Cephas Msipa defected before the Unity Accord

Cephas Msipa defected before the Unity Accord

The sentiments expressed in an article in Zimdaily situation, ‘Give chairmanship to Zapu cadre: Msipa' August 21, 2014 by ZimSitRep made an interesting reading. Cephas Msipa, was quoted saying 'ZANU PF party's chairmanship and vice president positions should, in keeping with tradition, be reserved for former PF Zapu cadres in line with the 1987 Unity Accord signed between Zanu PF and PF Zapu'.  The general understanding was that the issue of the national Chairmanship was a gentlemen's arrangement, which did not need a formally signed agreement. The issue of second vice-president showed the unwillingness of Zanu-PF to accommodate ZAPU PF cadres on equal basis. Wouldn't it have been better to have a rotating Presidency and only one vice-president? I am not going to dwell much on this, it is not the thrust of this article.

The interpretation and assumption which Mr Msipa still holds is that the Unity Accord arrangement still holds even when times have moved well ahead beyond his imagination and therefore as set by the precedent the position of national chair should automatically be filled by a former ZAPU cadre.

  There is clear and unquestionable evidence that Mr Msipa is trying to play cheap politics coated megalomaniac opportunistic grandstanding in using ZAPU and Zanu-PF historic unity accord to campaign for the position of second vice president for himself and the position of Zanu-PF chairman for Simon Khaya Moyo.

It is also helpful to remind readers that the unity accord between ZAPU PF and Zanu-PF was signed at gunpoint therefore signed under duress and in every legal sense it is and was null and void. The signing of the Accord was after a brutal and sustained aggression by Zanu-PF against ZAPU and its supporters.  This pushed ZAPU into submission and signed the unity accord as a surrender document. Those who have seen and read the document will confirm to this assertion.  

On the 25th January 2014 Mr Christopher Maphosa, the ZAPU Europe Chairman wrote as follows: "The little said about Mr Cephas Msipa the better, the Party elected him as its Secretary General in 1984 in its Congress which was held at the National Sports Centre in Harare and he shamelessly defected to ZANU before the 1987 Unity Accord abandoning the people when they needed leadership the most. Remember it was the height of the gukurahundi massacres.  He is not qualified to pronounce anything about ZAPU…".  Today he is preaching on the Unity Accord as if he was still ZAPU when it was signed. Let us assume for a moment that the Unity Accord was still alive and kicking, of which we all know it is dead and buried, why would a Zanu-PF cadre in the character of Mr Cephas Msipa suggests anything about ZAPU? Does ZANU allow ZAPU to have a word on the President's position?

When ZAPU PF joined Zanu-PF under duress it held a special Congress and on the advice of Mr Msika, when it officially and legally withdrew it held another Special Congress. Those who remained in Zanu-PF effectively defected to Zanu-PF and they cannot in anyway be referred to as ZAPU. They are Zanu-PF through and through, therefore Zanu-PF cannot have a Unity Accord with itself.

Msipa must get it in his head that the unity accord signed between ZAPU and Zanu-PF in 1987 is dead and gone and that it will never be resurrected. Msipa and Khaya must understand that the relationship between ZAPU and Zanu-PF has changed unless these two gentleman and others deliberately ignore the truth about the new developments. Their stay in Zanu-PF actually means that they are now fully-fledged Zanu-PF members not ZAPU members. They should henceforth stop posturing as ZAPU in an attempt to try to live double standards.  

All those people who have chosen to remain in Zanu-PF neither represent ZAPU, nor belong to ZAPU. It is difficult to understand why Msipa still believes that the position of either vice president or chairman of Zanu-PF is a preserve for ZAPU. Which ZAPU is he talking about? Msipa is further reminded that there is no more ZAPU in Zanu-PF; ZAPU ended the unholy unity accord in 2008 when it pulled out of the accord.

Mr. Msipa appears to be under the illusion that the unity accord still holds, without accepting the fact that Zanu-PF and President Mugabe understand and acknowledge that the Unity Accord contract has come to an end and there is no more patronage positions for former ZAPU because ZAPU is no longer part of that union. Msipa as a genuine Zanu-PF cadre, remember he defected before the signing of the Unity accord, he should be in tandem with his Zanu-PF enthusiasts who have acknowledged the ‘death' of the accord and are now openly campaigning to fill the position of Chairmanship.

The new political environment in Zanu-PF is emerging; those former ZAPU members such as Simon Khaya, Cephas Msipa and others will no longer be allowed to hide behind the non-existent Unity Accord. That door is now closed. They must now understand that they are Zanu-PF members and therefore will need to compete for positions just like anyone else in Zanu-PF.

It is clear that those former members of ZAPU who defected to Zanu-PF before and after the Unity Accord is people who lack principles. There are people who are self-serving. We have come to know of Khaya Moyo as a Mugabe praise singer (imbongi), he kneels before Mugabe, calls him King and sings Bayethe to him. The consolation that Msipa and Khaya Moyo may still hold onto is that Mugabe may give then the positions as a smoke screen to make ordinary people think that ZAPU is still within Zanu-PF.

Good luck.