News / Regional
Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army veterans stick with Zapu
22 Jan 2011 at 22:24hrs | Views
War veterans who fought under the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (Zipra) during the war for independence have urged Zapu supporters in Mashonaland West province to join Zanu (PF) and attend that party's rallies for their own safety.
The Zipra war veterans who spoke to reporters on conditions they were not identified said they have split from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Associations (ZNLWVA) headed by Jabulani Sibanda and are currently re-organising their party structures in resettlement areas around Tengwe 50 km east of Karoi town in preparation for elections.
During the liberation war Zipra guerrillas who had military bases in Zambia operated in Hurungwe, Makonde and Kariba tribal trust lands-as they were known during the colonial Rhodesian rule.
"We are busy restructuring our support base in preparation for the next elections and we are convinced our party, Zapu will win some seats here," said one of the Zipra veterans.
Zapu split from Zanu (PF) in 2008 on the grounds that the unity accord signed in 1987 between Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe was no longer serving any useful purpose.
The party is now led by Dumiso Dabengwa who headed Zapu,s intelligence organ, the National Security Organisation (NSO) during the liberation war.
"We are concerned about the government's decision to freeze pensions of some of our members. This is another Zanu (PF) way of manipulating voters," said another Zipra veteran.
The veterans are known for not wanting to be linked with either Zanu or MDC-T. They accuse MDC-T of being a puppet party that wants to take back the country to their western masters.
The Zipra war veterans who spoke to reporters on conditions they were not identified said they have split from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Associations (ZNLWVA) headed by Jabulani Sibanda and are currently re-organising their party structures in resettlement areas around Tengwe 50 km east of Karoi town in preparation for elections.
During the liberation war Zipra guerrillas who had military bases in Zambia operated in Hurungwe, Makonde and Kariba tribal trust lands-as they were known during the colonial Rhodesian rule.
"We are busy restructuring our support base in preparation for the next elections and we are convinced our party, Zapu will win some seats here," said one of the Zipra veterans.
The party is now led by Dumiso Dabengwa who headed Zapu,s intelligence organ, the National Security Organisation (NSO) during the liberation war.
"We are concerned about the government's decision to freeze pensions of some of our members. This is another Zanu (PF) way of manipulating voters," said another Zipra veteran.
The veterans are known for not wanting to be linked with either Zanu or MDC-T. They accuse MDC-T of being a puppet party that wants to take back the country to their western masters.
Source - Byo24News
