On this day in 1980, Robert Mugabe was declared prime minister of Zimbabwe after his ZANU (PF) party won 57 seats out of 80 seats in the general elections held to elect a government which would lead the country after being granted independence. In his speech, Mugabe mentioned that he will negotiate for a coalition government with Joshua Nkomo leader of the ZAPU (PF) party.
The Zimbabwean Prime Minister Robert Mugabe dismissed ZAPU members from coalition government including Joshua Nkomo on this day in 1982.
On this day in 1983, at night Joshua Nkomo (late) who was fired from government and placed under house arrest, fled to Botswana for satefy after the Fifth Brigade had been deployed in the northern part of the Matabeleland province.
On this day in 1987, the House of Assembly elected Robert Mugabe as executive president of Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo signed the Unity Accord, which provided for the merge of ZANU and ZAPU into ZANU-PF on the same day. This was a turning point in Zimbabwe’s post-independence history as it marked the forging of an alliance between the countries major political players. The signing of the document ended the so called nationwide conflict that existed since 1963 between ZANU and ZAPU.
On this day in 2000, the founder of Zimbabwe African National Union, Ndabaningi Sithole died at the age of 80. His political ambition began in 1960 when he joined the new National Democratic Party (NDP) which was led by Joshua Nkomo. In the 1995 election, he won a seat in Parliament but later that year he was arrested for plotting to kill the late Robert Mugabe. In 1997 he was locked in prison and was to serve for two years . Subsequently, Sithole did not serve his entire full time because of his health conditions, he died in United States seeking for medical treatment.