25 October 2008
Zanu PF officials pushing for the revival of PF Zapu will this Saturday convene a mass rally at White City Stadium to decide the fate of the Unity Accord as the looming split in the ruling party moves to the public domain for the first time.
Vice-President Joseph Msika, the most senior surviving PF Zapu leader following the death of Joshua Nkomo, will attend the meeting, signalling the seriousness of the problems afflicting the party, impeccable sources said.
Last month, Zanu PF politburo and central committee members from the region demanded an urgent special PF Zapu congress to review the accord which joined together the former liberation movements to end the Gukurahundi massacres in the western parts of the country.
The ruling party's provincial co-ordinating committee complained that former PF Zapu members were not treated as equals and communicated its concerns to President Robert Mugabe.
They said the straw that broke the camel's back was their non-inclusion in negotiations that led to the power-sharing agreement with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Organisers of the meeting, which might send shock waves in Zanu PF, said although it was not a PF Zapu congress its resolutions would be binding.
"It will be a no-holds-barred meeting," said a senior member of the provincial executive. "Our people will be given the opportunity to say whether they still think this marriage is still sustainable."
Sources said the open meeting might put Msika and those PF Zapu leaders still accommodated in the Zanu PF government in a corner as there was a groundswell for a pull out among the grassroots.
The decision to call a public forum was reportedly taken after a realisation that some leaders harbouring ambitions of getting ministerial posts in the inclusive government were not in favour of the split.
Information and Publicity Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu recently attacked his colleagues from the region for calling for the revival of PF Zapu saying instead they should take the blame for the ruling party's demise.
"The writing is on the wall," said another Zanu PF politburo member. "Mugabe is left with three officials from Matabeleland fighting in his corner but November 1 will be a watershed."
Effort Nkomo, a senior Zanu PF provincial member, confirmed the meeting, which he said was a consultative forum to discuss the September 15 power-sharing agreement.
The accord is already under strain after Dumiso Dabengwa, a veteran nationalist and former Zipra commander, campaigned against Mugabe in the run-up to the March elections.
Former members of Zipra, PF Zapu's military wing during the liberation war, also pulled out of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association last month, saying they were not treated as equals by their ex-Zanla colleagues.
Delays in conferring hero status on former PF Zapu members had also driven a wedge between the two groups.
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