THE University of Witwatersrand in South Africa is today hosting the inaugural Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Centenary Memorial Lecture at its Johannesburg campus to honour the late Zimbabwean nationalist who was well respected across the region and internationally.
BY SILAS NKALA
If the late former Vice-President was still alive, he would have clocked 100 years this month.
The Johannesburg event is being done in partnership with the Humanities Graduate Centre, Joshua Nkomo Cultural Movement, Tapela Incorporated Development Practitioners and Cradles of Influence Communications and is being sponsored by Bigtime Strategic Group.
In a statement, the university said the late Father Zimbabwe was an indisputable luminary and giant in Zimbabwe’s modern history.
Wits University said the 2017 inaugural Joshua Nkomo Memorial Lecture Series was being held at three academic institutions — Wits University Johannesburg, Joshua Mqabuko Polytechnic in Gwanda, Zimbabwe, and the Oxford University in London, the United Kingdom.
“The purposes of this series is to honour . . . the rich legacy of leadership, personal sacrifice and patriotism and national reconstruction that have been bequeathed to Zimbabwe by this great champion of Zimbabwe’s Nationalist Movement that culminated in independence in 1980,” the statement said.
Wits University said the lecture would also seek to recall and uphold the constructive spirit of national reconciliation that informed some Nkomo’s “most selfless decisions”.
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It said the lecture would also celebrate the profound capacity of the man to “subordinate and sacrifice narrow sectional interests under the imperatives of the broader and more compelling interests of national unity”.
The theme of the lecture is Joshua Nkomo@100: A Reflection on Ethical Leadership.
“The power of his voice, which still speaks to us today, and the wisdom in his words helped to mobilise many Zimbabweans, Africans and non-Africans, to be part of the great movement against colonialism and other forms of discrimination,” the statement read.
Speakers lined up include Zimbabwe’s Ambassador in South Africa, Isaac Moyo, Bulawayo Provincial Affairs minister Eunice Sandi Moyo, Wits University lecturer Professor Mucha Musemwa, Mmillili Tapela, a development partner, Kwanele Hlabangana and Mehluli Moyo, trustees and officials with the Joshua Nkomo Cultural Movement Trust.
Veteran journalist Soul Gwakuba Ndlovu will present Nomo’s biography and history, Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa will reflect on his comrade leader, while Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association chairman Christopher Mutsvangwa will present on the role of former African liberation movements.
Self-exiled business mogul James Makamba will present on opportunities and integration in Africa development.
