Lazarus Nkala  Lazarus Nkala (26 February 1927 – 3 December 1975), known in political circles by the nickname UMavava, was a Rhodesian trade union leader, activist, and revolutionary. Born in Filabusi in Matabeleland, he attended mission and government schools and trained as a builder. He worked in Bulawayo, and became a union leader and African nationalist activist. In the 1950s and 60s, he served in leadership roles in the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress, National Democratic Party, and Zimbabwe African People's Union. He was detained in 1964 and, with the exception of a three-week period the following year, was held in continuous detention for the next ten years. Upon his release in 1974, he was named Organising Secretary of the ANC, and attended the Victoria Falls Conference as part of Joshua Nkomo's delegation. He died shortly after in an automobile accident driving from Salisbury (now Harare) to Bulawayo. Nkala was born on 26 February 1927 in Filabusi, Matabeleland, Southern Rhodesia. He comes from a large Ndebele family; one of his siblings, Enos, also became active in the independence movement and later served in parliament and as a cabinet minister. His father, Madika Nkala, was a peasant farmer, teacher at the local Methodist mission school, and later a cobbler. His mother, Mbase Moyo, was a lay preacher of the American-led Brethren in Christ Church. Nkala was raised in the Brethren faith and attended primary school Nkankezi School and at the Church's Matopo Mission. He went on to study at Mzingwane High School in Essexvale (now Esigodini), where he became exposed to politics through fellow students, including Jason Moyo and others. There, he received elementary industrial instruction, trained as a bricklayer, and qualified as a builder in 1947. Nkala worked in Bulawayo as a builder for many years. In 1950, he was elected chairman of the Bulawayo branch of the African Artisans' Union. He was elected president of the union in 1956, an office he held until his arrest in 1964. He also served for some time as president of the African Trade Union Congress' Matabeleland region. He was also appointed Chairman of the Barbourfields Tenants' Association and member of the Bulawayo African Townships Advisory Board. In 1957, Nkala joined the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress, led by Joshua Nkomo, and served as treasurer for the organisation's Bulawayo branch until it was banned in 1959.