ZAPU says Zimbabweans are more divided than ever before as there is no unity whatsoever, to warrant a whole public holiday, under the guise of commemorating the pivotal signing of the Unity Accord between PF ZAPU and ZANU on 22 December 1987.
ZAPU withdrew from the Unity Accord, claiming it realised
that its compatriots in Zanu PF saw the Unity Accord as an opportunity to
consolidate their grip on power and establish their ‘lifelong’ dream for a
one-party state.
“It was hardly an acrimonious divorce but we were so eager
to leave that we left our “PF” with ZANU. Today, that rogue pirate ship
continues to sail under a false flag of patriotism,” said ZAPU National
Spokesperson Richard Gandari who said the revolutionary party was not only
appalled by the memories of the tortured history but the continuation of Zanu
PF sponsored Gukurahundi in new forms.
“On January 4, 2022, a Gukurahundi memorial plaque erected
by Ibhetshu Likazulu to commemorate the lives of Gukurahundi victims at
Bhalagwe in Maphisa, Matabeleland South, was bombed by suspected state security
operatives. No one has been held responsible for the barbaric act.
“Hardly a few months later, the Zanu PF government
unceremoniously removed the Ndebele traditional shield from the Joshua Mqabuko
Nkomo International Airport and replaced it with its Coat of Arms and Emblem
without consulting stakeholders. Despite the public outcry that followed, the
shield was never restored.
“Again, the arbitrary arrests and the jailing of nine
members of the Mthwakazi Republic Party made it clear that Zanu PF is still
pursuing its pre-independence blueprint for the annihilation of Matabeleland
and its people’s cultural identity.”
Gandari said ZAPU activists have also suffered from arrests
upon exercising their constitutional rights to protest against malpractice.
“Our members have been harassed and detained by the police
for decrying and protesting against the employment of people from other regions
at the expense of locals, particularly in marginalised rural areas. The
employment of nurses and teachers who do not speak local languages amounts to
cultural imperialism. Yet there is a method to the madness. Language is the
most basic means to dilute and eventually erase a people’s cultural identity,”
he said.
“Zanu PF’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is on public
record, green-lighting civil registry clerks to ascribe any name of their
choice when issuing identity documents to anybody too slow to assert their own
identity.”
The ZAPU spokesperson said Zanu PF has habitually used
systematic invasions and economic sabotage to undermine farms owned by anyone
perceived to be an ‘enemy of the state.’
“Victims of these targeted farm invasions include our late
ZAPU President Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, ZPRA ex-combatant, John Gazi, human rights
lawyer, Siphosami Malunga, former National Healing and Integration co-minister,
Moses Mzila-Ndlovu and our venerated ex-ZPRA commander, Thomas Ngwenya,”
Gandari said.
“The list extends to commercial farmers in Mashonaland West
as well as self-exiled former cabinet minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, whose
citrus plants were gutted in a mysterious fire in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central,
just two days after the general elections in August.”
Gandari said apart from land grabs, ZPRA veterans continue
to be sidelined by the War Veterans Board, which he accused of being an
appendage of Zanu PF.
He also noted there can be no unity worth celebrating on
December 22 every year when the liberation contributions made by ZPRA
ex-combatants are reduced to a historical footnote. “There can be no healing
and integration when ZAPU is precluded from spearheading dialogue on
Gukurahundi, now a prerogative of chiefs from Matabeleland and Midlands. Unity
shall forever remain a mirage until genuine efforts are made to adopt and
implement the tenets of restorative justice,” he said.
The ZAPU spokesperson said the party also mourns the death
of democracy in Zimbabwe.
“A fraudulent plebiscite, roundly condemned by regional and
international election observer missions, was foisted upon the restive populace
of Zimbabwe,” Gandari said.
Having failed to secure an outright two-thirds majority in
Parliament, Gandari said Zanu PF has capitalised on by-elections following
recalls initiated by the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
“With more recalls lined up by the trigger-happy Sengezo
Tshabangu, Zanu PF looks set to clinch a two-thirds majority after which it can
wantonly amend the country’s Constitution with reckless abandon,” Gandari said.
“The greatest tragedy is Zimbabweans continue to fall for
Zanu PF’s bag of tricks. Instead of objectively calling out Tshabangu for his
self-defeating political excesses, many have been waylaid into denigrating King
Lobengula and casting aspersions on the generality of citizens from
Matabeleland.”
Gandari said when Douglas Mwonzora effected the very same
recalls against the then MDC Alliance MPs, “no one attacked the memory of
Emperor Munhumutapa, Prophet Chaminuka or even Chief Rekayi Tangwena.”
“Only Zanu PF stands to gain anything from fanning the
embers of tribalism and regionalism. ZAPU implores Zimbabweans to resist the
divide-and-rule tactics overused by the Soviet-styled and Taliban-inspired
rogue regime in Harare. In Zimbabwe, all regions, all tribes, and all languages
matter. There is no minority or majority when Zimbabwean citizenship is
considered,” he said. CITE
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