Zapu revives bid to recover properties seized by Zanu-PF

ZAPU is compiling information about its properties seized by government during political disturbances in Matabeleland and Midlands regions with a view of instituting legal action to recover them.

The party's secretary for legal affairs, Stephen Nkiwane, last week said they have made significant progress in the probe.

Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa, whose members pulled out of the Unity Accord in 2009, last year said their investigations had established that the Zanu PF government had sold most of the party's properties.

Zapu and Zipra properties were seized by Zanu PF government after independence during Gukurahundi Operation in Matabeleland and Midlands regions, which resulted in an estimated 20 000 people being killed.

Some of the Zapu properties that are still under the control of the government include Magnet House in Bulawayo, which houses the regional headquarters of the Central Intelligence Organisation and Castle Arms Motel, also in Bulawayo.

In Harare there is a property, Snake Park, among others.

After the Unity Accord in 1987, the Zanu PF government refused to hand over the properties.

Nkiwane said some properties were in third parties' hands, a situation which was delaying the process of getting them back.