ZAPU says it is preposterous to celebrate unity day in Zimbabwe as the country is deeply divided.
The revolutionary party, whose leader then, the late nationalist, Joshua Nkomo, signed the Unity Accord with Robert Mugabe from Zanu in 1987 to stop the Gukurahundi killings, said for 33 years now, Zimbabwe has been celebrating, disguised as unity, the loss of tens of thousands of lives for Zanu PF’s political expediency.
Unity Day is celebrated annually on December 22, to mark the signing of the Unity Accord between ZAPU and ZANU in 1987 which led to the formation of Zanu PF.
“Unity cannot be forced down people’s throats as we see in Zimbabwe. Unity is, and must be a natural reaction to a policy of inclusiveness, equality, respect and promotion of rights of all citizens irrespective of colour, creed, place of birth or any minor differences that may exist,” said ZAPU’s National Spokesperson, Iphithule Maphosa.
Maphosa said as the Unity Day approaches, it is was important that Zimbabweans and the world know that the Unity Accord was the “biggest misnomer, a process that never was.”
“What happened on that fateful 22 December was a sham, a deception and the greatest betrayal of all values, intentions and objectives of the liberation struggle,” he said.
“22 December must be a day of shame for all who had participated in the liberation of our country. The only champagne that could have been popped on the signing of Unity Accord would have been blood of children, women, the elderly, all unarmed and the fitting ink used to append signatures on that surrender document, similarly the free flowing blood of the innocents.”
Maphosa said they had not reason to celebrate the day.
“Yes, we may pause, remember and pay respects to all our people who were killed from 1982 to 1987, for either being members or perceived to be members of ZAPU, for that alone is the reason why tens of thousands were killed,” he said.
Maphosa, therefore, noted it was not a Unity Day, for Zimbabweans are not united.
“It actually is a day that Zanu PF celebrates, its conquest on the mother party and the western Zimbabwe civilians. A day when primitive banditry was signed into the method of governance of our country,” he said.
According to ZAPU, what Zanu PF failed to achieve by way of dialogue and negotiations, it achieved through violence.
“The violence, (Gukurahundi) brutality was initially targeted at all opposition political parties, but then turned into a genocide against the Ndebele people. Zanu PF, absolutely clueless about how to mobilise support and rally them to their cause, resorted to an armed operation to force the people to follow their ideology,”Maphosa said.
“What they failed to achieve by persuasion and making people vote for them legitimately to power, they resorted to attain at the barrel of the gun.”
