News / Local
Zapu ready to take over in 2023
02 Nov 2021 at 18:28hrs | Views
NEWLY-ELECTED Zapu leader Sibangilizwe Nkomo has promised to hit the ground running by forming a government-in-waiting as the opposition party plots to wrest power in 2023.
Addressing journalists in Bulawayo yesterday, Nkomo, who won a tight contest against three other candidates eyeing the party presidency at the weekend, called on the Zanu-PF government to expedite the necessary electoral reforms to ensure the 2023 elections do not produce disputed results.
"Today we demand from the government that certain reforms such as the electoral and security sector be addressed as a matter of urgency, and that justice be delivered equally, timeously and without fear or favour to all Zimbabweans. We must set up a government-in-waiting with shadow ministers who are ready to take over in 2023,'' Nkomo said.
He said besides forming a shadow Cabinet, his other immediate task was resources and membership mobilisation, including reaching out to the party's new and old partners in the diaspora.
"That, therefore, means the leadership must be organised and presentable to the international community. We will be visiting provinces, including those in the diaspora. I wish to acknowledge and salute the first president of Zapu, the late Joshua Nkomo and his leadership at the time, their legacy remains our inspiration and a compass for us to chart a new path for the party,'' he said .
Nkomo also paid tribute to the party's immediate past president Dumiso Dabengwa, who died in 2019, for championing Zapu's pullout from the 1987 Unity Accord.
He lashed out at the Zanu-PF government for unleashing Gukurahundi on Zapu members and confiscating party properties under the guise of taming an insurgency.
Addressing journalists in Bulawayo yesterday, Nkomo, who won a tight contest against three other candidates eyeing the party presidency at the weekend, called on the Zanu-PF government to expedite the necessary electoral reforms to ensure the 2023 elections do not produce disputed results.
"Today we demand from the government that certain reforms such as the electoral and security sector be addressed as a matter of urgency, and that justice be delivered equally, timeously and without fear or favour to all Zimbabweans. We must set up a government-in-waiting with shadow ministers who are ready to take over in 2023,'' Nkomo said.
"That, therefore, means the leadership must be organised and presentable to the international community. We will be visiting provinces, including those in the diaspora. I wish to acknowledge and salute the first president of Zapu, the late Joshua Nkomo and his leadership at the time, their legacy remains our inspiration and a compass for us to chart a new path for the party,'' he said .
Nkomo also paid tribute to the party's immediate past president Dumiso Dabengwa, who died in 2019, for championing Zapu's pullout from the 1987 Unity Accord.
He lashed out at the Zanu-PF government for unleashing Gukurahundi on Zapu members and confiscating party properties under the guise of taming an insurgency.
Source - NewsDay Zimbabwe
