sydney Sekeramayi: "The brigade will stay put until the dissident problem is settled."

While Mugabe continues to call for reconciliation, there are rumors that Nkomo may yet be charged with subversion or even treason. Nkomo says, a bit disingenuously, "I am only trying to protect my people and therefore do good for my country." The sharp-tongued Eddison Zvobgo, a minister in the Mugabe government, says Nkomo's real trouble is that he suffers from "power-denial psychosis." An Ndebele proverb puts it another way: "The beast is without power." Against the strong political base of Mugabe and the might of his army, Nkomo has little leverage except perhaps the capacity to plunge his country into civil war. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.