Opinion by Mso Ndlovu
One quality that makes ZAPU stand out of the political crowd is its resilience, the never-say-die attitude whose defiance has surprised even its ardent followers and foes alike.
Ever since the party was formed over fifty years ago, ZAPU has faced and conquered countless waves of adversity thrown its way, each time emerging meaner and stronger. Trials and tribulations the party has faced were delivered in different forms, shapes and sizes.
To highlight but just a few, ZAPU managed to navigate the bush war with guerrilla precision before engaging the ceasefire talks with diplomatic precision. When a genocide was thrown at them, ZAPU threw back a card of moral precision when military precision was an option.
This led to a lop-sided Unity Accord of 1987. When the marriage of convenience became untenable, ZAPU disengaged leaving its erstwhile abusive partners clutching political thin air.
The biggest test after disengagement came in the form of national elections of 2013 which ZAPU fully participated in. With election results indicating a thorough drubbing of the liberation movement, many assumed that this political gladiator will just roll over and play dead.
Little did they know that last year’s elections and results thereof actually marked the beginning of ZAPU’s unrelenting onslaught for political office within five years.
ZAPU’s strategists knew that participation in last year’s elections was simply a strategic confirmation of the disengagement from ZANU PF and with that acknowledged by ZEC, Nikuv, ZANU PF, Zimbabweans and the world at large, the party is quietly preparing for a smash and grab job in 2018.
Preparation for the 2018 elections has begun in earnest. On Sunday 19 January 2014, ZAPU members gathered in different parts of the world to reaffirm their unwavering commitment and support of the ZAPU agenda, aspirations and values.
In Harare, members of the ZAPU Harare West constituency met at a secret location to make an audit of party structures and to examine recent political developments. Present were members of the district executive committee, members of the elders council, members of the revered youth front, members of the national people’s council and some ordinary members of the party residing in Harare West.
The meeting discussed and approved the establishment of a Constituency Liaison Committee which, among other things, was tasked with embarking on door to door campaigns and membership recruitment in their constituency. In addition to this, the committee will also be responsible for identifying community development challenges and recommend remedial action to party leadership.
It was also agreed that the shadow Member of Parliament of the constituency will lead the committee which shall also include shadow councillors for respective wards with the constituency.
Also on the menu at the Harare meeting was the emotive issue of reunion between ZAPU and ZANU PF as proposed by President Robert Mugabe recently. Members were clearly annoyed and agitated following misleading media reports suggesting that the ZAPU leadership was actually considering this invitation seriously.
The meeting, comprising slightly over 200 members, almost degenerated into chaos when this subject was introduced, with some members loudly vowing that the leaders can rejoin ZANU PF on their own and will be treated as having resigned from ZAPU.
It took the leadership skills of Comrade Mutoriti who presided over the meeting to bring order and calm. Cde Mutoriti must have read the mood very well, for he brought with him the official party’s response to President Mugabe’s invitation for ZAPU to rejoin ZANU PF.
To settle the nerves of the marauding members, the Chairman asked a member of the Youth Front to read out the full text of President Dumiso Dabengwa’s statement to those present. Suddenly the noise died to resemble a congregation of church mice.
In the statement, President Dabengwa touched on different issues, including the youth component in ZAPU.
Reading the prepared statement, the young man waxed, “There are many other people, particularly youths, who have either been brought up under the ZAPU legend or see the unfulfilled agenda of the party as an answer to Zimbabwe’s current development and governance dilemmas. These (youths) have nothing to do with ZANU PF and have never identified with it. Therefore any approaches to ZAPU have to be addressed to a complex membership”. He continued, “It is also important to realise that those that made the revival of ZAPU viable by pulling out of ZANU PF have no nostalgia for their long stay in the ruling party”.
The statement also touched on ZAPU’s seized properties, historical records as well as Dr Nkomo’s unrivalled moral leadership qualities as compared to others who are today worshiping him while they fail to emulate his deeds.
He also touched on the selective and biased system of conferring hero status based on party affiliation, a result of which left many ZAPU members without due recognition for the heroism. In the end, and as a final nail on the unity coffin, the statement concludes by saying “once beaten twice shy”.
Across the Limpopo, the Hillbrow branch was meeting to prepare for the street mobilisation campaign around Berea and Hillbrow in Johannesburg. Notable faces included Comrades Halimana, Ditshoni Nkomo and Ray Mdlongwa. The meeting resolved to join the ANC mobilisation teams to help them prepare for the upcoming national elections in South Africa.
Strategic committees were also established one of which was tasked with helping to integrate Zimbabweans living in South Africa through regularising their documents, the other one was tasked with voter registration and tracking back home.
The other one was tasked with observing and supporting national events taking place in South Africa and this committee quickly mobilised Zimbabweans living in South Africa to attend soccer games played by the national team at the on-going CHAN tournament.
Through their efforts, over 15,000 ZAPU members, excluding Minister Andrew Langa, cheered the Warriors to a well-deserved one nil victory over Burkina Faso to qualify to the next round of the tournament.
When the world expected newspaper headlines to scream “ZAPU powers Warriors to victory”, they chose to ignore this sterling effort. But not everyone has the luxury to ignore ZAPU’s fast developing statement of political intent, a statement which the State President has read well only to respond with a failed and disastrous courtship. For now on, all can ignore ZAPU at their own peril.
Mso Ndlovu writes in his own capacity. He can be contacted on [email protected]
