ZAPU dismiss Zanu-PF, ANC ‘cosy’ ties as an attempt to distort history
The opposition Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) has dismissed claims of a cosy relationship between Zimbabwe and South Africa’s ruling parties, Zanu-PF and the African National Congress (ANC) respectively and described the move as an attempt to distort historical ties with ZAPU which date back to the 1960s before independence.
South African ruling party ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula recently bragged about unwavering ‘historical’ ties between his party and Zanu PF endorsing president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s re-election which the country’s main opposition CCC dispute.
ZAPU national spokesperson Msongelwa Ndlovu in an interview, lamented that Mbalula’s endorsement of Zanu PF and Mnangagwa were orchestrated to undermine the historic ties between UMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and ZIPRA which were liberation paramilitary wings of both ANC and Zapu respectively.
“Unfortunately for Fikile Mbalula and his ilk, history and facts are very stubborn.
“We’re happy that the attempt to distort history has largely been rejected by our people in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“It cannot be a historical fact that fraternal relationships can be derived via a hotspot. ZAPU is not a router through which ZANU and ANC are connected,” said Ndlovu.
On 18 August 1967 MK and ZIPRA formally announced that they had formed a military alliance.
The alliance’s guerrilla forces clashed with colonial Rhodesian and South African forces in Wankie (Hwange) and Sipolilo Campaign in Rhodesia.
MK and ZIPRA’s alliance stunned the colonial forces in the bush war that lasted until late 1968.
This fierce resistance staged by the liberation alliance is believed to have sent a strong message to the Rhodesian and South African governments that guerrilla warfare would soon engulf the region.
“Ours was a relationship based on sacrifice, sweat and blood.
“The battles by ZIPRA and MK at Sipolilo and Hwange cannot be trivialized by microwave revolutionaries like Fikile Mbalula,” said Ndlovu.
