Dabengwa set to be confirmed leader at ZAPU congress

Headlines, News — By on August 23, 2010 1:29 am

By Never Kadungure

Former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa is set to be confirmed as substantive leader of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) at its first ever congress this weekend following a decision to cut ties from the 1987 unity accord with Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF.

A statement from ZAPU’s Europe branch confirmed the ZAPU National Congress will be held from the 27th to the 29th of August in Bulawayo under the theme ‘Democracy and Freedom through Devolution of Power’.

‘With fresh elections in Zimbabwe imminent, the failing ZANU-MDCs coalition panicking, our congress is of great interest and a major event in shaping the direction of Zimbabwean politics,’ ZAPU Europe said. ZAPU says it has revived 14 provincial structures (10 in Zimbabwe and 4 in the Diaspora).

Most of the party’s 14 voting provinces have nominated interim leader Dumiso Dabengwa to lead the party in a substantive capacity. The revived ZAPU will hold its congress at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo and to our knowledge no one has challenged Dabengwa for the leadership.

A big test for the party however will be whether it can shed the tag of being viewed as a regional party whose only interest is Matabeleland. Although its late leader Joshua Nkomo eventually earned the honour of ‘Father Zimbabwe’ Mugabe’s dirty politics always portrayed ZAPU as a party for Matabeleland.

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