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| Africa Subsaharan |
| ZAPU breaks from ZANU PF |
| 2009-05-18 |
| About 1 000 delegates from throughout Zimbabwe endorsed Zapu’s formal withdrawal from the 1987 Unity Accord with Zanu PF in a major blow to the former ruling party. The special congress held at Mzilikazi’s McDonald Hall, five months after disgruntled Zanu PF heavy weights initiated the breakaway, attracted prominent politicians from the region who included Paul Siwela, who contested the 2002 presidential elections, and former speaker of parliament, Cyril Ndebele. Several former members of Zanu PF provincial executives in Matabeleland and the Midlands who left the party last year as cracks widened over President Robert Mugabe’s reluctance to step down also attended in large numbers. There was also a huge presence of members of the civic society and other parties in the country including the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara. Dumiso Dabengwa, the Zapu interim chairman said the endorsement of the pullout meant that the former liberation movement was now ready to claim its place as a leading political force in the country. “The re-emergence of Zapu and its extrication from the Unity Accord of 1987 is informed by the noble agenda which seeks to renew the Zimbabwe dream through the revival of all, rebuilding infrastructure, providing economic stewardship, building democratic institutions and respect for the rule of law, devolution of power, human rights and civil liberties,” Dabengwa told journalists. “It is with this message that Zapu wants to restore the respectable nationhood. The will of the people is the pivot around which proper, able and accountable leadership is elected, and true empowerment and emancipation will be the ultimate goal.” He said former Zapu leaders who wanted to remain in Zanu PF were no longer representing the interests of the party. Vice-President Joseph Msika and Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo are some of the leaders who have vowed to stick with Mugabe. The delegates also debated the revived party’s new constitution, the recovery of its properties ceased by Mugabe’s old administration and various strategies to build structures that will turn it into a fully fledged party. Zapu was founded by the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo in December 1961 and along Zanu PF prosecuted the country’s liberation war. The party was forced into the Unity Accord after the North Korean trained 5 Brigade launched an assault on people in its strongholds of Matabeleland and the Midlands, where more than 20 000 civilians were killed for supporting Zapu. The short of it: ZAPU was backed by the Soviets, ZANU by the Chinese. They didn't like each other and fought for control. ZANU won and forced a merger. The 'PF' in ZANU PF is the ZAPU part. However, the 22-year-old marriage was characterised by bickering over the old Zanu PF’s refusal to fulfill commitments it made in the agreement such as rotating the party’s leadership, changing party symbols and giving equal opportunities to cadres from Zipra and Zanla, their former military wings. President Mugabe’s previous administrations were also accused of neglecting Matabeleland’s development and failing to compensate victims of the Gukurahundi massacres. Dabengwa said another congress would be held to elect substantive leaders for the party once the restructuring exercise had been completed. |
| Posted by:Pappy |