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(NEWZIMBABWE) ZAPU, MDC in war of words

ZAPU, MDC in war of words
by Lindie Whiz
07/10/2009 00:00:00

A FURIOUS row erupted on Tuesday after an MDC Minister claimed “ZAPU died with Nkomo”, a reference to the late nationalist leader Joshua Nkomo who died in 1999 – 12 years after signing a “unity accord” with President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU.

Water Resources Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo told a political rally in Tsholotsho that “people championing the revival of ZAPU should first visit Joshua Nkomo’s grave and wake him up if they want to realise their dreams.”

But ZAPU furiously hit back, accusing the Minister and his MDC party of being “narrow minded” and seeking to “monopolise” political opposition to Mugabe.

“The anti-ZAPU revival crusade has run out of ideas and is sounding illogical and monotonous. They say Joshua Nkomo died with ZAPU, and then say ZAPU is in Zanu PF. Which is which?,” ZAPU’s communications director Methuseli Moyo said in a statement.

A special ZAPU congress in May this year voted to pull out of the pact with Zanu PF, and named Dumiso Dabengwa as interim leader.

ZAPU’s rebirth has excited local politics, particularly in the Matabeleland region where the party commanded massive support before it gave up its name in the 1987 coalition with Mugabe’s ZANU for form Zanu PF.

Sipepa-Nkomo travelled with MDC leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for a series of weekend rallies in Matabeleland North as the party seeks to consolidate its support in the region.

He told a rally at the Tsholotsho Business Centre: “I was there when ZAPU was formed in 1961 and served as secretary for this region stretching from Beitbridge to Victoria Falls, and I can tell you that those pushing for its revival are dubious characters.

“In 1987, the owner of ZAPU (Joshua Nkomo) got into a unity deal with ZANU meaning that ZAPU plus ZANU equals to Zanu PF. If they come to us now and tell us that they want to revive ZAPU, they should go and wake up Nkomo to make that declaration otherwise why should we concern ourselves with ghost parties?”

Sipepa-Nkomo further accused Dabengwa of being a “Zanu PF agent”, and alleged that ZAPU had “a lot of money which we wonder where they are getting it from, because even us as a party do not have that kind of money.”

The comments drew a sharp response from ZAPU which said the attack was “not a surprise because attacking ZAPU has become an industry for political opportunists who have nothing to offer and are intimidated by its revival.”



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The party added: “ZAPU wants to bring to Sipepa-Nkomo and other narrow-minded politicians’ attention that democracy is about plurality of views and political parties. It is sad that there are people who want to monopolise politics and want to give the impression that only they should be allowed to challenge Zanu PF for power.

“For the record, the people of Zimbabwe in general, and the people of Matabeleland that Sipepa-Nkomo mentioned in particular, have risked their lives and limbs giving support to Sipepa-Nkomo’s party, which has failed to translate electoral advantage into political power.

“That is precisely the reason why we have revived ZAPU, because we believe our party has the political muscle, grassroots support, revolutionary attributes and tried and tested leadership to dislodge Zanu PF from power, which we are confident ZAPU will do come election time.

“On the contrary, Sipepa-Nkomo’s MDC-T neither has capable leadership, revolutionary attributes, nor well-rooted support on the ground. The fact that a vacuum in opposition politics has allowed the MDC-T to get this far should not fool anyone that they are a serious national political party. They are not and ZAPU is.”

The statement, signed by Moyo, charged that the MDC was “a political accident created by non-Zimbabweans and fronted locally by plain folks whose narrow-mindedness wants to take us back to the political bickering and violence we witnessed in the past decade.”

Moyo said a two-party system as currently exists in Zimbabwe “leaves the population with no option, and divided into ‘for us or against us’,” and exposes the people to violence and intimidation.

“Any serious thinking person would welcome the arrival of a true political giant like ZAPU to add a third force and thereby extinguish political tensions caused by the two-party system,” Moyo said.

ZAPU said contrary to Sipepa-Nkomo’s claims, it has “no money, no furniture, no office equipment and no vehicles, and the MDC-T has all this in abundance but has failed dismally to remove Zanu PF from power.”

Moyo added: “The fact that our party has achieved political impact of the magnitude displayed by the fear in our opponents even without resources for now speaks volumes of what ZAPU is capable of doing.

“If there is a party that has money it is the MDC-T which sadly is using it negatively to finance doomed regime change projects such as the so-called parallel government.”

ZAPU has said it will contest at least 11 due parliamentary by-elections countrywide whenever they are called -- the first major test of its political strength.

Labels: MDC, ZAPU

posted by MrK @ 6:52 AM