Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) leader Dr Dumiso Dabengwa has admitted that his party which broke away from a unity accord with Zanu PF is broke and now operating from the streets.
Dabengwa was addressing party supporters at a rally at Magwegwe Hall on Saturday. He said Zapu had been operating on a shoe-string budget, as members were not paying subscriptions.
The former Home Affairs Minister and Zanu PF politburo member said Zapu was recently evicted from its offices because members had not been paying subscriptions leaving it without any source of funding.
“Throughout history Zapu survived on subscriptions to pay its salaries and other expenses. Mina vele ngiyisilima ekuceleni, angisoze ngiyecela ngoba umama wangifundisa ukungaceli. Labo abathi upresident uzahamba ayecela angisoze ngikwenze lokho. (I am not going to beg on behalf of the party because I am not good at it),” said Mr Dabengwa.
He appealed to supporters to be united and save the party from sinking. “This is your last chance to get what you want to get, go and tell others and be united for the cause of the party. The offices we had were closed because we could not pay and now we are trying to get an alternative place.
“We hope by next week we would have secured some place although it will be small. This is the little money we are talking about, if we were supporting our party we could not have lost our offices because no organisation can survive without money,” said Dabengwa.
The party is without offices following a High Court order by Justice Nicholas Ndou last month ordering its eviction from the premises it was renting. Zapu owes the owner of the property, Mr Edson Chemhere Mabudapasi, about $15 000 and Justice Ndou ordered auctioning of property to recover the money.
“We have been getting money from some supporters but subscriptions have not been coming in the way they should come. What we are doing now is try and get provinces organise members so that they start paying up,” Dabengwa said.
