ZAPU’s grip questioned in former strongholds 

Calvin Manika

The Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU), one of the oldest political parties running in this year’s elections, has been accused of lacking visibility.

Matabeleland region was once a ZAPU stronghold both before and after Independence but the party is now a pale shadow of its former vibrant self.

Despite having members from all over Zimbabwe, the party was associated with the Ndebele tribe.

The electoral system of the nation underwent numerous adjustments in the years immediately after independence. The 18 April 1980 constitution protected multipartyism and stipulated that 20 of the 100 seats in the House of Assembly would be reserved for white people for a period of seven years. There were two separate voter registration lists made – one for the white minority and one for the black majority.

In addition, the constitution of 1980 established a prime minister as head of government and a non-executive president as head of state led by President Canaan Banana and Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.

With the proportional representation system in place in 1980, Joshua Nkomo’s PF-Zapu secured 20 seats, while Mugabe’s Zanu-PF won 57 of the 80 “common roll” (black African) seats in the House of Assembly. 

43 years later, ZAPU, a party once led by Father Zimbabwe, Joshua Nkomo, a renowned nationalist, is barely visible in many areas of Matabeleland, let alone the entire nation.

“In Hwange, I haven’t seen a rally or a meeting convened by ZAPU. I am originally from Bulawayo, I would prefer to support ZAPU but the party is not visible,” said Themba Dhlamini, a Hwange resident.

Sibangilizwe Nkomo, current leader of ZAPU, stated in December 2022 that his party will be running in the 2023 elections as he sought to dispel the claims that the party had long  ceased to exist after the signing of the Unity Accord in 1987.

Nkomo, the late ZAPU founding leader’s son, made the comments at the party’s first cadre development workshop in Bulawayo, the nation’s second-largest city. 

In preparation for the 2023 elections, the opposition ZAPU, claims that its candidate selection process has been completed in a number of constituencies nationwide.

According to ZAPU spokesperson Msongelwa Ndlovu, over 80% of the constituencies where the party will run for office already have candidates. Even though Ndlovu stated that the choice will be decided in due time, Sibangilizwe Nkomo is most likely to represent the party as president.

“In nearly 80% of the constituencies we are contesting, our candidate selection process is already complete. Until we field every candidate in every constituency we’re running for, the process is still ongoing,” said Ndlovu.

Enos Chifamba of Dzivarekwa, Harare where one of the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo’s farm is located says ZAPU seems to have morphed into a “Bulawayo party.” 

“Our grandparents supported ZAPU, they were party members with active structures. The current crop has failed to have a national influence and seems to bankrupt of ideology in contrast with the days of Father Zimbabwe,” said Chifamba.

The opposition ZAPU party chose Plumtree as the starting point of its election campaign for 2023 because it was inspired by the teamwork displayed by rural communities to earn money for their own community programs.

On December 31, ZAPU President Sibangilizwe Nkomo addressed party supporters, members of the National Executive Committee, and members of the National People’s Council at Dingumuzi Stadium in Plumtree. He confirmed that the party was preparing for the 2023 general elections and would soon be announcing its governance blueprint to empower rural districts.

The model is intended to reverse rural-to-urban migration and provide sustainable development to  underdeveloped rural districts, according to Nkomo. 

“Our emphasis is on rural districts development,” said Nkomo.

Nkomo claimed that the party was motivated by the town’s efforts to encourage regional growth when it introduced what it dubbed the “plumtree model.”

“The Plumtree villagers, who gave us sanctuary and safe transit from Zambia to Botswana, contributed to our independence. You transformed into the water in which the fish lived and survived when ZPRA returned as a fighting force,” said Nkomo.

After losing faith in the Unity Accord, the late Dumiso Dabengwa and other ex-PF Zapu members left Zanu PF in 2008 to resurrect the previous liberation organization.

Susan Booyon, a noted academic and researcher, claimed that while the 1987 Unity Accord caused hostilities to end, peace and harmony still proved elusive as violence victims have not received compensation.

“Neither have those responsible for the violence been brought to justice nor have they asked their victims for forgiveness, at the very least by admitting their participation in the catastrophe. Instead of being viewed, evaluated, and studied as a community and national endeavor, the Zimbabwean Unity Accord is done so in terms of personality. Many believed that Nkomo’s death in July 1999 signaled the end of the Accord,” said Bayoon.

In 2022, the then ZAPU spokesperson Iphithule Maphosa, said it was critical that Zimbabweans and the rest of the world understand that the Unity Accord was the ‘biggest misnomer, a process that never was’. 

“Whatever happened on that fateful 22nd of December was a sham, a deception, and the greatest betrayal of all values, intentions, and objectives of the liberation struggle,” he declared.

“For everyone who helped liberate our nation, December 22 must be a day of shame. The only celebratory drink that could have been consumed at the signing of the Unity Accord would have been the free-flowing blood of innocent children, women, and seniors as well as the appropriate ink used to sign the surrender paper,” added Maphosa.

Over time, ZAPU has faced resource limitations, which ZIPRA veterans attribute to the government’s confiscation of the majority of the party’s assets during the Gukurahundi era.

Two months before the elections, ZAPU sympathisers are wondering if the former political giant will awaken.

“The truth is that the majority of the youths we encouraged to register to vote do not even know anything about ZAPU. It’s sad for a party which is supposed to have roots here in Matabeleland,” said Patrick Ngwenya of Sibangani village in Lupane.