BULAWAYO — Former Zanu PF politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa was yesterday unanimously endorsed as Zapu president for the next five years at a congress attended by 5 000 delegates.  The congress held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair grounds was the first since Zapu merged with Zanu PF in 1987 to end atrocities committed by the 5 Brigade in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces.

Zapu pulled out of the Unity Accord two years ago accusing Zanu PF of refusing to fully implement the agreement as its members continued to be sidelined when it came to senior appointments in the united party.

The three-day congress, which ends today also adopted amendments to Zapu’s founding constitution, which stipulates that Dabengwa will have to relinquish his party post if he is elected president of the country.

“All the 14 provinces of Zapu have unanimously endorsed Dabengwa as the president of the party for the next five years,” MethuselI Moyo, the Zapu spokesperson said last night.

“We are ready for the elections and we believe we now have a candidate who is ready to go to State House with or without a new constitution.”
Although President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are pushing for fresh elections next year, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission last week said the country was not ready for the polls.

Moyo said the Zapu congress had abolished the issue of dual presidency as part of amendments to its 1960 constitution after two days of deliberations.
Moyo said the party was against a situation where a party president becomes the country’s president.

Dabengwa had on Friday indicated that Zapu supporters were against the issue of dual presidency, saying that resulted in the vesting of “too many powers on one person”.

The former Zipra intelligence supremo said the supporters felt that the elimination of the dual presidency could help separate party issues from government business.

Two years ago, Zapu had resolved to deal with the issue of dual status of the party president and also carry out an inventory of the party’s properties that were grabbed by Mugabe’s government at the height of the Gukurahundi disturbances.

“Amendments to the party’s constitution have been adopted by the congress,” Moyo said.

“Under the new constitution, our leader will now be referred to as the president and not chairman and would have a five year term.

“Under the new constitution, there would be a National Executive Council (NEC) that deals with the day-to-day activities of the party.
“There would also be a National People’s Council (NPC) which is the equivalent to Zanu PF’s politburo and each province would be represented by 10 people.”

The Zapu spokesperson also indicated that delegates had agreed to the formation of the Zimbabwe African Women’s Union (Zawu) and the Zapu Youth Front (ZYF) — the equivalent of Zanu-PF’s Women’s and Youth leagues respectively.

The congress was hung in balance after a faction led by Agrippa Madlela filed a court application seeking an interdict directing Dabengwa to immediately stop using Zapu’s name, logo and flag.

Madlela, who claimed to be the party’s president, in his court papers accused Dabengwa of hijacking Zapu.
The congress was attended by several diplomats including United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray and representatives of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC).

The ANC has close ties with Zapu that date back to the liberation struggle.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

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