The Dumiso Dabengwa led ZAPU has demanded that the government gives back the land forcibly taken from the party during the Gukurahundi genocide, amid plans to cede land to liberation war veterans.
The ruling party resolved at its 17th National Peoples` Conference held in Esigodini, Matabeleland South, that all war veterans will be given farm land.
The war veterans were the major beneficiaries of land during the land reform programme at the turn of the 21st century.
ZAPU spokesperson Iphithule Maphosa said most war veterans are making ridiculous demands.
“This feeling of entitlement by war veterans is now nauseating to say the least, especially considering that most of those making the ridiculous demands within ZANU PF are fake veterans,” said Maphosa.
“Real and genuine veterans of the war of Zimbabwe’s liberation acknowledge and understand that the war was fought by everyone, albeit in different ways and capacities. They know that land and all other benefits that came with independence are to be enjoyed by all Zimbabweans in equal measure as according to needs,” he said.
Maphosa said ZPRA affiliates did not only lose land but other business interests as well in a bid to economically annihilate them.
He added plans made by the government to provide for war veterans excludes ZPRA veterans.
Maphosa said ZPRA does not seek to benefit from ZANU PF generosity with state land, instead they want properties confiscated from them.
“ZPRA veterans do not exist in the broader scope and plans of the ZANU PF led government. As such, we do not expect to be considered in another of the chaotic and selfish schemes by a government so detached from reality,” he said.
“We had prepared ourselves for economic activities and the Zimbabwean government became jealous and greedily coveted and took away our land. The rest of the state land available for redistribution must go to all citizens who need land.
“They deserve it more than these greedy ZANU PF zealots who think the country is their personal fiefdom. In a nutshell, ZPRA has their own land and they just want it back without being incorporated in ZANU PF confusion.”
Maphosa said there are ongoing attempts to diplomatically resolve the land and property issue.
At the height of the Gukurahundi atrocities in Matabeleland and Midlands, Zanu PF seized properties belonging to Zapu.
Some of the properties seized include Magnet House in Bulawayo, which houses the regional headquarters of the state security agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation, and Castle Arms Motel.
Some of the properties were run through a company, Nitram Holdings.
