[Osem]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

They weren't chums and it did him plenty of good, not his followers for sure but the tyrant made his enemy his deputy, admittedly without any power but with all the trappings, he lived in luxury till he died at a ripe old age. Seems Mugabe tried the same thing again, offering Tsvangirai a power sharing deal, fortunately he declined the offer.

My recollection is that he and Mugabe were close allies in the Smith years and Mugabe turned nasty towards Nkomo when he sniffed the prospect of ultimate power for himself. Luxury and nasty are of course relative terms and whilst he certainly didn't die a pauper or as a result of state torture, I think Nkomo would've readily swapped the life he subsequently had for the political status and power Mugabe deprived him of.