By Jeffrey Muvundusi
BULAWAYO – The Dumiso Dabengwa-led Zapu has accused Zimbabwe’s opposition political parties of lack of commitment in working together to challenge President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF and solve some of the country’s biggest problems.
Zapu said it was dismissing the possibility of a grand coalition given the ambivalence shown by their colleagues.
“The party has noted with concern the unfaithfulness and untrustworthy behaviour that is usually shown by those parties and organisations we have sought to work with in the past,” Iphithule Maphosa, Zapu acting spokesperson said in a statement released soon after the just-ended two-day National Peoples Council in the city.
He lashed out at the Welshman Ncube-led party for behaving in the same manner as Zanu PF. Zapu pulled out of the 1987 Unity Accord between Mugabe’s Zanu PF and Joshua Nkomo’s Zapu that followed the deployment of North-Korean-trained Fifth Brigade to crush rebellion by ex-Zapu guerrillas. Government forces are accused of killing thousands of civilians in the crackdown, but deny the death toll, estimated at 20 000 by rights groups.
“The latest point in reference was the currently parked Code (Coalition of Democrats) attempt where the (Ncube) MDC, while we were waiting for feedback from our structures as Zapu, we were surprised to see them uniting with the Renewal Team, a move that stalled our almost finished negotiations,” Maphosa said.
Ncube MDC’s spokesperson Josh Mhambi dismissed the allegations as misguided and lacking depth.
“It will be recalled that the MDC, MDC Renewal, Mavambo/ Kusile/Dawn, Zapu and the NCA negotiated and came to an agreement captured in a draft document to create a coalition dubbed CODE.
“It will also be recalled that after the document had been finalised and was ready for signing, the leadership of Zapu and Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn requested for time to engage in consultative processes with their grassroots structures and membership for discussion and debate before they could affix their signatures to the document.”
Mhambi added the reunification agreement of the two MDC formations has nothing to do with the coalition of democratic parties as all the opposition parties received advance notice of it and the purposes behind it.
He, however, said his party was still committed to the coalition. Daily News
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